Reform make no promises ahead of election

Reform UK said it was making no promises on what it would deliver if it took control of Norfolk County Council.

The party is seeking to win a majority in elections next month but has not drawn up a local manifesto.

Reform councillor David Bick said the local authority had "a huge level of debt" and a financial review would need to take place before his party could commit to policies.

The council's Conservative leader Kay Mason Billig has said its finances have been given a "clean bill of health" by external auditors.

Reform made its breakthrough on to the county council a year ago, winning two seats in by-elections.

That leaves the party someway behind the other parties on the Conservative-run authority – the Liberal Democrats, Labour and Greens.

Speaking to BBC Radio Norfolk, Bick said he was "cautiously optimistic" that Reform would overturn the Tories, who have a majority with 51 seats.

While his party's national policies include tougher immigration rules and scrapping Net Zero targets, he said it had none for the Norfolk local elections.

"The council has a huge level of debt - it's paying two and a half million pounds a month in interest payments," he said.

He argued it would be "misleading" to make election pledges before a "very thorough review of the budget", should Reform take power.

"I think it's only when we've made that assessment can we then make common sense statements about policy," he added.

"It's not very sexy. But that's how you start to get to an efficiently-run council."

Bick's criticism followed the same line of attack his leader, Nigel Farage, put forward last month.

Mason Billig says borrowing has allowed the council 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".

"We don't borrow what we can't afford, and we have a clean bill of health from our external auditors," she said.

Reform will be challenging for all 84 seats on the council when voting takes place on 7 May and Bick said he was "pleasantly surprised" by the quality of their candidates.

"We've got teachers, we've got child psychologists, businessmen, farmers, people from the finance world. So we've got a very wide range of talents in our group."

A full list of the candidates in the Norfolk County Council election can be found here.

BBC Radio Norfolk will be speaking to the other council group leaders through the week.

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