Labour MPs ridiculed Reform’s claim that Kent County Council would be “the best advert” for a Reform government
Labour MP Tristan Osborne criticised Reform’s poor leadership of Kent County Council at PMQs today.
Osborne told deputy prime minister David Lammy, who stood in for Keir Starmer while he is at Cop30 in Brazil, “The leader of my local council, Kent County Council (KCC), has said that they’re a shop window on Reform UK.”
He then pointed to several Reform failures. Councillors are facing criminal charges, the party has expelled five Kent councillors, and their Doge cost-cutting plan has failed.
Osborne also described the Reform leader of KCC, Linden Kemkaran as “an authoritarian leader who shouts and swears at colleagues”.
The Chatham and Aylesford MP asked: “Does the deputy prime minister agree with me that the people of Kent deserve so much better?”.
In a dig at Reform’s record so far in local government, he also asked: “And how is the government going to ensure that we deliver higher standards in local government?”.
In response, Lammy made a joke about seeing Nigel Farage at PMQs, “This may be the first time I’ve seen him in Prime Minister’s Questions.”
The justice secretary stated that Reform had said KCC would be the “best advert for what a Reform government would look like.”
One MP said: “They’re certainly right about that.”
Lammy added that Reform is “delivering on the chaos that they promised and on standards in public life.”
The Tottenham MP then called out Reform MP Sarah Pochin’s “disgraceful, racist” comments about seeing black and Asian people in adverts. He said the language belonged “in the dark ages”.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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