With a conservative majority, Surrey's last district and borough council has lost overall power. Following the local elections in 2023, Reigate and Banstead Borough Council—one of Surrey's eleven lower-tier councils—had a Conservative majority of one. However, the council is now without a majority party as a result of Councillor Zelanie Cooper, a Conservative who represents Lower Kingswood, Tamworth, and Walton, leaving the party. We have reached out to the Surrey Conservative for a response. The Conservatives currently have 22 out of 45 council seats after Ms. Cooper announced her departure from the party due to issues with candidate selection. Ms. Cooper: "With the backing of a considerable portion of the community, who think that local council members ought to stand in for them in local elections, I've made the decision to leave the Conservative party." When the next local election takes place on May 2, when one-third of the council seats are up for election, she intends to run as an independent councillor. The Conservative party is represented by all 11 of Surrey's members of Parliament, and the county council still maintains a majority of Conservatives. Jeremy Hunt MP, the Chancellor of South West Surrey, and Michael Gave, the Secretary of State for housing, communities, and levelling up, were among them. Because of Surry's two-tier system, the district and borough councils or the country council are in charge of separate services. A spokesman for the Reigate and Banstead Borough Council stated that any necessary decisions altering the political makeup of the council would be made at the upcoming full meeting of the council on March 28, 2024. In other parts of Surrey, the Liberal Democrats expanded their lead at Woking and Mole Valley and gained control of Guildford and Surry Heath in the May 2023 elections. While coalitions of other parties or resident's parties govern other councils, the Conservative Party, which holds 19 of the 41 seats on Runnymede Borough Council, is in charge of the council. Source: BBC