Reform UK\u2019s flagship council has been accused of telling a \u201cblatant lie\u201d after its claim of nearly \u00a340m in savings on net zero was found to be based on hypothetical projects for which there was no documentation.<\/p>\n
Kent county council, which has a \u00a32.5bn annual budget, is one of 10 where Nigel Farage\u2019s party has outright control and is seen as a test case for whether the insurgent party can govern competently.<\/p>\n
Soon after being elected, the council leader, Linden Kemkaran, promised the party\u2019s \u201cdepartment of local government efficiency\u201d, or Dolge, would bring a \u201claser-like focus on getting value for money\u201d.<\/p>\n
The council\u2019s leadership claimed it had found \u00a3100m in savings, \u00a339.5m of which come from what it said was two net zero-related projects: \u00a332m by scrapping a programme to make properties more environmentally friendly, and \u00a37.5m by not making the council\u2019s fleet of vehicles electric by 2030.<\/p>\n
After Kemkaran announced these at a council meeting last July, Polly Billington, a Labour MP in Kent, requested details of the apparent savings via a freedom of information request, setting off a months-long battle<\/a> with the council.<\/p>\n The eventual answer said the two projects were documented in two lines of a \u201cpotential capital projects\u201d section of the council\u2019s 2025-26 budget plans, but added they had no business cases or identified funding.<\/p>\n Billington said the response showed Kemkaran\u2019s claims about the savings were \u201ca blatant lie\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cThese supposedly cancelled net zero projects never existed, and the fantastical \u00a339.5m savings figure she is spinning is something she completely made up.<\/p>\n Polly Billington said the council\u2019s response showed Kemkaran\u2019s claims about the savings were \u2018a blatant lie\u2019. Photograph: Polly Braden\/The Guardian<\/p>\n Billington accused Kemkaran, of trying to claim credit for \u201cfantastical\u201d savings for political reasons.<\/p>\n \u201cThe reality is that Reform had no plan to deliver savings at Kent county council, and now they\u2019re lying to people rather than admitting their council is in chaos and they\u2019re hiking council tax to cover up their mess. Linden Kemkaran needs to stop peddling these false figures and focus on delivering better services for the people of Kent.\u201d<\/p>\n The council rejected this assessment, saying that while the only detail on the projects was two lines in an appendix to a budget document, and that they had not been approved or made subject to a business case, they were a \u201cfuture cost\u2011avoidance measure\u201d, and thus legitimate to claim as a saving.<\/p>\n