Protesters prepare to fight back against Reform-run council’s brutal budget cuts

Pressure group Northants Crips Against Cuts has told us of an upcoming protest against Reform-led West Northamptonshire Council. Despite promises of tax cuts, the local manifestation of Nigel Farage’s constantly chaotic outfit is planning to raise council tax and slash services.

Campaigners will protest in Northampton on Saturday 21 February from 2pm at the top of Abington Street outside BBC Northampton.

Statement from Northants campaigners

When Reform UK took control of West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) in 2025, the party promised national tax cuts worth £90bn a year. Eight months later, that pledge lies in tatters. WNC under Reform is no different from when the Tories were in charge.

WNC now plans to raise council tax by 4.95%, meaning the average Band D home will have to shell out nearly £2,000 a year. This brazen U-turn brings more financial misery to people across West Northants.

£32.1m in council cuts and new charges

WNC aims to cut £32.1m from its budget by slashing funding for services and putting up charges, including £10.9m from adult social care. Among these are £2m axed from adult services, £900,000 from learning disability, and £300,000 from temporary housing, as well as new parking charges and insufficient funds to fix the roads.

The council claims that these cuts are “efficiencies,” but we see them for what they really are. WNC is launching bare-faced attacks on vulnerable people. The council plans to bring in a handful of one-off grants to appease outraged residents, but these grants will soon run out, leaving our local services in a dire state.

Reform UK, like all the major parties, has chosen to balance the books on the backs of ill and disabled people. Under its new budget, WNC plans to rake in an extra £4.4m by raising charges for social care. People who rely on these services, shamefully referred to as “clients”, have already been squeezed to near breaking point by year after year of brutal cuts.

The council cynically claims that people:

have a choice about whether they wish to use these services or not.

More lies. For vulnerable people, these resources are not a choice, they’re a vital lifeline. For some, access to adult services is a matter of life and death.

Scapegoating ill and disabled people

WNC loves to blame disabled adults and children for its failures. This year, the council is set to go £10.5m over budget, and has been quick to point the finger at adult social care, housing, and special educational needs.

What they don’t talk about are the millions wasted on town centre vanity projects, many of which were hit by poor planning, delays, and were never needed in the first place. The council has overspent £5.1m on the market square revamp alone, and loaned £3m to H&M to move back into the Grosvenor Centre. Reports say they wasted nearly £200,000 on the ice rink, then misreported the figures. Yet somehow, their shortfall is the fault of vulnerable people.

Councillors insist government legislation blocks them from using capital from one-off projects to fund vital services. If that’s the case, why doesn’t Reform UK launch a national campaign to scrap those restrictive laws and give councils more autonomy over their finances? This is supposed to be the party’s whole argument. Reform claims it wants to get rid of excessive legislation, slash red tape, and bring in “common sense” politics.

Councils like WNC have shown that this is nothing but empty rhetoric. Reform only wants to cut red tape when it allows them and their wealthy mates to get even richer, or to launch more vile attacks against asylum seekers. But when the red tape lets them shirk their responsibility to tackle the cost-of-living crisis, suddenly it’s their new favourite excuse. Once again, this is pure hypocrisy from our Reform-run council.

We need full funding now

Local groups have proposed a brief pause to WNC’s budget cuts. Of course, none of us wants these cuts to go ahead. But a pause is not enough. After years of austerity, most local resources are severely underfunded. What good is a year or two of no cuts when so many services are already on their knees?

This plan relies on the council spending its reserves. But what happens when the money runs out? WNC will be free to pass even more severe cuts, only now we will have lost our safety net, leaving us even more vulnerable than we were before.

The only way to solve the cost-of-living crisis is to fight for full funding for all local services.

We are not asking for anything lavish. Healthcare, housing, education – these are basic human rights. We live in one of the world’s richest countries. Our council spends millions on town centre vanity projects. Our government spends billions funding wars and genocide abroad. Billions are lost to tax avoidance. So why do we have 14.3 million people living in poverty?

We call for all West Northants councillors to take urgent action. Stop the cuts. Full funding now. No more pointing fingers at sick and disabled people.

Featured image via the Canary