Political Earthquake

The Conservatives’ 28-year rule at Kent County Council is over.

Reform UK - the party of Nigel Farage - took 57 of the 81 seats at County Hall in a resounding victory few imagined possible even a week ago.

The authority can expect swift, major changes in the way it is run and managed, said one new councillor.

It was a day of wild celebration for Reform UK across Kent and the end of an era for Kent Tories whose leader declared their demise as “apocalyptic” even before lunchtime.

New Reform member for Sheppey, Maxwell Harrison said he was “absolutely chuffed at a damned good result”.

And he warned that one of the first tasks at county Hall will be to open the books and identify where there is waste.

Cllr Harrison said it will be a US-style Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) purge of “nonsensical spending”.

He warned: “That is going to happen. Nigel (Farage) has made it absolutely clear that we are going to open the books and see where the money is going wrong and things that are non-sensical spending will be gone.

“KCC will be run on a common sense agenda while providing the best possible services for the people of Kent.”

The new Reform members are expected to pick the leader of the council tomorrow with Maidstone South Member Linden Kemkaran as a possible front runner. Brian Collins (Ashford Rural East) and Richard Palmer (Swale West) are two other names likely to make a bid, say insiders.

This morning, Conservative candidates and supporters arrived at their counts with a growing sense of dread and desperation.

For Reform UK, whose leader Nigel Farage will arrive in Kent later today, it was a day of wild celebration.

Few believed an Electoral Calculus poll a few weeks ago which predicted Reform UK would capture 41 seats – the requisite number to take control of the authority.

The vastly contrasting scenes across Kent will be the prelude for a very different county council which even its own councillors had branded too “pale, male and stale”.

As defeat loomed larger and larger, Mr Gough sat on a plastic chair in front of the stage with a party colleague.

After his loss was declared, he said afterwards: “Obviously I am deeply disappointed. It is extremely sad to lose my division which I have represented for 20 years and sought to do my best for these communities. It appears to be part of a much bigger picture we are seeing across the county and indeed the country.”

Attending the Sevenoaks count, Conservative Kent Police and Crime Commissioner Matthew Scott described his own party’s crisis as “potentially existential”.

He said: “What has happened in Kent is happening all over the country. It is potentially existential. We have to prove to people that we are relevant.

“But we have all these Reform councillors and very few of them have any experience running a council. There are some very, very serious services that involve some of the most vulnerable people and if they get it wrong they could end up closing it down.”

The writing was on the wall when Reform UK narrowly took the Labour safe seat of Runcorn and Helsby overnight by half a dozen votes.

When Conservative Jordan Meade was the first to lose his seat in Gravesend, there was a sense of grim resignation among the Tories.

Thereafter it was a procession of victories for Reform UK and it became increasingly likely the Liberal Democrats would form the opposition. They won 12 seats.

Every Conservative cabinet member was booted out.

Deputy leader of the Liberal Democrat group at KCC, Cllr Richard Streatfeild warned a big win for Reform UK will come with its challenges.

He said: “It is an absolute political earthquake. It’s an incredible picture, sweeping away the Conservative administration, lead the council into devolution and keep it afloat for the next few years.  

“It will be our job to hold the new administration to account. They have no idea how to run a county council and that will become clear. It takes time to bed in as a council but there are so many challenges in front of them.”Defeated Swale independent Mike Baldock said: “It’s the anger at Starmer, the bitter vitriol. This has been turned into a referendum on Starmer; nobody wanted to know about local issues,“‘We’ve got to get Starmer out’, ‘Got to give him a kicking’ that’s what I was getting on the doorstep. They don’t care that this is Kent County Council. What we’re seeing today across the country is a damning verdict on a dreadful Labour government.

“People have made a rash decision they’ll feel good about, giving Starmer a bloody nose, but they will find out they’ve elected some hard-right economic policies which will destroy our services. It’s quite a bleak prospect for the next few years. I think Reform have washed Sittingbourne and Sheppey turquoise.”

Cllr Palmer of Reform UK said: “The common theme on the doorstep is people want change. They’re fed up with people promising and never delivering. Whoever wins KCC will have a difficult path because KCC is skint, the nation’s skint. We seem to send all our money to other places and don’t have anything left for ourselves. Hopefully, that will change with Reform.”

Lib Dem group and opposition leader Antony Hook said: “I think reform has completely failed to answer questions about what their policies will be for local councils. At Kent County Council, we have a budget of £1.5 billion and 70% of that goes on adult social care, children’s social services, looking after children with special educational needs or making sure they get a good education and home to school transport. Those are statutory services. Whoever runs the council has no choice but to provide them.

“Those services are under real pressure. We’ve heard not a dicky bird from reform about how they’re going to improve or protect adult social care. So I think people who have voted Reform may feel quite disappointed quite quickly that they don’t really see any improvement to their lives from Reform.”