The central party promoted a Reform candidate in Warwickshire by saying he was ready to "lower council tax".
A Reform council leader has claimed that his party didn’t promise to reduce council tax but an unearthed social media post from the 2025 local election campaign suggests otherwise.
The Reform leader of Warwickshire County Council, George Finch, said that “The councillors that got elected in Warwickshire County Council did not campaign on increasing tax or decreasing tax. We never said that.”
Finch told Kenilworth Nub News that Reform’s goal was to reduce taxes but that is not achievable now, adding: “that’s life and people understood that”.
The 19-year-old council leader added: “But the thing is when we were knocking on doors […] no one went out knocking on doors saying we’re going to decrease council tax.
“Nobody said that, because that’s not something politicians will ever say.”
However, a post from the Reform central party’s social media account appears to directly contradict Finch.
On 9 April 2025, the party promoted a local candidate, saying he was ready to cut wasteful spending and lower council tax..
The post read: “Meet Stiliyan Petrov, our candidate for Lapworth and West Kenilworth. He’s ready to fix his local area by cutting wasteful spending, lowering council tax and ensuring proper funding for key local services.”
Reform Party UK Exposed flagged the post to Finch: “Hi @_GeorgeFinch, care to explain why the Reform UK national Twitter account posted this about a candidate in your patch during the local elections if you didn’t?
“Reform didn’t go ‘knocking on doors saying we’re going to decrease council tax.’ Same old Reform, always lying.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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