Reform UK set to hike council tax in Kent by 5% – despite DOGE-style pledge to cut costs
A council run by Reform Britain will reportedly increase council tax rates next year, despite being inspired by those introduced in the United States by Elon Musk.
Nigel Farage has vowed to save “a lot of money” after his party won control of Kent County Council in local elections in May this year.
Two months later, in July, the council introduced a Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge) modeled on the Musk Doge in the US, which Council leader Linden Kemkaran claimed had identified potential savings of £40 million.
a report Councilors said the savings would “ensure the council can operate within its budget while continuing to deliver the services that residents value most and those that are required to be delivered by law.”
However, the authority’s new adult social care chief, Diane Morton, this week hinted at an increase in residents’ council tax bills as she warned that services in the borough were “bare bones”.
Diane Morton said Financial Times: “We have more demand than ever and it is growing, we just want more money.”
Ms Kemkaran declined to say whether council tax rates would be increased, with Ms Morton saying she believed the increase would be five per cent.
Around 50 per cent of Kent’s £2.5 billion annual budget is spent on adult and child social care and children with special educational needs.
East Thanet Labor MP Polly Billington accused authority chiefs of making “big promises about savings, then failing to come up with any because they didn’t know what they were talking about”.
“This is what they do in local government and this is what they do to England,” he added.
Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper said: “Cradling the notes of dodgy American tech billionaires is no way to run a council.” he said.
However, a Reform England Kent spokesman said the council had done “fantastic work” to reduce debt by £66 million in five months, while it faces a £27.9 million overspend in the new year beyond its £1.53 billion budget.
The party’s experience in Kent is a reflection of the obstacles it will face if Mr Farage is elected Prime Minister.
Ms. Kemkaran said the City government was acting as “a shop window where everyone can see what a reform government could look like.”
A Reform England Kent spokesman said the council had a new “no more borrowing” policy since this year’s survey.
“Our team at KCC has done a fantastic job cleaning up the mess left by the Kent Conservatives and reducing the borough council’s debt by £66 million in its first five months in office,” he said.
“The majority of these came from savings as a result of the Dolge (Department of Local Government Efficiency) unit.
“This includes implementing a ‘no more borrowing’ policy that would reduce its debts by a further £33 million by March 2026, scrapping KCC’s net-zero renewable energy program to save £32 million over four years, and halting a move to a new council house that would avoid a further £14 billion of borrowing.
