Head of Reform council’s cost-cutting programme resigns after suggesting authority has made ‘no cuts’

Councillor Matthew Fraser Moat said his words had been ‘twisted’ to ‘fit into an anti-KCC narrative’

The head of Reform UK’s ‘flagship’ council’s cost-cutting programme has resigned after suggesting the authority had “not made any cuts”.

Matthew Fraser Moat has stood down from Kent County Council’s (KCC) cabinet after an interview with the Financial Times in which he and another cabinet minister appeared to suggest the authority had not saved money.

The Reform UK councillor had been the head of the council’s Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge), which was inspired by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Doge in the US.

According to the newspaper article, Mr Moat said he was proud the council “had not actually made any cuts”, adding “we haven’t cut frontline services other than what the Conservatives had already planned to do”.

His colleague, deputy cabinet minister Paul Chamberlain, also told the Financial Times that they had not found the vast amount of waste they had expected to when they came into power last year.

Reform UK councillor, Matthew Fraser Moat, had been head of the council’s Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge), which was inspired by Elon Musk’s cost-cutting Doge in the US (Kent Council)

“We made some assumptions that we would come in here and find some of the craziness that [Elon Musk’s cost-cutting vehicle] Doge found in America . . . and that was wrong, we didn’t find any of that,” he said.

Mr Chamberlain added that members in the former Conservative council “weren’t crazy, they were business people”.

Mr Moat stepped down from his role on Tuesday, but claimed the pressures of his role at County Hall and running the family business had led to “a lapse of judgement” which meant his words had been “twisted” by the Financial Times to “fit into an anti-KCC narrative”.

Kent County Council said the article “does not accurately reflect the position” at the authority and that it “presents a selective account of the council’s work on efficiency and value for money”.

Reform UK took control of KCC after the local elections in May where it overturned a 30-year Tory majority, winning 57 out of 81 seats.

During the election campaign, and when they came to power, Reform promised to “reduce waste” which manifested as the Musk-style Department of Local Government Efficiency.

Questions have been raised about what progress the department has made, after the local authority raised council tax by almost 4 per cent despite pledges to cut taxes before last year’s local elections.

A Reform UK spokesman said the ‘unfair and selective reporting from the Financial Times does not accurately represent the position at Kent County Council’ (PA)

“It was a great honour to be asked to serve as a Cabinet Member and since then I have tried to balance my Council responsibilities with the responsibilities of my family business,” Mr Moat said.

“The pressure of giving my best to both roles led to a lapse of judgement in a recent conversation with a journalist in which I was very disappointed to see my words twisted to fit what I believe to be an anti-KCC narrative by the newspaper in question.

"It has become clear to me that continuing as Head of Dolge is not sustainable, and now that KCC has delivered a balanced budget and stabilised the council’s finances, I have decided to step down from my role as a cabinet member.”

A Reform UK spokesman said the “unfair and selective reporting from the Financial Times does not accurately represent the position at Kent County Council”.

“In just eight months, the Reform UK administration have found £100 million of efficiencies through their Dolge efforts, finding £14 million of savings just to ensure that council tax increases for residents are kept to a minimum,” they added.

“These efforts continue, with hundreds of millions of pounds of future savings already identified. Across the country, Reform councillors continue to prove their commitment to keeping taxes low and delivering value for money in every decision they make.”