The new leader of the opposition at Warwickshire County Council has vowed not to quell her forceful nature despite a year of febrile meetings.

Cllr Sarah Boad, who is also Mayor of Leamington 2026-7, recently stepped up from deputy to outright group leader of the second-largest party at Shire Hall.

With more than 30 years of service under her belt, Cllr Boad has often been a driving force behind the Liberal Democrats questioning the decisions taken by the Reform UK administration that has held power since May 2025.

Reform is the largest party but does not hold a majority of seats, meaning big decisions need a lack of dissent from political rivals.

However, many of the day-to-day decisions, including the strategic direction of the council and how to roll out the financial savings that will balance the books, are dealt with by the cabinet – the panel of Reform councillors in charge of major service areas.

It is at public-facing meetings of the cabinet that other parties comment on these decisions and the gatherings have become more drawn out and feisty since Reform took charge.

But Cllr Boad insists that has been necessary, alleging that inexperienced Reform councillors do not always lay out a rationale for decisions, particularly those that other groups are unhappy with.

Asked whether her step up would prompt any change in style, Cllr Boad told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Cabinet is our main opportunity to challenge the administration.

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"It is a minority administration, they don't have an overall majority. We have just had the council plan and that is theirs but a lot of stuff that has come forward would have come through anyway.

"There has been very little that changes how the council works or what it does so far.

"We will continue to hold them to account and to try to expose where they don't really know what they are talking about.

"Sometimes portfolio holders read out statements that have been prepared for them but when we ask a follow-up questions, we get a lot of 'we'll come back to you', 'I'm not sure', 'I need to find out the answer to that', so I am not sure some of the cabinet members are on top of their briefs.

"We will be holding their feet to the fire and probing to make sure that they know what they are doing."

Put to her that rows have rumbled on in meetings and that perceptions of councillors squabbling benefit no one, Cllr Boad replied: "The main thing we are trying to achieve is getting answers to our questions.

"They don't always come back with the answers when that is promised. Cllr (George) Finch (leader) gives as good as he gets and is quite good at deflecting. I have no problem in going back to him to get him to answer questions.

"You don't want to be going backwards and forwards all the time but we also don't want to give Cllr Finch an easy ride or let him think he can ride roughshod over the council."

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On whether she would like to be council leader, Cllr Boad said she had been her party's nominee when Cllr Finch faced a vote of no confidence.

"It is very hard, the resources make it tough, budgets have been cut by millions and millions over many years, but I think as Lib Dems that we would manage the resources we have in a better way," she added.

"What is available would remain the same but we would manage them in a better and more sympathetic way, and with a better knowledge of services. We have more experience in the group to understand how we could do things better.

Cllr Boad fills the shoes of long-serving group leader Cllr Jerry Roodhouse who will continue to play a big part.

"Jerry has now become chair of the group and his experience goes back even longer than mine," she said.

"His knowledge of procedure, what we have done before, just the way the council works will continue to be invaluable. We will be tapping into that expertise as we go forward."

Cllr George Cowcher is the new deputy group leader. He is also the deputy leader of the Lib Dem-run Stratford-on-Avon District Council.

Cllr Finch has been approached for comment.