Eight Plymouth Reform UK councillors backed a bid to oust Steve Ricketts as their group leader after declaring they had lost confidence in his leadership.
The motion of no confidence obtained by Plymouth Plus exposes the true sequence of events which led to four councillors ultimately walking away from the party.
Cllr Ricketts was never elected to Plymouth City Council as a Reform UK candidate, having originally won his Drake seat as an independent before defecting to the party in late February 2026.
In the letter signed by the eight councillors, Cllr Ricketts was accused of a "lack of effective leadership and strategic direction", "insufficient communication and consultation with group members", "failure to represent the collective views and interests of the group" and "decision-making that has led to a loss of confidence".
It also referred to "rumours regarding historic social media posts and individual public conduct" which the signatories said had raised concerns.
The motion explicitly requested that Cllr Ricketts stand down and that a meeting be arranged to elect a new leader.
Plymouth Plus can reveal that all of the following councillors signed the motion - Paul Hagan (Reform UK, Eggbuckland), Nicola Cooke (Reform UK, Budshead), Ben Rowe (Reform UK, Ham) and Helen Kelly (Reform UK, Compton).
Councillors who have since quit the party - Andrew Crumplin (now Restore Britain, Moor View), Mark Hadfield (now Restore Britain, St Budeaux), Grace Stickland (now Independent, Plymstock Dunstone) and Carol Ney (now Independent, Southway) also signed the motion.
Cllr Ricketts has insisted Reform UK is now "stronger for the departures", saying the party wants people who are there for the “right reasons” rather than to further their own ambitions.
However, the four departures have reduced Reform UK from 16 councillors after May’s elections to 12, meaning if just one more councillor leaves, Cllr Ricketts would lose £3,425 a year from his £13,700 leadership allowance.
Concerns have also been raised over how Cllr Ricketts became Reform UK’s Plymouth leader in the first place.
Former members have alleged Cllr Ricketts’s leadership was void, claiming his election was held outside a Group Annual Meeting despite Reform UK rules stating the Group Leader “must be elected annually at the Group Annual Meeting”.
The division in the group eventually became serious enough for Reform UK HQ to intervene directly.
An internal email obtained by Plymouth Plus shows Alec Parris from the party’s Local Government team saying he had been monitoring the situation in Plymouth and decided to attend a group meeting to “resolve these matters”.
Plymouth Plus understands the confidence vote on Cllr Ricketts was not included on the agenda circulated to members beforehand and that there were initially insufficient councillors present for a vote to be held.
Cllr Jackie Sansom (Southway) was then contacted and asked to urgently attend, with Plymouth Plus being told she left work to do so, bringing the number present to eight - meaning the vote could proceed.
All eight councillors present subsequently backed Cllr Ricketts as leader. Mr Parris later acknowledged that absent members "may be annoyed they didn’t get a chance to vote", but said both votes had the support of a majority of the underlying group and Reform UK therefore considered the matter resolved.
Responding in full, Cllr Ricketts said:
"The whole Plymouth Reform Group had a say in who became the Leader of the Reform UK Group immediately after the elections. Mark Hadfield was unsuccessful in that contest. Last month Andrew Crumplin stated his intention to be Group Leader. He failed to get the support of the group. Mark and Andrew were not selected to be in my Shadow Cabinet. Yesterday they both joined Restore.
"The Reform UK group on Plymouth City Council is now stronger for the departures. We want people in Reform who are here for the right reasons, not just to further their own ambitions. We will continue to move forward with real purpose and energy to make Plymouth and our Country a better place.''
A Reform UK spokesperson said: "All of the Leadership contests and processes in Plymouth have complied with the rules laid down by our Party Board. The legitimate process for an internal leadership challenge was explained to Andrew Crumplin, who declined to follow those rules and processes. At the recent Group meeting, the Group voted in support of Steve Ricketts' Leadership.''
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