Updated: Waverley’s Lib Dem Council Leader In Line to Lead New West Surrey Council

Published on: 16 May, 2026
Updated on: 16 May, 2026

MP Will Forster (left) with Paul Follows following the latter’s election as leader of the West Surrey Council Lib Dem Group. Will Forster

By Martin Giles

Paul Follows has been elected as the leader of the West Surrey Shadow Council and is expected to be confirmed as council leader at the council’s inaugural meeting on May 21. He defeated Anne Marie-Barker, leader of Woking Borough Council.

This article has been updated with comments from Cllrs Jane Austin and Julia McShane. Please find below.

Cllr Follows is already the leader of Waverley Borough Council and of the Lib Dem Group at Surrey County Council. Additionally, he is leader of Godalming Town Council and its Lib Dem group.

Cllr Paul Follows

In a statement released this afternoon Follows who was elected last week to represent Godalming South, Milford and Witley,said: “Today, at a meeting in Woking, I have been elected by my colleagues to lead new West Surrey Liberal Democrat group and will therefore be the majority group nominee for leader of the council at the inaugural meeting on Thursday this week.

“I want to thank my colleagues right across West Surrey for their support.

“The background work to appoint a new Cabinet (Executive) for West Surrey and to form a new administration has begun and I will post a further update after the meeting on Thursday – at which point the mammoth task ahead of us begins.”

The county council and all of Surrey’s borough and district councils will be wound up by the end of March 2027, when the new West and East Surrey Councils will become unitary authorities responsible for delivering all council services in their respective areas.

In the recent election, the Liberal Democrats won the largest share of the seats: 56 out of the 90. There are two seats in each of the 45 wards, that make up the new West Surrey local authority. But if a Lib Dem-favoured system of proportional representation had been employed the party would not have a majority.

Cllr Jane Austin

The leader of the second biggest group at the new council, the Conservatives, has already been decided. It is Cllr Jane Austin, who is leader of the Conservative group at Waverley Council and will be the leader of the opposition at West Surrey Council.

Follows and Austin have faced off for several years at Waverley Borough Council and Waverley voices are now bound to have a strong influence at the new council. Some observers have remarked that there is little love lost between the two political opponents.

Cllr Austin said this evening: “I genuinely wish Paul Follows well, because it is important that the Liberal Democrat nominee for leader works hard to make a success of the new West Surrey Council at a time of enormous change.

“This role demands professionalism, honesty and a genuinely cooperative approach to governance. The transition to the new council is too important for petty political point-scoring — setting the right tone must start at the top.

“Conservative councillors will hold the administration firmly to account, while conducting ourselves professionally and keeping residents front and centre in everything we do.”

Woking’s MP and fellow Lib Dem, Will Forster, said: “[I am] pleased to welcome Paul to his new role as West Surrey Council’s leader. I look forward to working in partnership with him to tackle the new council’s unprecedented historic debts, unsafe roads and a children’s services department failing vulnerable children.”

According to his published Lib Dem biography: “Paul has lived in Surrey since 1993, including studying at the University of Surrey and he now works locally. He was elected as a Liberal Democrat councillor for Central and Ockford in 2017.

“Since then his major campaigns have been working with staff and parents to help save Green Oak School from closing, as part of the Liberal Democrat commitment to protecting education, and opposing major housing developments without the right infrastructure.

“Paul’s focus for the new council will be on making sure that councillors are active in their communities and really listening to residents’ concerns.”

And the leder of Guildford Borough Council added tonight: “I’m delighted that Paul has been elected to lead the new West Surrey Lib Dem group. He is now the majority group nominee for Leader of the West Surrey Council and has my wholehearted support.

“Having worked with him in the successful collaboration between Guildford and Waverley I am confident that Paul is the leader we need to steer us through the challenges that lie ahead.”