Reform UK councillors "did not campaign" on decreasing council tax, the leader of Warwickshire County Council (WCC) has said.

Cllr George Finch's words come as his administration proposes a 3.89 per cent to the local authority's portion of council tax this week.

While this figure is lower than the 4.99 per cent recommended by financial officers at Shire Hall, Labour MPs and other local councillors in Warwickshire have accused the Reform UK group of breaking promises to residents by proposing to put up tax.

But Cllr Finch has defended his administration saying none of his councillors promised to cut council tax when they were on the campaign trail before the May 2025 elections.

"When we were campaigning on the doorsteps last May, we said it crystal clear 'we want to introduce fiscal responsibility to Warwickshire County Council'," he told Nub News. 

"We did that and we're doing that currently.

"Fiscal responsibility means noticing your issues when they come around, noticing where you should take that money from, and we've done exactly that. 

"The councillors that got elected in Warwickshire County Council did not campaign on increasing tax or decreasing tax. 

"We never said that. 

"Obviously on some of the leaflets that went out by national party, it had national politics on it; cutting immigration - we can't do that [at WCC] so you wouldn't bring that up in interviews, no one ever does, because they know that that's something you can't do [at local government level]. 

"We want to cut tax, yes that is our goal, we do want to cut your tax, that is our goal.

"But is that achievable now? No, but that's life and people understood that.

"But the thing is when we were knocking on doors […] no one went out knocking on doors saying we're going to decrease council tax. 

"Nobody said that, because that's not something politicians will ever say."

'Here to make difficult decisions'

Explaining his group's decision to put up council tax but not by the full amount allowed, Cllr Finch said: "I believe in low tax, low spend and we shouldn't just be taking money off the people because it's easier. 

"We should look within our walls, this council, the organisation to make those savings so we don't have to burden the people more.

"It's getting increasingly difficult to buy the necessities: bread, milk, butter, food. 

"It's getting a lot harder so we want to make sure that we're not burdening the residents.

"Why not less is because the council still needs to function their core functions still need to have the best services possible.

"This kind of budget is not just about cutting and making efficiencies but also investing into major services to make it more efficient."

Councillors will vote on the new budget at Shire Hall on Thursday 5 February.

Financial professionals had recommended council tax at WCC be raised by 4.99 per cent this year, with forecasts showing not doing so could lead to an estimated £26 million shortfall over the next five years.

Reform still plans to take the full 4.99 per cent available for the next four years, just with a lower amount this year.

However, any future 4.99 per cent rises will apply to the lower figure taken this time.

But Cllr Finch said that higher rise was the "easier option".

"They recommended it because its easier," he continued.

"It's easy, so we don't have to start looking within these walls at making efficiencies.

"It's easier to do 4.99, but we are not here to make easy decisions.

"If we were, then you'd get more of the same.

"We're here to make sure that people actually get what's right for them.

"At the end of the day we all pay tax, so we all want to make sure that our tax is as low as possible.

"[We want] to keep to our commitments, to keep to our promise of low tax because that's what we want as a party."