Reform UK members at Kent County Council have now taken induction training and chosen Maidstone South East representative Linden Kemkaran as their leader at the authority.
The next step is to choose cabinet and committee members. The new council will have its first sitting on 22nd May for the annual meeting.
The party took all the county council seats for Thanet and the majority across Kent at the May 1 elections but now the work begins with councillors needing to make decisions over a huge range of essential services, spending over £2.6 billion (excluding schools) each year.
We asked East Thanet Reform what priorities they have for the district:
The new county councillors say their focus will include the future of the Sarah Thorne Theatre in Broadstairs and Pie Factory Music in Ramsgate, together with the Millmead Community Centre in Margate.
Cllr John Finch, on behalf of the group, said: “In East Thanet concerns surround the future of the Sarah Thorne Theatre in Broadstairs and the Pie Factory in Ramsgate, together with the Millmead Community Centre in Margate.
“Each provide valued facilities and support to local residents. Our local councillors will support them to protect those facilities wherever possible. We will be in touch with each as a matter of urgency.”
Special Educational Needs & Disability
They also say attention will be turned to ‘rationalising’ the supply of Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND).
Cllr Finch said: “The other major issue concerns the supply of Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND). Getting children into the right schools to meet their requirements is both difficult to achieve and it is also very costly to residents.
“In 2021 a study found a 787% jump in the number of diagnoses between 1998 and 2018 in the UK, and the estimated number of children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has risen from 1 in 2,500 children 80 years ago to 1 in 36 today. We must find a way to rationalise that demand.”
Party leader Nigel Farage has claimed professionals are “massively over-diagnosing” SEN and mental health issues, saying it is creating ‘victims.’ The comments, heavily criticised by the National Autistic Society, have led to fears that SEN funding could be reduced at Reform led authorities.
Farmland, Minster Marshes and ‘mundane’ matters
Cllr Finch says of other duties: “More mundane matters also need addressing that most political party’s highlight such as potholes, cleaner streets, blocked drains, graffiti, anti-social behaviour and sewage spills. In addition we will have the reorganisation towards Unitary Authority to grapple with.”
He says environmental matters are also high on the agenda, adding: “The loss of farmland and the rush to net-zero is highlighted locally by the ‘Save Minster Marshes Campaign’ and its impact on wildlife and habitat.”
‘A tall order’
Six months ago the East Thanet Reform branch didn’t exist but is now one of 450 branches in existence.
Cllr Finch says candidates were chosen based on being: “local, with proven ability and a good knowledge of the area – preferably with business experience.”
He adds that there should be a ‘make do and mend’ attitude instead of ‘throwing money at a problem.’
He said: “Local government was broken and the cost of services ever increasing. It is now necessary to prove our competence. We must build teams and establish policies based on our core values; Family, Community and Country.
“Our aim is to bring back civic pride and promote what is good in Kent and the various areas of Kent. Highlight the positives and build on that so residents can see changes are being made.
“The work has already begun. The new councillors have been called in over the weekend to identify a new council leader and establish whose talents would best serve on which committees. The aim is to retain services or enhance them while reducing expenditure. A tall order but we feel it can be done.”
Other parties
At County Hall the Lib Dems are the main opposition party with 12 seats. Meanwhile, in Thanet the district council is Labour led and only one Reform councillor sits on that authority after Peter Evans secured the Thanet Villages seat in the by-election poll. How the authorities will now work together, particularly over the issue of unitary reorganisation, remains to be seen.
The East Thanet vote saw The Green Party snapping at the heels of Reform, returning Becky Wing and Thea Barrett third and fourth (behind the two Reform Councillors elected) in Ramsgate and Mike Garner second in Broadstairs.
In Birchington and Rural – which comes under the Herne Bay and Sandwich (with West Thanet) parliamentary constituency- Reform also romped home with Conservatives going against the grain elsewhere in the country to come next in the poll.
What next?
As Local Democracy Reporter Simon Finlay points out – the new Reform UK administration has full control of the county council with 57 seats and cannot be outvoted by the other parties, who number just 24 in total.
However, much of the experience has been stripped out of the council with the majority of members new to the role.
Simon adds: “Reform UK inherits some of the problems that ousted KCC leader Roger Gough soon found when he had 60-odd in the chamber at County Hall in 2021.
“The sheen of victory tarnishes very quickly when the day to day business has to be done.
“These are changing times for local government. Reform UK will have to oversee the dismantling of KCC as the new unitary authorities come into being in a few years’ time.
“That means the members at County Hall will meet their electors sooner than the full four year term.”
So far, the new county leader has voiced plans to remove the Ukraine flag from the chamber, open the council’s books to auditors – up to now KCC has been audited by its own internal team as well as by external auditors by Grant Thornton – and review working practices -including work from home- across the authority.
Nationally, it is reported that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wants to reverse the 100% council tax premium on second home owners.
However, the party only has the power to do this in Durham- which has no district or city councils- and West Northamptonshire which has a unitary authority.
In areas such as Kent, the second home premium is the responsibility of district councils.
Also on a national platform Reform UK has suggested councils will ‘resist’ accepting asylum seekers – although this may lead to legal conflict with the government- and only St George, county and union flags will be flown at council property.
And all together now learn how to feed from the trough – holidays, wrist watches etc also accepted
They have the best teacher possible in Farage-political grifting for 30 plus years.
Three important things to be fair.
That said, I’m not a huge fan of Country music.
Not sure what Farage knows about any of them-
Family-how many kids by how many women? Most of them imported from EU countries-despite his supposed hatred of Europe. Picking up adult actresses on airplane flights.
Community-he seems to spend most of his time in the US-kissing the rear end of the orange one, not in his constituency-serving the chumps who voted for him.
Country-ah yes, the guy who after his Brexit grift backfired on him got a German passport on one of his imported girlfriends/wives that he gave jobs in his office to as well’s nationality. The guy who now Trump’s terror czar speaks about western allies taking their terror traitors back now wants Begum back after years of saying the total opposite, as her crimes weren’t too bad apparently. What a patriot!
what a load of childish clap trap.
Yes, but enough about Reform’s manifesto.
Nope. What they stated about Farage is factually true and you can check for yourself.
Anyone else noticed that Farage has got more orange lately? At least on his face, can’t comment about elsewhere! Didn’t see anything about potholes, isn’t that on their menue for things to do
He just copies Dump. The more orange he gets, the more Nigel gets on the sunbed & sprays fake tan all over himself.
Special Educational Needs & Disability
They also say attention will be turned to ‘rationalising’ the supply of Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND) services.
Cllr Finch said: “The other major issue concerns the supply of Special Educational Needs & Disability (SEND). Getting children into the right schools to meet their requirements is both difficult to achieve and it is also very costly to residents.
“In 2021 a study found a 787% jump in the number of diagnoses between 1998 and 2018 in the UK, and the estimated number of children who have autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has risen from 1 in 2,500 children 80 years ago to 1 in 36 today. We must find a way to rationalise that demand.”
Party leader Nigel Farage has claimed professionals are “massively over-diagnosing” SEN and mental health issues, saying it is creating ‘victims.’ The comments, heavily criticised by the National Autistic Society, have led to fears that SEN funding could be reduced at Reform led authorities.
So they intend to cut the SEND budget
I have every confidence in Reform’s flag policy.
As for the rest of it, I think they have some unaddressed special educational needs of their own.
Honestly couldn’t care if they have the flags of Timbuktu & Peru flying if they could do a good job. But of course this race-baiting nonsense pleases their supporters no end, which is all they are interested in-it will be a mess, because they are a PLC at Companies House that exists to make Farage richer, not a political party.
If the party hasn’t imploded over its dicatator leaders mammoth ego by 2029, with nigel moving on to his next thing-Fox News Anchor most likely & people are stupid enough to vote for Reform due to him, then one suspects they will be feeling just as betrayed as everybody who voted for Liebour last summer, when he goes after the disabled poorest & working people, to give relief to second & in his case third & fourth home owners & to reward his rich pals.
Great idea to alienate the people who provide you with information and implement your policies. What could possibly go wrong?
i hope one of the first jobs is an in depth audit to see where all of the millions of pounds has been vanishing for years ?
That won’t take long, because it hasn’t.
So you want to waste more money on expensive auditors to look atcthe past rather than spending that money on current and future needs.
the millions of pounds that disappeared…because central gov reduced local gov funding under ideological austerity over fourteen years of Tory rule? A friends mum does accounting work for KCC. The money just simply hasn’t been there to begin with, you ill informed fool.
Great that a Reform party organiser met lsst weekwith two founder members of Access Thanet to discuss their concerns and see how their needs could be incorporated into the Reform agenda. They will even consider having a disability officer in their local party organisation. He was firm in dismissing the words of the Reform parliamentary candidate last year about “deserving disabled” people. Apparently that candidate is no longer welcome in Thanet! Gives me hope!
Thought you were smarter than to fall for the grifting conman Christine. Of course this is what he does & has for over 30 years-preys on the desparate & vulnerable, with promises he has no intention of ever keeping.
After years of saying Begum should never be allowed back here, as soon as Trump’s terror czar goon said allies should take the likes of her back old Nigel was on television saying we should consider letting her return. His views are dicated purely by what benefits him financially or politically.
He is the ultimate populist, like the grifting orange clown he pals around with in the US. Until now he has never of course had to live up to any of it. He hates the disabled, just like the Tories did.
The reason I felt zero sympathy for MacKinlay-who spent his entire time as an MP voting to punish the disabled, when he found hkmself disabled he wanted our sympathy-the difference of course being he is filthy rich & can afford the best prostethics & medical care, while those he & his disgusting party voted to kill & make their lives a living hell for years/decades had nothing.
Whatever nonsense Farage or his underlings put out, this is their actual view on the poor & disabled-no different than the Tories or Starmer’s New Liebour.
20th June 2024-The right-wing Reform UK party has published a manifesto that repeatedly threatens the rights of disabled people, suggests it will pose significant safeguarding risks to benefit claimants, and warns of massive spending cuts to benefits and public services.
Is that by any chance the person now sitting at KCC representing Reform, who Reform were & are perfectly happy to represent them on the ballot last month & going forward in office?
If so-as you don’t name this person, it seems more a case of just not allowing them in this area for fear of upsetting the apple-cart locally, not because of any sense of shame or genuine interest.
Leopards eating their own faces comes to minds.
He said: “Local government was broken and the cost of services ever increasing. It is now necessary to prove our incompetence & break it even further. We must create Daily Fail headlines and establish policies based on our core values; Grifting, Race-Baiting and filling the pockets of Reform PLC & Nigel’s new company grift masquerading as a political party-Reform 2025 Ltd.
Nationally, it is reported that Reform UK leader Nigel Farage wants to reverse the 100% council tax premium on second home owners.
Of course he does-has it not sunken into all the saps who actually believe he is for the average person? It is all about punishing the average person to the poorest/most vulnerable in society, to reward the super rich-just like Labour & the Tories.
With Nigel as usual it is what benefits him first-Investigations by The Mirror show that he has managed to build a multi-million-pound property empire thanks to the pick-up in earnings – details that were curiously omitted in his standards submission.
As well as his £1 million family home, which he kept in the split from his second wife, Farage, 60, has bought two beachside homes on the Kent coast in recent years. His fourth house is another investment property he rents out in Surrey.
I understand that Farage wants to scrap the State Pension Scheme.
Most people feel explicitly or vaguely screwed by the system. They’re not wrong – objectively (measures of income, profit etc) or subjectively (alienation, disengagement…)But Farage appears to be against the system. Good luck to him we think and thank you to him for recognising that we’re being shafted. Objectively he’ll turn the screw another notch, subjectively we may feel better…
I’m reminded that Gramsci was writing under the shadow of Mussolini
Correct me if I am wrong Suspeneded, but isn’t the Reform Party a limited company with just one shareholder, Farage? If so can he sell the party? It must be worth a pretty penny by now!
Where have we heard that before?
Volksgemeinschaft.
Yes,but this isn’t Weimar Germany just yet. They are not Nazis, though some of them let slip unpleasant statements that might have been expressed back then.
No,they are promoting a tattymedalion construct of policies that many of their voters don’t support.Even on immigration the dog whistle that has driven their success to some extent,their voters accept that key workers are required and that those seeking asylum from the likes of Putin need sanctuary, it’s just they don’t like unannounced visitors tur ning up on rubber dinghies.
Reform voters watch David Attenborough like anyone else, so they know the nonsense spouted by Tice,Farage and Jenkyn on climate change is in error.
The 5 depicted here probably know it as well, but will appear to tow the party line.
My message to Labour and anyone else is that Reform is not hard to beat, just stop making our lives miserable with rotten public services,because of a misplaced belief in balancing the books, come what may.
Well, one of their councillors recently posted a Hitler picture on his Facebook account to coincide with D Day-a week later he is still not suspended, so clearly it is endorsed by the party leadership. Of course Musk & the other Republicans weren’t really doing Nazi salutes either, apparently they were just celebrating., or are Allo Allo fans.
Why is the only reform woman KCC councillor in Thanet never in the photos? Just the five men?
The men are East Thanet, Amelia (and Luke) are Birchington Rural so if they are basing it on parliamentary constituencies she is Herne Bay/Sandwich with West Thanet
the one that claims she can break the laws of physics and entropy and speak to dead people, that lady councillor?
Just sweep the streets and pick up the high levels of litter.Introduce more bins so that maybe tourists might use them.Get out the weedkiller and get rid of all the weeds and grass turfs growing on our pavements.Dig out all the inches thick detritus growing in the road kerbs.It looks apalling.Unblock half the drains which are also blocked through lack of sweeping.Lets have some governance on cleaning.If it looks like a dump people treat it like a dump.
I agree with the sentiment but wrong horse Billy. TDC sweep streets .KCC should unblock drains though.
That’s the trouble with this system, it sets out different obligations for different councils.Had we not had this pointless election where we are handing over power to a more right wing variation of the Tory party (though even that may no longer be true, as the Tories race with Reform to see who can be the furthest right wing party)we could have instead discussed the best way to devolve and hand power down to the right level.
Once Reform find out that public services in Kent, have too little money, not too much, they too will be in a dilemma about how to fix things.
Central govt found this out quite quickly and some of their cherished ideals have been burnt on the bonfire of the vanities,leaving the public dissatisfied in the process.
While I take the point that comparing 14 years of clown car administration by the Tories with 9 months of gloom from Labour is both unfair and somewhat simplistic, the green shoots of the promised change ought to be showing by now. I think the most egregious failure so far is not to take a strong hand with the water industry.If they did that all sins would be forgiven in my book.
So let’s give the 5 men of the moment to show progress within a year.