Newton Aycliffe has four new county councillors as Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party swept the board in the local elections.
Reform polled 41% of the votes across the two Aycliffe wards in the 2025 council elections – much higher than the Liberal Democrats on 18.7% and Labour at just 17% – with Thursday’s election results announced on Friday.
The results saw Labour candidate Jim Atkinson, Conservative David Sutton-Lloyd and independent Ken Robson all lose their seats on Durham County Council.
Reform candidates Nicole Louise Brown, Andrew Eales and John Grant won all three seats for the Aycliffe South ward.
Tim McGuinness, also of Farage’s party, won one of the two Aycliffe North and Middridge seats, with Lib Dem candidate Michael Stead the only councillor to retain his seat.
Reform took control of Durham County Council in an astonishing set of results.
The party secured 65 seats, gaining significantly on Labour, to gain overall control of the local authority, dramatically redraw the region’s political map.
An emphatic Nigel Farage visited Newton Aycliffe above (pic by Mark Pinder Photography) after the historic result, telling members the party had “the Labour Party for lunch” and “wiped out” the Conservatives.
Labour, which controlled Durham County Council for a century until it lost control in 2021, was all but wiped out in the elections.
The party which previously held 52 seats, saw just four of its 98 councillor candidates elected, with its leader on the council, Carl Marshall, ousted by Reform UK.
The previous coalition in charge of the local authority – consisting of Conservatives, Liberal Democrats and Independents – will now be replaced by Reform members, many working in local politics for the first time.
Farage tells council diversity and climate staff to ‘find alternative careers’ after County Durham majority
AYCLIFFE RESULTS
Aycliffe North and Middridge
Lindsey Aston (Liberal Democrats) 807
Tony Beddard (Independent) 106
Dorothy Bowman (Independent) 94
Luke Ellis (Labour Party) 419
Tim McGuinness (Reform UK) 999 – Elected
Michael Murphy (Labour Party) 438
Jonathan Park (The Green Party) 82
Michael Stead (Lib Dems) 1,001 – Elected
Tony Stubbs (The Conservative Party) 339
David Sutton-Lloyd (The Conservative Party) 471
Clive Taylor-Scholl (Reform UK) 887
Aycliffe South
Tunde Akinsanya (Lib Dems) 286
Tony Armstrong (Independent) 227
Martin Ashcroft (Independent) 363
Jim Atkinson (Labour Party) 667
Nicole Louise Brown (Reform UK) 1,335 – Elected
John Clark (Labour Party) 556
Neale Floyd Cooley (The Green Party) 156
Andrew Eales (Reform UK) 1,287 – Elected
John Grant (Reform UK) 1,459 – Elected
George Gray (Independent) 305
Paul Howell (The Conservative Party) 589
Toyin Ogunyemi (Labour Party) 396
Kyle Robinson (Lib Dems) 331
Ken Robson (Independent) 550
John Woodward (Lib Dems) 286