Reform’s cost-cutting efforts in Kent have failed
Reform-run Kent County Council has indicated that it will likely increase council tax in January after failing to make the savings anticipated through its Department of Government Efficiency (Doge)-style unit.
When Reform won control of 10 councils in England in May, Nigel Farage promised his councillors would slash wasteful spending.
Now, they are poised to raise council tax by 5% next year, the maximum amount allowed.
Reform councillors in Kent admit services are already stripped back, with demand for children’s and adult social care surging.
The Financial Times has reported that Reform’s cabinet member for adult social care on Kent county council, Diane Morton, said that services in Kent were already “down to the bare bones”.
Another Reform cabinet member said that savings couldn’t be made because there simply aren’t “huge costs” to cut.
They said: “Everyone thought we’d come in and there were going to be these huge costs we could cut away, but there just aren’t.”
Due to opposition councillors’ concerns about Zia Yusuf’s DOGE-style cost-cutting initiative giving unelected party members access to sensitive information, Kent has instead set up a ‘Dolge’ run by cabinet members.
The Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge) claims to have identified savings of £40 million over four years.
This includes scrapping a £30 million home energy efficiency scheme and cancelling plans for a new electric car fleet. Despite these alleged projected savings, the council is still likely to raise council tax.
In July, Yusuf claimed Kent County Council used taxpayers’ money to take asylum seekers on trips, and for fast food and TV subscriptions.
Yusuf did not provide proof for his claims. However, he appeared to be referring to activities for unaccompanied child refugees, who are treated in the same way as British children in care.
These activities are paid for by the Home Office, not by councils.
Another Reform council member told the FT that the asylum system was not an area they were looking to make cost savings, because those costs are all covered by the Home Office.
“We’re not looking at asylum at all . . . it isn’t in our budget,” they said.
The cabinet member also said that challenging the use of local hotels to house asylum seekers is not on their “radar” despite Farage saying Reform councils would seek to do so after the High Court granted a temporary injunction on an asylum hotel in Epping in August.
The injunction was then overruled on appeal.
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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