Reform has not published a manifesto and said it will not commit to any policies until after the elections
Reform UK has set its sights on winning control of Norfolk County Council but has said that it will “make no promises” as to what it would deliver if it takes control of the local authority.
Reform currently only has two councillors in Norfolk, while the Conservatives have 50, the Lib Dems have 10, Labour has 9 and the Greens have 4. The remaining seats are held by Independents and two seats are vacant.
Speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk, Reform councillor David Bick said that the council has “a huge level of debt” and that Reform would need to carry out a financial review before his party could commit to policies.
Bick said: “The council has a huge level of debt – it’s paying two and a half million pounds a month in interest payments.”
He argued it would be “misleading” to make election pledges before a “very thorough review of the budget” if Reform wins control of the council. Reform has not published a local manifesto ahead of the council elections on 7 May.
He added: “I think it’s only when we’ve made that assessment can we then make common sense statements about policy.”
However, Conservative leader of the council Kay Mason Billig said that external auditors have already given the council “a clean bill of health”.
Mason Billig says the council has borrowed money to pay for “two [road] bypasses, nine new care homes, 41 special resource basis for SEND children, five new schools, 24 new fire engines and 70 electric buses”.
She told the BBC: “We don’t borrow what we can’t afford, and we have a clean bill of health from our external auditors.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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