Reform council leader Dan Harrison quits after leaked redundancy remarks

The Reform UK leader of Leicestershire County Council has announced he is standing down after comments he made about staff redundancies were leaked online. Dan Harrison announced on Monday that he would step down from the role, which he had held since May 2025. He said he made the decision after taking advice from senior Reform colleagues, and confirmed that deputy council leader Kevin Crook had taken over as acting leader. The announcement came after Harrison apologised for remarks made during a Reform party meeting on Tuesday, in which he was recorded saying 76 council solicitors would be made redundant, branding them "incompetent", before saying "what I want to look at now is the women". The recording was subsequently released on social media. In the recording, Harrison said: "There's 76 solicitors will be made redundant. We'll buy in the service, because [they are] incompetent. They're not doing a good job. What I want to look at now is the women so it is ongoing, I would like it to be at great pace but I can tell you now if we suddenly drove massive redundancies the liberals would walk away." In a statement announcing his departure, Harrison said it had been the "honour of his life" to lead the county council's first Reform administration. He said he would remain as a councillor, representing the Ashby-de-la-Zouch division. The Conservative opposition at County Hall had called for Harrison to resign after his comments about staff were made public. Earlier on Monday, Harrison had told the BBC he would not be stepping down. He later said he had reached his decision after speaking with Crook and group whip Andrew Hamilton-Gray. Despite his apology, Harrison had maintained that his remarks had been taken out of context. The Reform group remains the largest party on the authority, which it runs as a minority administration.