Exclusive: Nigel Farage’s struggling flagship Kent administration is now reaching out to other parties, after failing to identify the millions of pounds in savings they promised
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage attends a meeting alongside the leader of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaran (left), during his visit to the Reform UK group at Kent at Kent County Council at County Hall, Maidstone, this July.
Photo: PA Images via Alamy
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Reform’s flagship ‘cost-cutting’ Kent County Council leadership has started approaching opposition parties for help finding extra cash, after struggling to identify the tens of millions of pounds in budget savings they promised, Byline Times can reveal.
The newly-won Council was heralded by Nigel Farage as a symbol of what the party could achieve nationally by cutting local government “waste”.
The party went on to appoint Reform councillor Matthew Fraser-Moat as a £36,000 cabinet member for what the party calls DOLGE – the Department for Local Government Efficiency, mimicking Elon Musk’s aborted efforts under President Trump in the US.
However, the administration has since descended into chaos, with four councillors suspended last week following leaked footage exposing major divisions within the council leadership.
As a result Kent is now reportedly among a series of Reform-led authorities set to break the party’s pledge not to raise local taxes.
Opposition councillors have told Byline Times that the party is now so “desperate” for ideas on what to cut to make the upcoming budget add up that it is now arranging brain-storming sessions with opposition parties.
An opposition councillor told Byline Times: “DOLGE is arranging meetings with all political groups because they have run out of ideas. They will not be able to find service delivery efficiencies which do not impact the most vulnerable in society.
“So far they have just been looking to see what can make the best headlines without anything to back it up.”
It comes as Zia Yusuf stepped down on Wednesday as head of the national Reform “DOGE” unit that has been “struggling to find council waste to cut,” according to Politico. He was just four months into the role and had already resigned once and returned to it.
The outlet reports that Reform second-in-command Richard Tice will take over instead. Yusuf will remain the party’s head of policy.
Another opposition councillor, from a different party, told this outlet: “The most painless saving the council can make is to cut the DOLGE charade, because it costs the council about £70,000 a year, and they have failed to come up with any economies.”
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They claimed that when Kent DOLGE lead councillor Matthew Fraser-Moat presented to the scrutiny committee recently about what the team has done, “the paper presented was basically a rehash of all the claims made by Zia Yusuf and co when they rolled up at County Hall and started lying about our finances.”
Asked why they thought DOLGE was asking opposition parties for things to cut, they replied: “I think they’re desperate for ideas. We’re on the other side of 14 years of austerity and because the fair funding review isn’t going to be favourable to Kent County Council that will continue.
“We’re not expecting the Government to be more generous than the Conservatives, and Reform have come in expecting to find profligacy in the council which hasn’t been the case.”
Every directorate of the council has trimmed their budget every year over more than a decade.
“There’s no budget to cut at the moment. [Nearly all] the money that we spend is on statutory services that we cannot avoid”, they said.
“The scope for reducing the rest of the budget is very small but the valued additional discretionary services include subsidised school bus passes, community wardens, libraries, and wellbeing programmes that prevent people presenting early for NHS or adult social care assistance.”
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Kent has around 100 libraries, and the previous Reform deputy leader spoke about trimming library provision, which will likely meet stern opposition from communities.
Kent also operates a unique education system with grammar schools. Parents of non-grammar pupils can choose which non-selective school to send their children, which can often be many miles away. The Kent Travel Saver costs families £550 per child per year, with the council heavily subsidising this service. The cost could rise significantly for parents if that subsidy is cut.
Other options which may be looked at include making it harder for children with special educational needs (SEND) to qualify for home-to-school transport, though this may face legal challenges.
Some opposition councillors fear statements from Nigel Farage and Richard Tice about it being parents’ responsibility to get children to school could lead to long-term removal of this support.
Reform UK also claims it will save £14 million by not refurbishing Invicta House in Maidstone, which the council was meant to be moving into, opposite Sessions House (the grand County Hall currently used). But the plan had been to sell Sessions House after the move – a far-progressed deal which has now fallen through. Meanwhile, Invicta House may struggle to find a buyer. Sessions House is viewed as antiquated and not fit for purpose in terms of accessibility for people with mobility issues, and there was (non-Reform) cross party consensus previously on the move.
However, the building is palatial, featuring a grand staircase and huge panelled council chamber. According to one opposition party leader, Reform UK councillors have been “seduced by the building”.
Reform in Kent and Kent County Council were both contacted for comment.
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