Reform councillors mocked over inaccurate spending claims

Emily Price

Two Reform councillors have been accused of misrepresenting the details of a freedom of information request in mocking videos posted online by Labour.

Earlier this month, Torfaen councillors David Thomas and Jason O’Connell posted a party political broadcast style video to X which they shot in the Torfaen council chamber.

The footage was later removed amid concerns it could be a breach of the authority’s code of conduct.

Cllr Thomas and Cllr O’Connell later posted another video claiming information obtained via Freedom of Information (FoI) legislation had revealed that Torfaen Council had misspent £25 million of public money.

In the video they briefly showed the details of the FoI – however the text was so blurry it was virtually unreadable.

Speaking in the clip, Cllr Thomas and Cllr O’Connell said: “So Torfaen Council recently have confirmed through an FoI request that they spent £25 million on recruitment agencies and consultants.

“That’s £25 million of your money, tax rises every single year. What else can that have been spent on?

“Well for a start that money could have been spent on flood defences.

“£25 million could have been spent in areas such as this, on adopting roads or resurfacing a load of damaged roads across Torfaen.

“£25 million that could have been spent on our schools. £25 million could have been spent on places like this – a much needed local authority run care home.

“When we asked we got told there was no money left. So when Torfaen Council tell you there’s no money – that’s simply not true, it’s just where they choose to spend that money, and it’s never on you.

“That’s the difference a Reform council will make to you and your family, we will put you at the top of the priority list.”

Debunked

Labour in Torfaen responded to the post with their own video mocking the two Reform councillors and debunking their claims.

In the response video posted to Facebook, Labour said: “Councillors David Thomas and Jason O’ Connell are back on social media after the video they made last week had to be taken down for misusing the council chamber for their political stunt.

“This time they are outside claiming Torfaen councillors misspent public money.

“The say this is backed up by a Freedom of Information they request flash on screen for just a second – so you might have missed it.

“But we’ve got it here – and it doesn’t support their claim”

Showing the FoI details clearly and close up, Labour in Torfaen said that the data shows that around £6 million – not £25 million – was spent on consultants over more than five years and “not in a single year” as the two Reform politicians implied.

Attention

In the video, Labour went on to say: “Two reports taken through the council this month praised the councils financial management and leadership.

“Both were present at the meeting when it was discussed – maybe they weren’t paying attention.

“It’s normal practice for a council with a budget running into the billions over the same period – so taken in proper context the figures are a fraction of one percent of the council’s spending.

“To reach their headline figure they’ve bundled in all sorts of other things – but that’s not waste its things like training for staff working in local services and essential technical expertise that’s sometimes necessary to run services safely and efficiently.

“David Thomas and Jason O’ Connell voted some of these budgets through – they are members of the council.”

Showing a clip of the two Reform councillors walking down a path beside a wooded area, Labour went on to say: “They then claim council spending isn’t for the people of Torfaen. But look where they’re standing.

“The schools, paths, parks and services around them are paid for by the council budget.

“So either they didn’t understand what they were voting for – or they are misrepresenting it now.

“Either way this isn’t scrutiny, it’s hypocrisy. Torfaen doesn’t need Reform. Torfaen needs councillors that take the job seriously instead of going for walks in the park.”

Called out

Responding to Labour’s video call out, Cllr Thomas published a post to Facebook saying: “Sadly some people have swallowed Torfaen Labour’s sad little attack video hook, line and sinker.

“They’re spreading the line that we’re lying about the £25 million waste, but the only thing dishonest here is pretending these figures don’t exist.”

“These numbers aren’t from us. They’re from the council’s own Freedom of Information response, covering January 2020 right up to now. Here they are again, word for word as provided:

“Recruitment, agency and interim staff: £7.9 million

“Consultancy and advisory services: £6.0 million

“Office accommodation and facilities: £4.7 million

“External staff training and development: £3.7 million

“Other external professional services: £2.1 million

“Marketing, advertising and publicity: £0.75 million

“Legal services: £0.37 million

“Total external spend across those categories: over £25 million.

“In our video we didn’t even throw the whole kitchen sink at it. We focused on the two most outrageous lines – recruitment agencies and consultants – which together come to nearly £14 million.

“That’s the bit that should make anyone’s blood boil: handing over that much of your council tax to outside firms year after year instead of building proper in-house teams and saving the cash for potholes, schools, care and frontline services.

“Torfaen Labour could have come back with an explanation. They could have said why they think this level of outsourcing is good value. They could have shown where they’ve cut it down since. Instead they made a personal attack video.

“They can dish it out, but they really don’t like it when the spotlight turns on their record.”

Mocked

Labour in Torfaen hit back again with another video mocking the Reform councillor and breaking down his new claims.

In the clip, Labour said: “We are sorry to see that Cllr David Thomas appears to have taken issue with what he’s described as our sad little attack video yesterday.

“So we thought it sensible to check ourselves again – just so we can be absolutely sure that what we said is accurate.

“In this post, David breaks the figures down for us – including agency and interim staff £7.5 million over a five year period, consultancy and advisory services £6 million over that same five year period.

“He then goes on to list a number of other items including staff training, development, office accommodation facilities, and adds them together to reach a headline figure of £25 million.

“£25 million is important because it includes all of those things on that FoI request.

“In our video we also explained that that isn’t waste – it’s normal essential spending for the day to day operation of a council.

“But let’s leave that aside for the moment. The key point here is this, if you’re telling the public that an FoI response says something, you need to be sure that you’re representing it accurately.

“So did David actually do that breakdown in his video? Did he fairly represent what was in the FoI response? Is he right to say that we’re the ones being dishonest?”

Labour’s video then cut to replay the clip of Cllr Thomas claiming Torfaen Councillor had spent £25 million on recruitment agencies and consultants.

The video then ended with the “Directed by Robert B. Weide” meme – an internet trend used to highlight moments of extreme awkwardness, irony, failure, or impending disaster.