Reform making complete mess of council - Davey

Sir Ed Davey attacked Reform UK's leadership of Durham County Council

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey has accused Reform UK of making a "complete mess" of a local authority after taking charge of it earlier this year.

He promised to "expose the bad performance of Reform" at Durham County Council and accused Nigel Farage's party of abandoning net zero policies, which he said were saving taxpayers money.

The authority's deputy leader councillor Darren Grimes said the county was "bankrupting itself in pursuit of net zero in order to virtue signal and pat itself on the back with Lib Dem and Labour politicians".

Reform won control of the council in May's local elections. It was previously run as an alliance between the Lib Dems, Conservatives and independents.

Since taking power, the party has scrapped its net zero target and pledged to stop buying electric vehicles for the council, saying they are too expensive.

It has also dropped plans for solar panels on council buildings.

Davey said: "Look at what Reform is doing in Durham. They're running the council and making a complete mess of it, wasting taxpayers' money.

"In opposing net zero policies, Reform are basically going to cost taxpayers more.

"Under the Liberal Democrats, we were making savings for the council and extra income from things like solar farms. Reform is killing all that. That's going to cost the taxpayer in Durham and I'm not sure that when they really understand that, they're going to be very pleased."

Grimes defended decisions the party had made since it took power in May.

"We've got workers sat waiting for their cars to charge instead of being out on the road and delivering for the people of County Durham. That is a saving in itself."

Reform councillor Tim McGuinness, portfolio holder for rural, farming and transport, said the party was trying to "show common sense" and "be very practical".

He said: "If there are any projects or buildings these green technologies do work on, we're interested - but only in a reasonable payback time."

Davey accepted that Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats were in competition for votes in north-east England.

He added: "What I'm really excited about is that by exposing the bad performance of Reform, people can see there's a different party of change that really wants to improve people's lives."