MIEKA SMILES: Voters would do well to start questioning Reform UK’s abilities.
Mieka Smiles on Nigel Farage’s outrageous promise (Image: Daily Express/PA)
It’s that time of year again. The weird kind of reverse Christmas for UK residents, when your council tax rockets, but you see absolutely zero bang for your buck. As a local councillor – and former deputy mayor – I’ve sat in enough budget meetings to know this much: setting council tax is not for the faint of heart. Every line feels like you’re teetering between going bust or scrapping yet another bin collection. Which is why I nearly choked on my cornflakes when Nigel Farage’s lot swept to power in councils across the country last May, and promised to slash council tax. This will be interesting, I thought.
And even though everyone hates a know-it-all, I knew exactly how it would end. Because while councils are far from paragons of efficiency, sadly, there aren’t secret piles of cash lying about in the town hall loft. Council budgets are dominated by things that even the most hopeful new council member can’t just wish away. Children’s services, adult social care and the special educational needs transport bill are the unholy trinity of council tax drain.
Last summer Zia Yusef, head of policy for Reform UK, said that “waste and in some cases corruption” within councils was “off the charts” as he launched his own version of a US DOGE-style efficiency drive.
And it all sounded great until Reform councillors running Kent County Council waved the white flag on their hunt for pennies hiding behind the sofa cushions. Cllr Paul Chamberlain, cabinet member responsible for the council’s Department of Local Government Efficiency, (yes, DOLGE…) admitted that they’d somewhat overplayed their hand.
He said: “We made some assumptions that we would come in here and find some craziness that Doge found in America and that was wrong, we didn’t find any of that.”
But it gets worse.
At least four of 10 Reform UK councils have now proposed 5% council tax rises, the maximum permitted by law. Reform UK’s Cllr George Finch, the 19-year-old leader at Warwickshire county council, has been forced to defend proposals for a 3.89% council tax rise.
He said: “We want low tax, low spend and we were always committed to that. It’s just that national pressures that the government is not solving [such as] SEND [special educational needs and disabilities] home-school transport.”
Well! I have to say, that young George has been taking notice. Indeed, I could tell you stories about the costs in those areas that would truly make your hair stand on end, which central Government needs to get a grip on pronto.
The moral of the story is simple. Reform UK can make all the crazy promises they like – but that certainly doesn’t mean they can deliver them. And as we approach these make-or-break local elections in May, voters would do well to ask not just what candidates are promising, but whether they understand how on Earth they will deliver on them.
