STOP REFORM UK

RUK’s Broken promises

The gap between rhetoric and reality

After winning control of ten councils in May, Reform UK pledged to collect bins, fix potholes, slash waste and avoid council tax rises. Six months on, those promises have largely collapsed. At least eight Reform-run authorities are preparing council tax hikes, despite campaign leaflets implying freezes or reductions. Nigel Farage now insists he “never once” promised lower council tax, an awkward claim given the party’s own messaging.

Reform’s national programme puts “slashing government waste” immediately after reducing immigration, promoting the idea that councils hide layers of pointless, expensive services that can be swept away with “common sense.” But experience in office has undermined this narrative. Across Kent, Lincolnshire, Durham and other Reform-led authorities, councillors have discovered that essential statutory services cannot simply be cut, and that large efficiencies are elusive.

The gap between Reform’s rhetoric and reality has quickly become glaring. Voters were promised bold savings and no tax rises. Instead, they are facing the same difficult trade-offs that every administration confronts—and in many cases, steeper bills. As Reform’s then-chairman Zia Yusuf told the BBC in May: “We will cut waste, you can hold us to that.” Six months later, with taxes rising and no hidden waste uncovered, it is hard to see the promise as anything but broken.

RUK council DOGE unit

Reform UK’s “Doge” unit, launched in early 2025 by Nigel Farage to audit councils and tackle wasteful spending, had yet to carry out any formal audits as of October 2025. Despite visits to councils including Kent, Lancashire, and Lincolnshire, no agreements exist to access confidential data, and councils are running their own efficiency reviews. Deputy leader Richard Tice described Doge as a “philosophy of saving money,” not a formal auditing body. While the party claims some work has been done—such as halting office moves or stopping net-zero schemes—experts argue these savings are minor compared to the massive pressures on statutory services like social care, leaving council finances under strain.


Kent Council

Kent County Council, Reform’s flagship and self-described “shop window,” illustrates the wider failure. Leaders there admit they were unable to identify meaningful “waste” to remove and will instead raise council tax by the maximum 5%. Reform cabinet members concede that services were already operating at “bare bones” and that their belief in easy savings was misplaced. The reality of local government budgeting—where 70–80% of spending is legally tied to adult social care and children’s services—has left Reform councillors scrambling, exposed, and forced to break key commitments.

As well as failing to find much waste and putting up council tax, RUK councils have also been wasting money: