Reform UK won control of ten English councils in May 2025 on the back of a simple promise: cut waste, cut your taxes. Within months, those same councils were raising council tax. When challenged, Nigel Farage tried to claim he’d never made the promise in the first place.
The problem? It was on the leaflets. With his face on them.
@itvpolitics Nigel Farage denies his promised council tax cuts last year on Kent County Council campaign leaflets #politics @ITV News ♬ original sound – ITV Politics
Reform UK leaflets circulated widely during the 2025 local election campaign carried a pledge to “reduce waste and cut your taxes” next to an image of Nigel Farage. Local candidates went further. The Warwickshire Reform Party leaflet said “we will cut your taxes”. The Worcestershire leaflet said “we will reduce waste and cut your taxes”. These were not fringe candidates — they were running on the Reform ticket, in Reform colours, with Reform branding.
More than two million households living under Reform-run councils were hit with tax rises totalling £127 million in the following year, despite the party’s pledges to cut bills. Kent, Derbyshire, North Northamptonshire, West Northamptonshire and Leicestershire all proposed council tax rises of up to 5% — the biggest hike permitted by law.
The reason was predictable to anyone with basic knowledge of local government finances. In Kent, more than £787 million — 48% of the entire budget — goes on adult social care alone. Spending on diversity and inclusion was always negligible. There was no fat to cut.
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