Sounds familiar

Yusuf: “Anyone who looked at the numbers knows the idea of council tax coming down is not going to happen, given the pressures in . social care. “What we can talk about is council tax in Reform councils increasing slower than other councils. I think that’s a sensible target.”.

Full piece here. The firebrands have been forced into office jobs .

It's about tangible delivery. But will voters notice?. @ryan_wain says focus groups have shifted: “It’s gone beyond people switching from Labour to Reform out of mere protest. They now say they’re actively looking forward to a Reform government that would guarantee change.”.

Yusuf is pretty clear that not all kids who currently get SEND transport should qualify. “If we carry on down this path, if everyone has a disability, then ultimately, technically no one has. If every child is SEND then technically no child is, because we will run out of money".

& Yusuf's unit still hasn't got deep data out of Reform councils. “All the council lawyers are engaged in order to try to find ways to resist,” he claims. “The chief execs and the monitoring officers of all the Reform councils have already formed their own WhatsApp groups".

I took a deep dive into flagship "DOGE" council Kent. Its Reform leader announced £40m in cuts this month. But almost all the tough decisions aren’t close yet — e.g. on social care and home-to-school transport.

EXCL: Council tax cuts are “not going to happen” in Reform UK-run authorities because the pressures on social care are too great, DOGE chief Zia Yusuf has told POLITICO. He went further than Nigel Farage, who has said it wouldn’t be a priority.

More in Playbook

EXCL: Ministers are poised to announce they will scrap Ofwat next week. Two people with knowledge of the planning tell me an announcement on ditching the water regulator is being lined up for Monday. (A long-awaited independent report on the state of the industry drops at 7am).

BREAKING . A Labour Party spokesperson said:. “Diane Abbott has been administratively suspended from the Labour Party, pending an investigation. We cannot comment further while this investigation is ongoing.”.

Writing Playbook into Friday morning ✍️.

RT @e_casalicchio: 🏘️ IN LONDON PLAYBOOK PM TONIGHT . 🗳️ Starmer & Cabinet discuss how to turn polls around & fight elections in 2026. 💸….

RT @e_casalicchio: 🪺 IN LONDON PLAYBOOK PM TONIGHT . 💲 Scoop: Minister expects stealth wealth taxes at Budget. 🗳️ Ministers hopeful fre….

Keir Starmer, who last week said he was a "hard bastard," has told an audience at the British Museum: "Welcome to my manor." 🍏🍐.

Council leader Linden Kemkaran: “Naturally it’s always slightly disappointing when a colleague who’s been given every chance to step up and improve their performance declines the opportunity and instead walks out of a meeting, knowing it would mean they’d lose their position".

Bill Barrett's chief whip said on Monday that he "wasn't sacked". Barrett calls this a “complete lie" and says: "They basically spent 50 minutes saying how shit I was". He adds: "They were abusing me and bullying me.”.

Local news scoop — A Reform UK Cabinet member says he was "ambushed" and sacked from his job running transport on DOGEian Kent Council this week. It happened hours after Nigel Farage came to visit and complained about the costs of home-to-school travel.

Great profile on the new “Monster of the Berlaymont" (?) by my EU colleagues. Bjoern Seibert (Ursula von der Leyen's chief of staff) is "far more powerful today than Selmayr ever was,” says a former French government official.

"Manu of mystery" - chef's kiss @9andrewmcdonald .