{"id":86478,"date":"2025-10-06T07:35:06","date_gmt":"2025-10-06T06:35:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=86478"},"modified":"2025-10-06T07:35:06","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T06:35:06","slug":"reform-is-failing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2025\/10\/06\/reform-is-failing\/","title":{"rendered":"Reform is failing"},"content":{"rendered":"

I noted this<\/a> in the FT this morning:<\/p>\n

Kent\u2019s local authority is likely to raise council tax rates next year as Reform UK has struggled to find big savings under an Elon Musk-inspired cost-cutting drive.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

They added:<\/p>\n

Kent was one of 10 English councils that Nigel Farage\u2019s rightwing populist party seized in a swath of victories at local elections in May this year. He vowed to save \u201ca lot of money\u201d by abolishing \u201cwasteful\u201d spending.<\/p>\n

But Diane Morton, Reform\u2019s cabinet member for adult social care on Kent county council, told the Financial Times that services in Kent were already \u201cdown to the bare bones\u201d.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is hardly surprising. Like all UK councils, Kent has suffered massive cuts over the last decade or so, and now only barely provides the statutory minimum level of service required of it, almost entirely dedicated to adult and child social care and special educational needs plus other essential, and legally, as well as socially, required services, which in comparison wth those social services do in any case come at low cost and have no room for almost any further cuts.<\/p>\n

Reform, in other words, made claims about cutting costs that were wholly unjustified.<\/p>\n

Reform claimed that its councils would show just how successful they could be at transforming government. It seems that they already are: what their councils are showing is that there is no further room for cuts, and everything that Reform has been saying is total nonsense.<\/p>\n

Shall we move on in that case? Being racist is not a basis for delivering useful policy at any level of government, and since that is all the Reform has to offer<\/a>, this outcome was always inevitable, but it's good to see it working out as expected in practice. Maybe people will take note.<\/p>\n

\n

Taking further action<\/b><\/p>\n

If you want to write a letter to your MP on the issues raised in this blog post, there is a ChatGPT prompt to assist you in doing so, with full instructions,\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n

One word of warning, though: please ensure you have the correct MP. ChatGPT can get it wrong.<\/p>\n

\n

Comments\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

When commenting, please take note of this blog\u2019s comment policy,\u00a0which is available here<\/a>. Contravening this policy will result in comments being deleted before or after initial publication at the editor\u2019s sole discretion and without explanation being required or offered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I noted this in the FT this morning: Kent\u2019s local authority is likely to raise council tax rates next year as Reform UK has struggled
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