A prominent Warwickshire councillor who had two rental properties shut down over safety concerns has confirmed he will not give up his county council seat.

Cllr Ed Harris stood down as the chairman – civic lead – of Warwickshire County Council and resigned the Reform UK group whip after Tamworth Borough Council announced it had shut down his two six-bed houses of multiple occupation (HMOs) over "serious safety failures" in January. 

It was alleged Cllr Harris had "repeatedly failed to take action on warnings and advice" on problems with central heating and hot water, fire and smoke detection, cooking facilities and access.

He subsequently confirmed he was "considering" stepping down from public office altogether but has now told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he intends to continue having received "overwhelming" support from people he represents.

Cllr Harris said: "I had one or two members of the constituency unhappy because of what they have read so far but I have had overwhelming support from inside Reform, inside the (county's) Reform group and from constituents.

"That was really heartening and why, when I considered my position as councillor, I thought to myself that the overwhelming majority of my constituents wanted me to stay.

"They were very happy with me as their councillor and there was no way I was going to let them down."

Last week's full council meeting was his first public appearance since the storm with Cllr Harris, who confirmed that he remains a Reform member despite resigning from the county group for now, turning out to back leader Cllr George Finch to survive a challenge to his leadership by just one vote – 27-26 with two abstentions and two absences.

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It was Cllr Harris – a Reform councillor at the time – who decided the even tighter ballot that handed Cllr Finch power in July 2025. 

That shootout with Liberal Democrat leader Cllr Jerry Roodhouse finished 23-23 with Cllr Harris backing his then-party colleague and, by extension, a Reform UK administration. 

The news release announcing the action to shut down the properties remains live on the Tamworth Borough Council website amid what Cllr Harris described as an ongoing process that he felt it was too early to comment on.

When asked why, Cllr Harris replied: "There is a process that we're going through to address each of the points raised by the (Labour) MPs in their letters to the leader of Warwickshire County Council. That information should be coming to light shortly and should put those issues to bed.

"It has nothing to do with Warwickshire County Council or Reform UK, this is a personal matter between myself and Tamworth Borough Council.

"In the interests of maintaining their privacy, I don't think I should say anything until that information comes to light through due process."

He added that he was "not aware of any" investigation by Reform UK and that was still "unclear where my future lies, politically speaking".

"The party took some information from me, we had some correspondence on it and a telephone meeting was called with HQ," said Cllr Harris.

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"At that point, I took the decision (in order) to keep Reform's name out of any of my private business so that none of this reflected on them in any way. I took the decision to resign the whip."

When asked, Cllr Harris said he had referred himself to Warwickshire County Council's monitoring officer Sarah Duxbury – its most senior legal official – he said he had been told "there is no investigation required".

"They have considered what was written to the leader of the council by the MPs and all the information I have given to them," he added.