Over the last five years Buckinghamshire council has the highest percentage increase of the 19 Tory controlled councils up for election in May – increasing council tax by 25%
Kemi Badenoch pledged “lower taxes” in a speech delivered in an area where the Tories have put up taxes the most.
The Tory leader pledged “lower taxes and better services” as she launched the Tories’ local campaign in Buckinghamshire today – warning activists they faced an “extremely difficult” challenge in May’s local elections.
Over the last five years Buckinghamshire council has the highest percentage increase of the 19 Tory controlled councils up for election in May – increasing council tax by 25%.
Some 11 councils have increased their council tax by that percentage – with the average across all 19 hitting 23.5%.
A Reform UK Spokesman said: “Tory-run Buckinghamshire County Council oversaw the highest council tax rises of them all.
“It’s a peculiar location to defend a record of “lower taxes”. This epitomises the decades-long Tory failure at council level across the country.”
The council currently owes more than £282 million in debt – more than £500 per head of population, according to research by Reform UK.
But the Tory leader was defiant about the threat her party faces from Nigel Farage’s party, urging voters to remember politics is not “showbusiness” and that “you will have to live with what you vote for”.
Voters across a number of county councils and unitary authorities in England will go to the polls on May 1, the first major electoral test since last July’s election.
The Conservatives suffered a crushing general election defeat last summer, and have since been overtaken in opinion polls by Reform.
“We are the only credible choice: Lib Dems will wreck your public services, Reform has no experience running anything, Greens will run councils into the ground and Labour will spend, tax and waste your money, just like they always do,” she told the audience of Tory activists.
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In an attempt to manage expectations about the party’s success in the coming election, Mrs Badenoch said the Conservatives had been “riding high during the vaccine bounce” the last time the councils went to the polls in 2021.
She added that this year would be different after the general election result, telling the audience: “If you map that general election result of 2024 onto this coming May, then we don’t win the councils like we won in 2021, we lose almost every single one.
“I think we’re going to do a bit better than that, but we know that these elections will be extremely difficult.”
