Reform UK’s Kent council faces ‘extreme risk’ after passing first budget
Reform UK’s showcase council in Kent faces “extreme risk” and “instability”, opposition politicians have warned, after it passed its first budget.The party’s councillors voted it through on Thursday night after their leaders announced a 3.99% council tax increase, one percentage point under the limit before a referendum is required, despite promising before their election win not to raise tax.While it was described by the council leader, Linden Kemkaran, as a “sensible, low-tax budget,” opposition parties said it left the council’s reserves “dangerously low” and exposed to financial risk totalling more than £410m on the local authority’s risk register.The vote was carried with 48 councillors in favour – the number who are still with Reform after a period of turmoil in which several left Nigel Farage’s bloc on the council – with 26 against and one abstention.
The plan was described as a “casino budget” by Antony Hook, the Liberal Democrat opposition leader, who brought along letters and leaflets delivered by Reform before last year’s local council elections which pledged to cut council tax.“It contains [Kent county council’s] highest ever exposure to financial risk – £411m of immediate risk in this year (up 60% from last year) and almost all is rated ‘4 out of 5’ in likelihood,” he said.Accusing Reform of mounting an “attack on the vulnerable”, Hook singled out cuts of £1.2m from fostering services and £700,000 from fostering for children with disabilities.Funding for infrastructure was static and did not keep pace with inflation, he added.
“So, in real terms, Reform are cutting the highways budget.More potholes, more road collapses and a crumbling network.”The Green party’s Stuart Heaver described the budget as “a victory of political posturing over the interests of residents”.“This is a showcase council for Nigel Farage and it was obvious the key priority for them is cosmetics – looking good – not serving the interests of Kent,” he said.“The statutory financial assurance report was alarming to say the least – their budget risks the stability of the entire council.
That doesn’t matter if they can boast that council tax was raised less than their predecessors,”During the debate, the council’s deputy leader, Brian Collins, described the budget as being “carefully thought through”, adding: “Some people call it risky, I call it bold,”Kemkaran had said Reform would prefer not to propose a council tax increase at all but given “the dire legacy we inherited”, alongside an unprecedented rise in demands and costs for services such as social care, “this is simply not possible”,Budget documents showed that adult social care and health was “one of the most critical threats to the council’s financial resilience” with an estimated annual £68m risk,The best public interest journalism relies on first-hand accounts from people in the know.
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Left or right, Keir? Labour factions jostle for influence in post-McSweeney No 10
As the prime minister fought for his political life before Labour MPs at their Monday evening meeting, even hardened sceptics saw a flash of something different in Keir Starmer.Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, said Starmer had been “liberated”. He did not have to spell out who from. His comments came 24 hours after the departure of Starmer’s chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, a man who has shaped Labour’s modern incarnation.McSweeney’s presence loomed the largest over any other in Starmer’s government, and his departure means there are many cabinet ministers, groups and factions of the party who spy an opportunity to define what comes next
Reform UK’s Kent council faces ‘extreme risk’ after passing first budget
Reform UK’s showcase council in Kent faces “extreme risk” and “instability”, opposition politicians have warned, after it passed its first budget.The party’s councillors voted it through on Thursday night after their leaders announced a 3.99% council tax increase, one percentage point under the limit before a referendum is required, despite promising before their election win not to raise tax.While it was described by the council leader, Linden Kemkaran, as a “sensible, low-tax budget,” opposition parties said it left the council’s reserves “dangerously low” and exposed to financial risk totalling more than £410m on the local authority’s risk register.The vote was carried with 48 councillors in favour – the number who are still with Reform after a period of turmoil in which several left Nigel Farage’s bloc on the council – with 26 against and one abstention
Reeves urged to reassure MPs over public finances amid £6bn-a-year Send costs
Rachel Reeves is under pressure to reassure MPs over the state of the UK’s public finances, amid concerns that the rising cost of special educational needs and disabilities (Send) could leave a significant hole in the government’s financial buffer.Meg Hillier, the chair of the all-party House of Commons Treasury committee, said the chancellor should make clear her long-term plans for the £6bn-a-year Send bill as uncertainty grows over how it will be accounted for at the end of the decade.Reeves, who is due to appear before the committee next month, said in a letterto MPs that she plans to delay a decision until next year.City analysts said financial market investors would be concerned if some or all of the £6bn Send annual cost was deducted from the budget surplus, which the chancellor more than doubled in last November’s budget to £22bn to cushion the UK against volatile government bond markets.The spat between MPs and the Treasury comes after the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said the £6bn Send bill was unaccounted for at the budget and expected increases to the bill over the next decade posed a risk to the public finances
Starmer ousts cabinet secretary in clear-out of top team after Mandelson scandal
Keir Starmer’s attempt to shake up his top team after the disastrous Peter Mandelson scandal began on Thursday, when he forced out his most senior civil servant with a view to replacing him with Antonia Romeo.The prime minister announced that Chris Wormald was stepping down “by mutual consent” after just over a year as cabinet secretary, with Romeo almost certain to succeed him as the first woman in the job.Starmer’s decision to oust Wormald drew ire from senior civil servants over the brutality of the move. One person described the mood as “sulphurous” over the prime minister’s apparent willingness to let senior officials go.The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, said the cabinet secretary had become the “latest person Keir Starmer has thrown under the bus to save his own skin”
Who is Antonia Romeo and why is she tipped to be the next cabinet secretary?
Antonia Romeo is not a typical civil servant, according to almost everyone who has worked with or met her in a professional context.Charming, ambitious and not afraid to publicise her own achievements, Romeo was on the shortlist to be cabinet secretary a year ago when Keir Starmer opted instead for a classic “Sir Humphrey” choice in Chris Wormald.But with Wormald now forced out, the permanent secretary of the Home Office finds herself back at the top of the list of appointable candidates and the frontrunner to succeed him.Whitehall sources said earlier this week that Romeo’s appointment was the most likely option but “not nailed on” because No 10 “still don’t know what they want”. It is understood, however, that Downing Street very much intends to appoint her, subject to the civil service commissioner’s approval of the process
Union chief calls for Angela Rayner to replace Keir Starmer or risk Labour defeat to Reform UK
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