Overview

• Mason Humberstone, the Old Town ward councillor elected in 2023, left Labour for Reform UK, saying Labour is "lost" and serves a "metropolitan elite."
• He is the first sitting Labour councillor in England to join Reform and becomes the party’s sole member on Stevenage Borough Council.
• Nigel Farage welcomed him, casting the move as proof of rising youth support after bringing in Conservative figures Danny Kruger and Maria Caulfield this week.
• Stevenage MP Kevin Bonavia and council leader Richard Henry criticised the switch, called for a by-election, and highlighted council records showing 10 attendances out of 33 meetings in the past year.
• Humberstone rejected calls to resign, said he will stand at the scheduled local elections, and suggested more Labour defections could follow.