Reform Councils Raise Taxes by Maximum Legal Amount After Discovering the "Fat to Cut" Was Actually Elderly People's Care

KENT / DERBYSHIRE / NORTHAMPTONSHIRE — Reform UK spent the better part of two years telling voters that local councils were bloated, wasteful sinkholes of taxpayer money being funnelled into diversity coordinators, climate officers, and people whose job titles included the word "engagement." Cut all that, they said, and watch the savings roll in.

They are now in charge of nine councils. Every single one has raised council tax. Three-quarters raised it by the maximum amount the law allows without requiring a public vote — 4.99%. In Kent alone, that means an extra £87 per year for the average household.

Reform leaders have described this as a victory.

The Fat That Wasn't There

The problem, councillors discovered on taking office, is that the "fat" they had campaigned on cutting turned out to be things like adult social care, children's services, and highway maintenance. In Kent, 48% of the entire council budget — £787 million — goes to adult social care alone. This figure did not move when Reform took over, because elderly and disabled people continued to require care regardless of the electoral result.

Reform did find savings. They cut diversity and inclusion programmes. They ended subscriptions to various external bodies they described as "quangos." They cancelled some consultancy contracts. In total, across their councils, they have announced cuts of several million pounds — a figure their press releases describe as "historic" and economists describe as "roughly in line with what every incoming administration announces."

The gap between those savings and the funding pressures councils face was filled, in every case, with a council tax rise.

"We said we'd cut waste. We cut waste. We also raised your taxes. These two things are not in contradiction. The waste we cut was different waste to the waste that was causing the tax rise. There was waste, and then there was structural underfunding, and we dealt with the waste. The underfunding was the other lot's fault." — A Reform council leader, in a statement that took three press officers to write

The Promise Problem

Reform's Durham council leader Andrew Husband had said in January that it was "our ambition not to have another council tax increase next year." Durham raised council tax. He described this as "a difficult decision taken in challenging circumstances," which is also what the Labour and Conservative leaders he replaced had said about their tax rises, but in a different context, apparently.

In West Northamptonshire, Reform campaign leaflets had pledged to "reduce council waste to help cut your taxes." West Northamptonshire raised council tax by 4.99%. The leaflets have been removed from the party's website.

Farage's Response

Nigel Farage, asked about his councils' tax rises ahead of the May 7 local elections in which Reform hopes to gain over a thousand more seats, said his councils had "found millions in savings" and that "unlike Labour and the Tories, we are actually doing the work." He did not mention the council tax rises.

When a journalist mentioned them, Farage said it was "very important context" that the previous administrations had left councils in a "terrible state." When the journalist noted that council finances have been under pressure for 14 years largely due to central government decisions made partly by a party Farage previously supported, he described this as "the kind of thing the mainstream media always does" and ended the interview.

He then posted a video of himself in a pub expressing concern about the cost of living.

Reform's national spokesperson, reached for comment, said that the council tax rises demonstrated Reform's commitment to "fiscal responsibility" and "making the tough choices" — which are phrases previously used exclusively by the parties Reform was elected to replace, a symmetry nobody in the party's press office appeared to find noteworthy.