Broken promises, rising taxes: Inside Reform UK’s first year in power

Reform has run councils for a year. As local elections near, we ask: how has the party performed in power?

Broken promises, broken roads, and broken council leadership teams – that’s the outcome of Reform UK’s first year in power, an investigation by openDemocracy reveals.

[…] Reform raised taxes in every council where it holds or shares power. Potholes continue to cause accidents and damage, and councillors’ struggles over where to make promised savings have put much-loved local services at risk of closure.

Reform-led Lancashire county council could quit refugee resettlement scheme

Councillor announces plan to withdraw from government-funded programme on eve of local elections

The Reform-led Lancashire county council will withdraw from the government’s refugee resettlement scheme, one of its cabinet members has said.

Joshua Roberts announced plans for Lancashire to leave the scheme, which would make it the first local authority to do so. It would mean Lancashire would no longer participate in the UK Resettlement Scheme (UKRS) and the Afghan Resettlement Programme (ARP).

The authority coordinates participation in these schemes on behalf of 14 unitary and district councils in Lancashire that have responsibilities for housing.

Analysis of Reform UK proposal for income tax cuts in Scotland

The biggest direct beneficiaries of such a change would be the high-income taxpayers who currently pay substantially more in income tax than in the rest of the UK

…

But this does not properly confront the challenges they would face in finding £2 billion or more of spending cuts in the coming parliament.

Reform’s first crack at power is already in crisis

The party’s performance in Kent shows it is nowhere near ready for government

[…]

Antony Hook, leader of the Liberal Democrats in Kent, says Reform was convinced they could make large savings from cutting the county’s budget on asylum seekers.

“They were really fixated on it. Every question they’d ask would be about the cost of asylum. We kept explaining that KCC doesn’t have that large a role in that and how it’s mainly a Home Office expense.

“We tried to explain that the big problem is adult social care, but they would just say: ‘What about asylum?’

“This is where reality has now collided with ideology. They said they’d take their chainsaw to a forest of waste. But the chainsaw seems to have been made out of sponge, and rather than a forest they’ve found an open field where there’s nothing to use it on.”

Reform’s first crack at power is already in crisis, The Telegraph

#asylum #failedToDoHomework #fantasyEconomics #Kent #NigelFarage #spongeChainsaw

Reform UK likely to raise council tax in Kent despite promise to cut costs

Kent becomes latest local authority controlled by Nigel Farage’s party to signal intention to raise council tax

A Reform UK-run council where the party sought to pilot drastic cost-cutting plans is going to have to raise council tax, a cabinet member has admitted.

Services at Kent county council were already “down to the bare bones”, said Reform’s cabinet member for adult social care, Diane Morton. It makes Kent the latest local authority controlled by Nigel Farage’s party to signal its intention to raise council tax.

Reform UK likely to raise council tax in Kent despite promise to cut costs, The Guardian

#councilTax #DianeMorton #fantasyEconomics #Kent #taxHike

"Do Reform's economic plans add up?"

A particularly fine example of #BetteridgesLaw

Though perhaps if the BBC weren't so in love with Reform they might have included an estimate of the real figures in the graphic rather than only the fantasy figures.

The message that anyone who only looks at the pictures and doesn't read the words would take from that article (probably most potential Reform voters) is yes, the sums do add up.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyx4v44438o

#ReformUK #FantasyEconomics #BBCBias

Reform UK leader defends £190k-per-year plan to bring in political assistants at Warwickshire County Council

The interim leader of Warwickshire County Council has defended plans to bring in political assistants costing up to £190,000 per year in the face of outrage from other parties.

Councillor George Finch (Reform UK, Bedworth Central) confirmed he had instigated the proposals that will be considered by all councillors next week.

They would see the biggest three parties at Shire Hall – Reform, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives – have a dedicated council officer to “undertake research and provide administrative support to members of political groups in the discharge of any of their (council) functions”, although the Lib Dems have spoken out to object to the idea.

National legislation allows councils to employ up to three people, one for each of the council’s three biggest groups provided they have at least 10 per cent of the seats available.

Reform UK leader defends £190k-per-year plan to bring in political assistants at Warwickshire County Council, Warwickshire World

#fantasyEconomics #GeorgeFinch #LiberalDemocrats #ReformInefficiencyDepartment #Warwickshire

Reform UK raised even less in new funding than headline figures suggest

Low donations reflect leader Nigel Farage’s difficulty in capitalising on party’s political momentum and polling lead

Reform UK secured less than £1mn in new funding in the first quarter of this year, a smaller figure than previously known, as the party struggles to expand its donor base beyond a handful of longtime backers.

Headline figures for political donations suggested Reform pulled in close to £1.5mn in the first three months of 2025, but £613,000 of that figure reflected the conversion of historic loans into donations, the party said.

The loans were from Tisun Investments Limited, a company owned by Richard Tice, Reform’s deputy leader and one of its five MPs, who has for years been a primary funding source for the rightwing populist party.

Reform UK raised even less in new funding than headline figures suggest, Anna Gross and Cynthia O’Murchu in London, ft.com

#cash #fantasyEconomics #justSomeRichBoys #NigelFarage #RichardTice #FactsAndFigures

Reform’s ‘Britannia cards’ will cost £34 billion

Speaking today at Church House in Westminster, Nigel Farage announced that Reform will introduce a ‘Britannia card’ that will let wealthy foreigners pay a £250,000 fee to move to the UK, and live here exempt from all tax on their foreign assets. The move is an attempt to win over ‘non-doms’ alienated by Labour and Conservative governments and bring their wealth back into the country.

The party says the policy will raise between £1.5 and £2.5 billion annually. Our analysis of the data suggests it is more likely to cost around £34 billion over five years.

Reform’s ‘Britannia cards’ will cost £34 billion, www.spectator.co.uk

#failedToDoHomework #fantasyEconomics #NigelFarage #ReformInefficiencyDepartment #InTheNews

Inferior pension schemes won’t create savings nor recruit vital staff

Commenting on remarks made by Richard Tice about preventing new recruits to Reform-controlled councils from joining the local government pension scheme alongside threats to cut the pay of existing employees, UNISON assistant general secretary Jon Richards said today (Thursday):

“This looks like another Reform UK policy scribbled on the back of a beer mat.

“Local authorities are obliged to offer access to the local government pension scheme to all new starters.

“The scheme is well-funded and affordable. Many council employees aren’t on final salary schemes anyway.

“Forcing council staff on to inferior pensions would leave retired workers much poorer and add to the already severe recruitment crisis in local government.

“Employees’ pensions aren’t the reason why many councils are on a financial precipice. It’s the decade and more of draconian budget cuts under Conservative governments.

“Reform claims to be on the side of workers. But declaring ‘war’ on low-paid staff won’t serve communities or cut budgets.”

Reform UK’s pension plan deserves early retirement, www.unison.org.uk

#failedToDoHomework #fantasyEconomics #JonRichards #RichardTice #UNISON #InTheNews