At its annual party conference in Birmingham Reform UK set out a number of measures that could reshape how local councils approach net zero and how the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) works and invests.
The leader of Kent County Council, Linden Kemkaran, announced that the council will scrap net zero-related spending.
“What we are about to do is undeclare the climate emergency that was declared in Kent in 2019,” Kemkaran told the Reform UK conference. “It no longer exists in Kent, and by undeclaring the climate emergency that means we can take out all the net zero commitments that were written into the constitution.”
As evidence of this, Reform UK’s conference passed a motion calling for the repeal of the 2008 Climate Change Act and the abolition of the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, replacing them with a new independent Energy Security Group focused on “delivering affordable, reliable domestic power, protecting the environment, and achieving genuine UK energy sovereignty, free from costly and unaccountable climate targets”.
Prior to the start of the Reform UK party conference, deputy leader Richard Tice said at a party press conference that reforming the LGPS could save in the region of £10bn.
Tice said that the LGPS is underperforming and charging “frankly egregious” fees, noting there was a “gravy train culture” at the LGPS.
Based on 13 councils included in Reform’s own analysis these are overpaying by some £265m in just one year, said Tice.
“Roll that out across the whole LGPS, and that is over a billion pounds of overpayment on fees that no one’s been talking about,” he said.
Tice noted Reform UK would launch its own branded pool manager and deliver savings of £8-10bn. “We think we can do this better,” he said.
Tice was also critical of the government’s push for the LGPS to increase its allocation to illiquid investments.
“This is simply financially incompetent at best, gross negligence at worst,” he said. “People don’t understand it, no one has dug into it”.
And Tice at the party conference also honed in on the current economic position under Labour.
“Growth across the board is down. And the wrong numbers are going up. Yes, inflation is going up. We’ve got the borrowing costs are going up. The amount of borrowing is going up,” he said. “All of these numbers are heading rapidly in the wrong direction, and just this week, we hit a 30 year high in the cost of the government borrowing money for 30 years, it peaked at about 5.75%.”
In response, Pensions UK was critical of Reform UK’s LGPS plans.
“The Local Government Pension Scheme is one of the world’s most successful pension schemes, delivering pension payments to millions of workers across the country,” said Zoe Alexander, director of policy at Pensions UK.
“It has consistently demonstrated financial resilience and operational stability throughout regular periods of rapid change, capitalising on economies of scale and a collaborative culture,” she added.
She also noted that the latest valuation figures show that the LGPS delivered an aggregate return of 8.9% in 2024 with average funding level of 108%.
“The next valuation is expected to show this position even further improved,” added Alexander. “Significant improvements in funding over this valuation cycle are already expected to result in reduced employer contributions.”
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