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Reform UK in Kent looks set to drastically cut the number of committees scrutinising its work, Byline Times can reveal, amid claims it can’t raise the numbers to do the work, following a wave of suspensions of its own own councillors.
Reform plans to bring a motion to the council in December – which opposition councillors say would cut back on scrutiny – to cut the number of committees holding it to account, following a wave of suspensions that means the administration is struggling to fill vacancies on important council bodies. Nine Reform councillors have been sacked by the party since being elected in May, severely weakening the party’s majority.
One option is, Byline Times understands, to abolish cabinet committees entirely – which sense-check decisions of the Reform cabinet – and most scrutiny committees which are not legally-required.
Kent County Council operates a hybrid model with cabinet committees and overview/scrutiny committees which scrutinise decisions after they’re made, as well as committees to look at big decisions before they’re made. While they have to have an audit committee by law, cabinet committees aren’t mandatory and could be in line for the chop.
The change would leave the council with (legally-required) bodies scrutinising governance and audit, standards, and regulatory and planning issues – while potentially abolishing committees for social care, environment and transport, children, young people and education, and growth, the economy, and communities.
A motion pushing for the changes will be put forward in December, the council confirmed to Byline Times. Labour group leader on Kent County Council Cllr Alister Brady argues this will reduce transparency, and shows Reform “are not fit to do the job – they want to reduce checks and balances.”
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The party’s recent suspensions have left a series of key posts unfilled.
Councillor Isabella Kemp, who was elected as a Reform councillor, was previously chair of the housing committee – but can’t sit on it anymore since being sacked by her party last week amid internal infighting. She was also vice-chair of the fire authority, which has been thrown into chaos by the latest raft of suspensions by Reform on the council, under leader Linden Kemkaran.
Labour Cllr Brady told this outlet: “Reform are either afraid of hard work, or don’t have the time to do the job properly. As a result, they’re trying to change the system so they don’t have to work as hard. With only 48 Reform councillors now, they’re finding it hard to find chairs for committees.”
“The proposed changes will make it harder for Kent residents to find out what they are doing – it will be a return to the 1980’s where decisions were being made behind closed doors in smoke filled rooms.”
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Cllr Mark Hood, the leader of the Green group at Kent County Council, said Reform will “carry out a review of the number of committees, the number of people who serve on committees, and the frequency that committee meetings are held at the county council.”
“Committees [are] there to oversee the behaviour of the administration, and they are the tools that ordinary Kent residents rely on to ensure adequate scrutiny and transparency about the way Reform UK are running the council.”
“Reform UK are telling us they’ve got an overwhelming mandate to do as they please…The reality is they only won 37% of the popular vote in Kent. 63% of the people of Kent voted for other parties, and yet those people are being completely ignored.”
Cllr Hood added that opposition representatives and the people who voted for them are being “completely shut out of any kind of scrutiny or oversight”.
“It’s about checks and balances to ensure that no administration can just get on with it, and then we only find out what’s gone horribly wrong a year down the line. That isn’t how this process is supposed to work.”
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A Kent County Council spokesperson told Byline Times: “A review of Committee arrangements is being undertaken with full details being brought before the Council at the meeting in December. This is not to reduce scrutiny but to focus on opportunities for efficiency in the way the Council’s committees are run and organised to save the taxpayer unnecessary expenditure.
“Unlike many other authorities, since May 2025 when Reform UK took control, the Council’s Scrutiny Committee has been chaired by an opposition Member and this Committee provides the primary focus of the Council’s scrutiny activity. This is not subject to change in the forthcoming proposals as the Formal Scrutiny and Audit arrangements are not in the scope of this review.”
The fire service has just lost its chair and vice chair due to Reform suspending more councillors. They have been removed from the councillor pages on the fire and rescue website.
A fire service awards ceremony in Kent on 4th December risks being disrupted by the suspensions – as the awards are usually handed out to servicemen and women by the chair or vice chair of the authority. Those posts now appear to be vacant.
Cllr Alister Brady said: “The Kent & Medway fire and rescue service is seen as an exemplary body nationally, with zero debt and high performance standards….[This] shambles is embarrassing.”
The admission of Reform’s plans to reduce the number of scrutiny committees came in a council meeting last Thursday.
Got a story? Get in touch in confidence on josiah@bylinetimes.com
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