‘I had to learn very quickly’: Reform UK leader, 19, defends council tax rise | Reform UK
The 19-year-old leader of the reform-led council defended proposals for a 3.89% rise in council tax, despite senior officials saying an increase of less than 5% would risk the local authority’s financial sustainability.
Financial managers at Warwickshire county council said in December the proposed increase was a “riskier financial strategy” that would threaten the medium-term sustainability of the local authority.
Reform England’s stance on council tax has come under increased scrutiny in recent weeks after the party was accused of betraying its election promise to cut taxes. At least four of the 10 councils the party controls proposed a 5% council tax increase earlier this year, the maximum allowed by law.
George Finch, who has led a minority government on Warwickshire county council since his appointment as leader in July, defended proposals to increase council tax by 3.89%.
Finch said: “This is not an ideal situation. We want low taxes, low spending and we have always been determined to do that. There are just national pressures that the government has not been able to address.” [such as] To send [special education needs and disabilities] home-school transportation.
“The public understands that taxes must now increase. I am against increasing taxes and will do my best to reduce this bill and burden.”
Council officials told the administration in December that an additional £4.2 million would need to be cut for every 1% off the maximum increase in council tax to balance the budget. “The material levels of additional budget cuts will need to be approved,” the report said.
Finch said such officers were expected to “use their professional judgment” but that implementing a 5% increase in council tax was an “easier” option. “It’s easier to go to 4.99%… We wouldn’t have to change the whole environment of the council. We wouldn’t have to look under the backs of sofas.”
Finch said he hopes to make savings using artificial intelligence and “transformational savings” but did not provide details on how that would be done.
Finch said he did not expect the “congestion” he would encounter after the 2025 local elections. “I had to learn very quickly… elected members don’t have full control right away,” he said, adding that council staff and bureaucrats were causing “a lot of gridlock.”
“The shutters were coming down,” he said. “They quickly realized that George wasn’t going anywhere and the Reformation wasn’t going anywhere, so they had to start working with us.”
Councils have repeatedly said they face a dire financial situation as they struggle to meet their legal duty to balance the books due to rising costs and demand. Most are expected to increase council tax by the maximum amount in April.
Reform UK came to power last year by winning more than 600 seats in local elections, promising to reduce diversity and climate policies and tackle “waste” and “fraud” through an initiative similar to Elon Musk’s Department for Government Efficiency (Doge).
But Finch said the Department for Local Government Efficiency (Dolge), led by police chief Zia Yusuf of Reform, the party’s national equivalent, had yet to visit Warwickshire council. Instead the council has launched a “value for money” program which the leader hopes will save £70m to £100m over the next four to five years.
Asked what savings were being made at the council through Doge-style cuts, Finch revealed there would be a £1 million investment fund to improve local roads and streets, the purchase of a “fleet of buses and taxis” to transport children with special needs from home to school, as well as savings on the procurement of contracts.
Paul Chamberlain, one of the Reform UK cabinet members responsible for the Dolge cuts at Kent county council, said councilors had found no significant waste to cut.
Chamberlain told the FT: “We made some assumptions that we would come here and find some of the madness there. [Musk’s] Doge was found in America… and that was wrong, we couldn’t find any of that.”
The admission raises questions about claims by Reform England leader Nigel Farage and Yousef that there is massive waste and fraud in local government.
Council members will vote on the new budget on Thursday.
