A leading firefighters’ union has raised serious concerns about the governance of Kent and Medway Fire Authority, calling the body ‘in disarray’ after a series of councillor suspensions.

The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) says that the removal of five members of the authority — including its chair and vice-chair — has undermined its ability to function and prevented it from approving large-scale spending.

Arguing this could potentially affect emergency operations, the union branded the Reform UK-led Kent County Council a ‘shambles’ and dubbed the council leader Linden Kemkaran ‘captain chaos’.

The union’s concerns are part of the fall out from a leaked video of a virtual Kent CC Reform UK meeting where Cllr Kemkaran told party members to ‘f***ing suck it up’ in a heated debate about the council’s finances and local government reorganisation.

Joe Weir, FBU executive council member for the South East, said: ‘Since Reform took over the council in May, we have seen a deeply worrying lack of care and diligence. The FBU has written to Linden Kemkaran, or “Captain Chaos” as she is becoming known, to ask for a meeting, but nothing has been forthcoming.’

Steve Wright, FBU general secretary, added: 'This situation is a shambles and a threat to public safety. Without sound governance, fire and rescue services will not be able to do their jobs properly.'

In response, Cllr Kemkaran said: 'Mr Wright is talking absolute nonsense. He is shamelessly scaremongering to score political points. I am confident there has been no disruption to service, and we are appointing new, high-calibre members to the authority imminently.'

To learn more about Reform UK, check out: Reform UK: What Britain’s fastest rising party stands for and Reform UK’s ‘Doge’ witch-hunts will achieve little.