Nigel Farage’s “Doge” unit has revealed that Kent taxpayers spent thousands of pounds paying for illegal migrants to have TV licences and trips to the cinema.
In a damning dossier compiled by Reform UK’s waste-buster squad, Kent County Council spent at least £1,000 on footing the £174.50 bill for small boat arrivals to watch the BBC in 2022.
Asylum seekers were also taken on trampolining, bowling and cinema trips across the Garden of England.
Overall costs, which included spending money at JD Sports and PC World, stood at £24,000.
Kent has been at the forefront of the migrant crisis, with 16,000 asylum seekers completing the 21-mile journey in 2025 so far.
Reform’s “Doge” tsar Zia Yusuf said: “For too long, British citizens have been prosecuted for not paying for a TV licence, yet asylum seekers are having theirs paid for by taxpayers.
“The old Tory regime at Kent County Council has a lot to answer for. Reform will fight for taxpayers.”
Reform UK confirmed the spending just hours after Liberal Democrat MP Mike Martin accused Yusuf of leading a “clown show” over his claims.
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Zia Yusuf PATaking to social media, the Kent MP said: “Kent County Council doesn’t have an 'asylum budget' so it looks like you’re talking nonsense.”
However, Reform’s Doge unit whizz-kid Nathaniel Fried fired back against Martin.
He wrote: This is at best misleading from Mike Martin. There is clearly a budget and spend assigned to asylum seekers in Kent.
“There is a category of spending (32V) for 'Asylum Residential'.
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Migrants arriving in Kent PA“There is also: (32Q) Non-Placement Spend Asylum 18+ (32P) Rented Asylum 16-17.
“Money is spent and assigned to those ‘Service Name’ and ‘Service Type’.
“It is mostly billed to the ‘Children, Young People & Education’ directorate regardless of the service name/type.”
GB News also recently revealed how Kent County Council had been using taxpayers’ cash to rent office space almost 200 miles away in Brussels.
Reform Cllr Linden Kemkaran (front centre), leader of the Reform UK Kent County Council group, with the Reform UK councillors elected to Kent County Council,PAReform UK won Kent County Council from the Tories in the 2025 Local Elections, picking up 57 out of 81 seats.
Yusuf, who quit as Reform UK’s chairman last week before returning to the fold 48 hours later, launched Reform's "Doge" unit at Kent's County Hall in Maidstone last week.
Arron Banks, one of the so-called "Bad Boys of Brexit", will join Yusuf and Fried as an adviser to the "Doge" team.
Yusuf has also met with council chiefs in West Northamptonshire, later pledging all Reform-run local authorities will face a major financial inspection.
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