It was reported on 15 September that there was a major problem with a council report due to be discussed by the County Durham Council cabinet the following day. The report demonstrated that as much as £90.9mn of capital expenditure had been “reprofiled” into later financial years. According to the Liberal Democrat Party this meant that the forecast spending in 2026/27 was going to be reduced by £70.27mn.
The technique of reprofiling does not necessarily mean that projects have been cancelled. However, the Liberal Democrats maintained that residents deserved answers on whether the changes would result in delays to housing, roads, schools, and regeneration schemes.
Despite these concerns, County Council’s Reform UK administration said that reprofiling is a routine budgeting process involving the movement of spending into the years when work is actually expected to take place and they insisted that no projects had in fact been cut.
Furthermore, they claimed that “this year’s capital budget has increased from £263 million to £293 million after securing additional funding”.
The leader of the County Durham Liberal Democrat group, Councillor Amanda Hopgood, commented: “Reform UK need to give residents a clear explanation of what this £90.9m movement means for the projects they have been promised.
“Reprofiling may sound like a technical adjustment, but people want to know whether their new school, road improvements, housing schemes or regeneration projects will now arrive later than expected.
“Reform UK must explain which communities will wait longer and what it is doing to get delivery back on track.”
Three more Reform councillors resign
Then the very next day, it was reported that Reform UK’s majority on Durham County Council, which had been huge following the election in May last year, has now been reduced to just three councillors.
This followed another three members leaving the party ahead of the aforementioned vital meeting about plans to find £20 million of savings this year.
According to the Northern Echo councillors Nicole Brown, Lyndsey Fox, and Paul Sexton have left Reform and will now act as independent councillors on County Durham Council.
The resignations came as cabinet members were preparing to meet on Wednesday 16 September to “discuss mounting budget pressures, with an estimated £80 million deficit forecast in the years ahead”.
Cllr Fox said that her resignation was not a result of upcoming budget discussions., but rather she had left the party because of “growing concerns about the culture I have experienced.”
She also explained that that she had raised a ‘serious safeguarding’ issue with leadership but had no response:
“In July, I raised a serious safeguarding concern which I subsequently reported to the police and to the Police and Crime Commissioner,” she said.
“While I would never expect the party to interfere with a police investigation, I did expect a safeguarding process: an acknowledgement that the concern had been raised, clarity around safeguarding responsibilities and appropriate follow-up.
“Instead, the conversation moved quickly to political numbers and possible roles within the council. There was no meaningful follow-up with me about the safeguarding concern itself.”
Councillor Fox also added significantly that she had been “increasingly uncomfortable with the direction of the group since May.
“We were elected to deliver for County Durham, but too often the focus has appeared to shift towards internal politics and positioning for future elections rather than the job residents elected us to do”.
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Yet more Reform chaos
It seems that barely a week can go by before more Reform councillors in County Durham resign amidst recriminations and accusations of poor conduct by the leadership of the council. The leadership of Andrew Husband and Darren Grimes must now be seriously brought into question as the Reform-run council, with a huge majority seems to be disintegrating before our eyes.
It is important also to remember that Nigel Farage claimed in the aftermath of the local elections in May last year, that County Durham would be a ‘flagship council’ for Reform.
If that is the case, then it has certainly been flagged up just how chaotic and dangerous a Reform-led government from Westminster might turn out to be.
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