Off the Record

After a gloomy few years for Kent County Council on the budget front, might there be brighter times ahead? While this year has seen the council having to strip out an eye-watering £100m, things won’t be as dire in 2018 – when the number crunchers and councillors will have to work out how to deal with cuts estimated to be about £45m. Peanuts.

There was a bit of behind-thescenes horse-trading before the budget over various motions and amendments submitted by the opposition parties. The thrust of it was that the Conservatives said they’d support some in return for the parties supporting the overall budget. The first bit was honoured but when it comes to the second, it was – as they say – no dice.

While the debate on the council tax and budget was a turgid , there were moments of levity. Ukip councillor Mike Baldock, who has an eye-catching mullet-come-gothic haircut, took us down memory lane as he told colleagues about the punk bands he’d once seen at the Forum in Tunbridge Wells.

The formal Ukip opposition group at County Hall was in lethargic mood which might have been related to the growing realisation that four years after the party’s spectacular success in the county election, their time might just be up in May. They certainly seem to have had a reality check over the years. When we tweeted about their world-weariness, the Swale councillor Lee Burgess replied: “Four years has made us weary of this pantomime.” Oh dear.

Still, there is anticipation in the party’s ranks that they may hang on to seats in what is their Kent stronghold, Thanet. Labour has other ideas, of course, but in terms of leadership issues, it arguably has more on its plate than Ukip.

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