Two West Northants councillors defect to Restore Britain

Two former Reform UK councillors on West Northants Council (WNC) have defected to Restore Britain.

Nadia Lincoln Local Democracy Reporter | Monday 13th July 2026 9:23pm

Cllr Joanne Blythe and Cameron Emery were both elected to the unitary authority to represent the Headlands ward in the 2025 local elections.

In an announcement posted to its X (formerly Twitter) account on Monday (July 13), Restore Britain said: “We’re delighted to welcome Councillor Cameron Emery and Councillor Jo Blythe Of Headlands Ward, West Northamptonshire County Council, to Restore Britain. We are building the team.”

Cllr Emery previously sat as a Reform UK councillor up until this point. Cllr Blythe quit the party to become an independent in March this year. 

She left the Reform group at the same time as the former cabinet member for children’s services, Cllr Kathryn Shaw, though Cllr Shaw has not followed across to Restore and remains an Independent.

At the first full council meeting where the pair sat alongside each other as Restore members, Cllr Blythe told the LDRS that she left Reform earlier this year because she was “disillusioned” with the local party.

She added: “We want to give people a different choice, we want to put Restore on the map. There’s something else out there if you are as equally disillusioned as we are.

“My values never changed. I always want to do what’s best for the residents, I want to fight for them and forming a party under Restore would be the best opportunity going forward.”

Cllr Emery added: “Nothing’s going to change, I’ll still continue serving my residents and I’ll be able to do it within a party that celebrates and listens to all councillors.

“I just agree with a lot of what Rupert [Lowe, the party’s national leader] and the Restore Britain movement is doing.

“We’re not here to make headline news, we’re here to serve the residents in West Northamptonshire.”

Both councillors said they would welcome any other elected member who is interested in joining the newly created party on WNC.

A Reform UK spokesman said Cllr Emery had been “expelled from Reform UK with immediate effect after learning that he planned to betray his electors” and affiliate with another party.

Cllr Emery has disputed this, sharing evidence with the LDRS that he tendered his resignation from Reform UK to Restore Britain in an email addressed to democratic services and the council leader Mark Arnull at 4.40pm. Reform UK later released a statement at 5pm saying he had been expelled.

The Reform spokesperson added: “Reform has a zero tolerance approach to those who plot to betray the hard-working members that got them elected in the first place.

“Reform UK is the only realistic chance of fixing broken Britain and getting rid of the two-party system.”

The Reform group is now narrowly holding on to its majority, as just over half of the elected councillors (39 out of 76) are sitting members. The leading party is also permanently down one member who was granted a leave of absence from attending meetings until November 2026 for reasons of ill-health.

The makeup of the other largest groups have not changed, with the Conservatives made up of 17 members, Labour as the next largest group of eight members, Lib Dems with seven councillors, Restore Britain and The Independent Group with two members each, and one non-aligned independent.

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