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Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey has ruled out a deal with the Conservatives to run Kent County Council after tomorrow’s poll.
Sir Ed said his party would rather remove the Tories from County Hall, where they have been in charge since 1997.
He claimed the Conservatives are more likely to do “a shoddy deal” with Reform UK even though both parties have ruled out any agreement to share power.
On a visit to Tunbrdige Wells in bright spring sunshine, the Lib Dem leader said a coalition was “highly unlikely”, adding: “We want to kick the Conservatives out of control of the county council.
“They have run it so badly. They are tired and they haven’t got any ideas.
“The real worry people should have is if they do some sort of shoddy deal with Reform.
“We want to win as many seats as possible so we can change the county county for the better.”
At the election across Kent tomorrow, 81 seats are up for grabs.
The Conservatives currently have 56 but most local observers think that number will be reduced significantly with a hung council more than likely.
KCC along with the other 13 councils in Kent will be abolished in the next few years to make way for a much smaller number of larger unitary authorities.
Sir Ed said a Reform UK-led council would be “totally incompetent” which would not prioritise social care or special educational needs.
He added: “We don’t think they’re going to win, by the way.
“They are splitting the Conservative vote and that’s why I think the Lib Dems can win many more seats.”
In power, Sir Ed said the Lib Dems would reform the KCC budget, release assets to fix the county’s roads and fight for better SEN and social care funding.
He added: “I think we have got the arguments and the evidence and we have got the political will to push this through.”
He said the party could do better than the pundits predicted and vowed to “never do a deal with Reform” at KCC.
He praised the Lib Dem-led Tunbridge Wells borough council for transforming the into a place of “vibrancy and excitement” which could be repeated all over Kent.
