Reform UK has beaten the Conservatives in Staffordshire’s local elections and secured the votes needed to claim control of the county council.

The final results show the party now has 49 out of 62 available council seats and won 41% of the overall votes.

Going into the election, Reform had no councillors in the county and the Conservatives held 53 of the 62 seats.

The Conservatives now hold 10 seats, while Labour, the Green Party and Stafford Borough Independents have one seat each.

Martin Murray, Reform UK Staffordshire County co-ordinator and new councillor for Cannock town, said he was “ecstatic”.

“We will deliver continuation of services without change,” he said.

“We will do what is right for everybody. In time we will improve those services and give you better value for money.”

The new council leader has not yet been decided, he told the BBC.

For Dan Jellyman, the leader of the Conservative opposition on Stoke-on-Trent City Council, the votes represent “a massive rejection of the two-party system”.

He said people cared more about things like “potholes in the streets, bin collections, and grass cutting” than clever political campaigns.

Jill Hood won an Independent seat for Stone Urban eight years ago and managed to secure the seat today, beating her Reform UK challenger by more than 300 votes.

She described it as “a continuation, not a new start.”

Reflecting on Reform UK’s recent success, she added: “I never thought it would be easy, it never is, but to see what Reform UK are doing, I came along to the count [feeling] very nervous and thought it was going to be really close.”

Ahead of this election the Conservatives held 53 seats, Labour had five and four were held by independent councillors.

Council leader Alan White was among the high profile losses for the Conservatives, losing his Lichfield Rural East seat to Reform UK.

Newcastle-under-Lyme Reform UK chairman Ken Owen said he thought voters were disillusioned with the other major parties.

“[It was] a remarkable night, not only for Reform UK candidates, but I think the people of Staffordshire have sent a message to the current sort of administration,” he said.

He added that no decisions had yet been made about who might be appointed to key roles within the council.

“Reform UK have got a strong team of people behind the scenes, and I’m sure we’ll be talking about that over the next day or two,” he told the BBC.

Reform gained eight of the nine seats in Newcastle-under-Lyme in Thursday’s elections.

Simon Tagg, Newcastle Borough Council leader, was the sole survivor among the Conservative county councillors in the borough.

“Long-standing councillors are losing their seats, not only across this county but across the area,” he said.

“I think it shows the dissatisfaction with the two parties – Labour and Conservatives.”

He added that his party had been unpopular in its final years in national government, and that people were looking for a change or a protest vote.

Meanwhile, in Tamworth voters also backed Reform, with all five of the town’s divisions declaring for the party.

Reform overturned five Conservative seats, and received more than 50% of the vote in four areas. The closest race was in the Perrycrofts division, where Reform had a majority of 500.

Coming into the election, all six county council divisions were held by the Conservatives following their strong performance in 2021.

Since the last local election, boundary changes have seen Tamworth lose one county councillor.