Sheffield councillor Robert Hanson sits as an independent after Reform departure
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Sheffield City Council's Reform UK group has lost another member after councillor Robert Hanson began sitting as an independent, having declined to renew his party membership. Reform removed the whip from Hanson, who had represented Firth Park ward and served as the group's spokesperson on the adult health and social care policy committee since his election in May 2026, reducing the party's presence on the authority.
Reform said Hanson had been offered repeated chances by email and phone to rejoin but refused; he would only trigger a by-election if he chose to resign, rather than continuing as an independent. He had polled 1,442 votes to beat council leader Fran Belbin in Firth Park in May. Reform's Sheffield group has now fallen from 13 to 10 councillors following Hanson's departure and the earlier exits of Nathaniel Menday, who was suspended over social media posts, and Mick Lee, who resigned, alongside reported internal rows over a branch merger. Reform remains the fourth-largest group on the council, which is jointly run by Labour (25 seats) and the Greens (20), with the Lib Dems as the second-largest group in opposition.
- Sheffield Reform UK councillor Robert Hanson now sits as an independent.
- Reform's council group has shrunk from 13 to 10 members.
- Party cites his refusal to renew membership despite repeated approaches.
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Reform UK is a relatively new political party that has been gaining council seats across England, including in Sheffield, where it won a significant number of seats in the May 2026 local elections. Sheffield City Council itself is finely balanced, with no single party in overall control, so shifts in how many councillors each party has can affect the balance of power. Robert Hanson, elected in May to represent the Firth Park ward, was one of Reform's Sheffield councillors and held a role speaking on adult health and social care matters.
Losing the whip means a councillor is no longer recognised as part of their party's group on the council, though they keep their seat and can continue voting and representing their ward, now as an independent. This differs from a councillor resigning, which would trigger a by-election for local residents to elect a replacement. Hanson's departure is one of several recent changes to Reform's numbers on the council, alongside reported friction within the local party's membership.
This matters because it affects how many seats each party holds on a council where power is already shared between different groups, and because it reflects wider questions about cohesion within Reform UK as a relatively new party adjusting to having elected representatives in local government.
Both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Those sympathetic to expecting Hanson to resign and trigger a by-election argue that voters in Firth Park cast their ballot for a Reform UK candidate, on a Reform platform, and that mandate belongs to the party and the electorate as much as to the individual. Continuing to hold the seat as an independent after losing the whip, they say, denies constituents the chance to have their say on whether they still want to be represented by this person outside that party banner, and risks eroding public trust in what a vote for a party label actually means.
The case against
Those sympathetic to Hanson's position argue that British electoral law has long held that councillors represent their whole ward as individuals, not merely as party delegates, and that nothing obliges a defecting or expelled member to resign simply because internal party relations have broken down. They would note Hanson secured 1,442 personal votes, defeating the council leader in the process, and that requiring a by-election after every defection would impose needless cost and disruption while letting parties effectively punish independent-minded councillors by forcing them out of office rather than merely out of the party.
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Originally published by feeds.bbci.co.uk as “Reform UK councillor refuses to rejoin party”.