Reform councillor dramatically quits over council tax betrayal

A Reform UK councillor in Worcestershire has dramatically quit the party. Councillor David Taylor made the decision as a result of the party’s plan to raise council tax — something which the far-right party previously stood against:

Another Reform UK councillor down.

This is significant though. It shows that Reform UK promised to cut tax. He’s quit because they have raised it.

In this case it’s Worcestershire – and 10%.

Jo Monk must consider her position as leader. https://t.co/6rYz8tjKTr

— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) February 8, 2026

Gone

Taylor told the BBC:

I walked in here today as a Reform county councillor – I won’t be leaving this studio as a Reform county councillor.

As from today, I will be an independent councillor.

He added that his constituents won’t be able to afford a “massive upheaval in council tax” and that:

What will happen is they’re going to pay more and receive less

Also:

I think we could have made decisions sooner and I think leaving it this late in the day to make cuts and to expect people who are already not doing so well… to expect them to pay more council tax, I just don’t think I can support that.

As we’ve covered, the trend of Reform councils raising council tax has happened despite the following:

Reform UK Review 2025

After winning local elections criticising councils for raising council tax, Reform UK councils plan to raise council tax.

Worcestershire applies to raise it by 10%. pic.twitter.com/6cmX1ztjdz

— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) December 26, 2025

Reform — Bankruptcy

This isn’t the end of the bad news for Worcestershire, either; the Council is also facing bankruptcy. And it isn’t the only Reform council facing this problem:

Reform UK Has Taken Two Councils to the Brink of Bankruptcyhttps://t.co/h7kNGpG2uj

— Reform Party UK Exposed 🇬🇧 (@reformexposed) February 8, 2026

To be ever so slightly fair to Reform, this chaos of councils going bankrupt is a product of successive Tory governments. The austerity ideologues purposefully underfunded local areas, and predictably everything went to shit.

But to be fair to reality, meanwhile, this is happening under Reform’s watch. They need to own it.

And also, there’s zero reason to think that they will undo the underfunding problem if they form a government. In fact, it’s likely that the billionaire-backed party will only make it worse.

Featured image via BBC