Matthew Fraser Moat, the head of Kent County Council’s (KCC) cost-cutting Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge), has resigned from his cabinet role after suggesting in an interview that the authority had made no cuts. The Reform UK councillor stepped down on Tuesday following a Financial Times article in which he was quoted as saying he was proud the council “had not actually made any cuts”.
In the same article, deputy cabinet minister Paul Chamberlain told the newspaper that the department had not found the vast waste it had anticipated when Reform took control in May, adding: “We made some assumptions that we would come in here and find some of the craziness that Doge found in America … and that was wrong, we didn’t find any of that.” KCC said the article “does not accurately reflect the position” and presents a “selective account”.
Mr Moat claimed his words had been “twisted” by the Financial Times to fit an “anti-KCC narrative”, citing pressures from balancing his council role with his family business as leading to “a lapse of judgement”. He said: “It has become clear to me that continuing as Head of Dolge is not sustainable.” Reform UK took control of KCC in May, ending 30 years of Conservative rule, and had promised to reduce waste through the Musk-inspired department.
Despite pledges to cut taxes, the authority raised council tax by almost 4 per cent this year, prompting questions about Dolge’s progress. A Reform UK spokesperson defended the record, stating the administration had found £100m in efficiencies in eight months, including £14m in savings to minimise council tax rises, with “hundreds of millions of pounds of future savings already identified”.
