A REFORM-RUN council is plotting a 10% council tax rise for households, despite the party promising to cut bills.
Nigel Farage‘s party has promised to save taxpayers’ money in the 10 councils it won control of in May’s local elections.
But it has now emerged that Worcestershire county council has applied for special permission to hike council tax for thousands of households next year.
The council said in official documents published this month that leaders had tried to keep the tax “as low as possible”, but it was no longer “sustainable”.
Leaders have said this is due to spiralling social care costs putting pressure on the council’s finances.
Local authorities in England are allowed to raise council tax by 5% every year, but they need to ask permission from the government for any bigger increases.
Under a 10% rise, Worcestershire households in a band D property, would see their council tax increase by £30 to £2,530.
Tory opponents have accused the party of lying and slammed the council as presiding over the “biggest council tax rise Worcestershire has ever seen”.
Adam Kent, a Tory councillor in Worcestershire, wrote online: “Cut waste and reduce taxes Reform said in elections in May. Well they lied!
“Now Worcestershire county council is looking at potentially its highest increase in council tax ever.”
Deputy leader Rob Wharton told The Times: “The pressure on the council’s finances from rising demand for statutory services is mainly due to increasing adults’ and children’s social care costs, which means that the financial challenge continues to intensify.
“Cabinet members are considering all options to close the gap.”
A Reform UK spokesman said: “The Conservatives left Worcestershire county council in £600 million of debt, irresponsibly by choosing to burn through the local authority’s reserves in order to balance the budget rather than making efficiencies.
“It is clear that two decades of Conservative mismanagement has been a catastrophe for local residents.”
He said residents had been “right to sack the financially incompetent Tory administration” and that the council was now “picking up the pieces and turning Worcestershire around”.
