Reform UK’s most senior local government figure has said the party did not promise to cut council tax ahead of elections held earlier this year, as his own authority weighs up raising the charge by the maximum amount.
Stephen Atkinson, leader of Lancashire county council, in north-west England, and a vice-chair of the Local Government Association (LGA), refused to rule out an increase of 5 per cent next year due to the huge strain on social care budgets.
Reform stormed to victory in local elections in May, winning nine English councils and becoming the largest party in three others.
Leaflets distributed across the country during the campaign on behalf of some leading Reform candidates promised that the party would “cut your taxes”.
Other material, including social media posts, promised to “reduce the rates”, “reverse tax hikes” or “freeze council tax”. After his win, Leicestershire county council’s leader, Dan Harrison, declared the party would be “able to cut council tax”.
Leaflets making similar promises were sent out as recently as the Nottinghamshire by-election on November 6.
But numerous Reform councils, including its “flagship” administration in Kent, have warned they may have to agree a 5 per cent rise, the maximum allowed without a referendum.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Atkinson rebuffed the suggestion his party had made a formal pledge to cut council tax.
“We never said that,” he replied, referring to the central office. “I can’t rule out an increase.”
When pressed about local campaign material, Atkinson insisted none of Reform UK’s “official” party leaflets made such a pledge on council tax.
“That [promise] is not sanctioned from head office,” he said. “The head office were very clear that they didn’t put that in. So if someone’s gone rogue . . . that’s not the national party’s position.”
Party leader Nigel Farage has said that local councils are “their own living, breathing organisms” and urged them to keep council tax rises limited to inflation.
Lancashire, like most English councils, is facing a huge shortfall ahead of the budget-setting process next February. They are banking on the government’s “fair funding” review, a shake-up of how central grants are allocated to councils, to help alleviate those pressures.
But Atkinson said he feared the changes would result in money being “diverted” away from rural areas and put into cities.
The former Conservative district council leader, who defected to Reform in March, said the taxpayer “trying to work two jobs, who hasn’t had a holiday for eight years” was foremost in his mind. Yet he conceded that increasing council tax was a possibility.
Lancashire’s current budget forecasts for next year already assume a 5 per cent council tax rise.
Even with that additional revenue, council officials estimate £75mn in savings will be needed to balance the books.
Atkinson said he blamed central government for the funding crisis affecting English councils due to the introduction of legislation placing additional burdens on overstretched local authorities.
He singled out the Children and Families Act 2014, which has resulted in more children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) being entitled to support funded by councils.
The legislation around Send provision “needs to be changed”, Atkinson said.
“We currently have 10 pupils in some of the highest fee-paying schools in the country, where I can only dream of sending my children,” he said. “I know one of these cases is costing £93k a year.”
This can happen when a child already enrolled at a fee-paying school has a change in financial circumstances but cannot be moved elsewhere if doing so would be “detrimental” to their wellbeing, he added.
“If a parent starts paying the fees and then for whatever reason can’t continue, there’s places like Lancashire [council] — when we’ve got old people who can’t put the heating on — having to pay,” Atkinson said.
The council leader added that the cost of transporting Send pupils to school, via taxis or minibuses, was £60mn a year.
“We’re trying to mitigate that by offering grants to parents to take the children to school,” he said. “If I was a parent, I’d take my child to school.”
How Reform performs at a local level is seen as a test of how they could govern if, as polls suggest, they win a majority at the next general election, which must be held before 2029.
This week, Lancashire police met with local councillors following an escalation of complaints over abusive behaviour on social media, including by some Reform members.
Some members of the rightwing populist outfit, locally as well as nationally, have been forced to defend themselves against accusations of racism, including fresh allegations that party leader Nigel Farage made offensive comments as a teenager towards students from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Last month, Lancashire councillor Tom Pickup was suspended by Reform pending investigation over comments he made in a WhatsApp group containing far-right extremist views.
Atkinson, who declined to comment on the suspension, said Reform did not have a greater problem with racism than any other party, pointing to the suspension earlier this year of 11 Labour councillors from Stockport and Tameside, in Greater Manchester, and two MPs over a WhatsApp group containing offensive messages.
“This is a problem across all political parties,” he added.
