A Reform UK -run council has admitted it will have to put up tax next year after an Elon Musk -style bid to slash spending failed.

The party swept to power in a stunning result last year amid promises to get rid of waste in Kent County Council.

They even set up a department of local government efficiency (DOLGE) based on Musk’s unsuccessful bid to cut the size of the state in America.

But Diane Morton, Reform’s cabinet member for adult social care on the local authority, said council tax bills were likely to go up by 5% next year.

She told the Financial Times : “We’ve got more demand than ever before and it’s growing. We just want more money.”

Another senior Reform member of the council told the paper: “Everyone thought we’d come in and there were going to be these huge costs we

See Full Page