UK, Councillor Alan Graves becomes Reform first mayor

London: Labour members walked out of the council chamber in protest against Mr Graves’s election.

Labour took over from the Conservatives as minority leaders of Derby City Council but the authority remains under no overall control.

Mr Graves said he was “honoured” to win the election. He said the role was not something he knew he wanted until just a few weeks ago.

Mr Graves started his political journey with Labour.

He later joined UKIP and the Brexit Party before representing Reform, which now has six councillors on the authority.

Mr Graves beat the other mayoral candidate, Balbir Sandhu, by just a single vote.

The Labour councillor for the Normanton ward was the previous deputy mayor.

Baggy Shanker, the leader of the Labour group and the new leader of the council, said an agreement had been made last year that the deputy would succeed the mayor.

“The Tories have completely gone back on their word,” he said.

“The 24 votes that Alan Graves got aren’t reflective of Derby’s public. We’re ashamed of Alan Graves being the mayor of Derby.”

Labour is the largest party on the council with 23 councillors.

The Conservatives have 15, Reform has six, the Lib Dems have four and there are three independent councillors.