Reform UK appear to have lost yet another councillor at their flagship authority in Kent, hours before a key meeting.
A full council meeting is currently being held in Kent, the first since footage of a chaotic online meeting resulted in the suspension of several members last month.
Isabella Kemp, who represents Sheppey, is now listed as independent on the council’s website. She and Reform UK have been approached for a comment.
The party had taken control of KCC in May, winning 57 of 81 seats – but ongoing suspensions and removals mean fewer than 50 Reform councillors remain at the authority.
Just last week, Bill Barrett, Oliver Bradshaw and Paul Thomas, along with another councillor, Brian Black, were kicked out of Reform UK following investigations.
It came after footage of an online meeting in which KCC leader Linden Kemkaran could be seen berating backbench councillors when they questioned her was leaked to the press.
In the full council meeting on Thursday, one of the suspended councillors, Mr Thomas, challenged members of his former party on ongoing road closures.
He accused the council of “kicking the can down the road”, as he said residents were “suffering” and going without bus services for up to six weeks.
He said the council has to go “wider and deeper” and suggested an independent inquiry into the matter.
Cabinet member for highways and transport, Peter Osborne, said their powers do not extend to preventing such emergency works from taking place.
The topic of the council’s slimming membership was raised by several opposition members and by Ms Kemkaran herself, who drew on her son’s experience of military training.
Comparing the drop out rate from his recruits to those within her party, she said: “Along the way some had quit because they couldn’t hack it. Others had been thrown out for bad behaviour or were simply unwilling to accept discipline.”
She added: “Sitting here now six months on, we too may be slightly leaner in number, but we are much stronger, and we are totally battle fit.”
However, the chaotic administration was compared to the hit TV show The Traitors by Mark Hood, the leader of the council’s Green Party, who said members await to see who else may be deemed as such.
Leader of the Liberal Democrats in Kent, Antony Hook, said the council is in “political crisis” and said he had heard of “bets being made” about whether the administration would last until Christmas. He urged councillors to “not act in a way that becomes a punchline on Have I Got News for You”.
Harry Rayner, leader of the Conservatives, said the council had been made a “laughing stock” with “more clowns on display since I saw Bill Smart’s last circus”.
After statements from leaders of opposition leaders, Ms Kemkaran said: “Every time I’m in this chamber it becomes like a group therapy session – that was more of a cry for help from the opposition.”
She added their contributions had gone “from Halloween to panto season in blink of an eye”.
The council chair, Richard Palmer, had to remind councillors several times of the Nolan principles in the meeting, which saw laughter and interruptions erupt in the chamber.
When asked at one point whether she believes her actions in the last council meeting and since adhered to the Nolan principles, Ms Kemkaran simply replied: “Yes.”
Kent’s deputy leader, Brian Collins, had to speak over laughter in the chamber as he failed to rule out whether the council would be raising council tax.
He was asked by Green Party councillor Stuart Heaver how much less residents could expect to be paying next year. Mr Collins thanks Mr Heaver for allowing him to “address some of the nonsense spoken in the media about council tax” and said “no decision had been made” on the matter.
In response to laughter coming from other councillors, Mr Collins said they “may laugh” and “smirk” but insisted that it is Reform’s “intention to one day be able to lower council tax”.
Last month, reports emerged that Kent could be raising council tax rates despite Nigel Farage have vowed to save “a lot of money” with cost-cutting measures.
The authority’s new adult social care chief Diane Morton last month hinted at a rise in residents’ council tax bills as she warned that services in the county were “down to the bare bones”.
A Reform UK Kent spokesperson previously said the council had done “fantastic work” to reduce debt by £66m in five months, despite council papers showing it faces a £27.9m overspend in the new year, beyond its £1.53bn budget.