Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called for a DOGE team to be deployed in every local council in England to save taxpayer money by reducing waste and inefficiencies.
In three weeks, voters will select new representatives to fill over 1,600 councillor seats across England. This will be the first significant electoral test for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s left-wing Labour Party government since coming to power last July.
The elections will also represent the first major national test for the Reform UK party in its poll-leading era as it seeks to compete with the establishment parties at the next general election. Consistently polling in either first place or tied with Labour, the upstart populist party is hoping to secure council victories upon which it can build a national campaigning infrastructure.
Speaking to the BBC on Sunday about the prospect of Reform possibly taking control of some councils in England for the first time, party leader Nigel Farage highlighted a desire to root out waste and inefficiencies locally to save taxpayer money and deliver better services.
Taking inspiration from the Trump administration’s efforts through the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency, Mr Farage said every council in England should have their own form of DOGE.
“I’ve looked at the numbers, we did thousands of FOI requests to have a look where money was being spent,” he said. “We probably need a DOGE for every single county council in England.”
“Quite why Lancashire County Council spent half a million quid on ergonomic chairs for their staff, I don’t know. Quite why up to a third of council staff almost never come to the office, I don’t know,” Mr Farage remarked.
Mr Farage acknowledged that many local councils are cash-strapped, with inflation and national budget cuts impacting local governments throughout the country, and that the majority of budgets are spent on education and social care.
However, he argued that local governments are also being held back by a stagnant culture, saying that he would Reform would not focus on increasing taxes or slashing benefits, but rather on “increasing the productivity of staff”.
“And the whole work from home culture, all that needs to go. There are a lot of people working for these councils earning more money than the prime minister and not delivering,” Farage said.
The Reform chief also pointed to common-sense solutions that could save money at the local level, such as getting out of long-term contracts for issues such as potholes while turning to novel and cheaper options. “The whole thing needs a fresh pair of eyes,” he said.
In the May 1st elections, 1,641 council seats across the country will be up for grabs. According to analysis from the PA news agency, Reform has drafted the most candidates of any party and is currently on pace to contest 99.4 per cent of seats, with 1,631 candidates. This demonstrates the effectiveness of the push from Farage and Reform chairman Zia Yusuf to “professionalize” the party, they say.
In contrast, the establishment Conservatives have drafted 1,596 candidates to contest 97.3 per cent of seats, while the governing Labour party has only drafted 1,543 candidates to contest 94 per cent of seats.
Reform was also bolstered last week with a landslide victory in a council by-election in Tameside, Greater Manchester. The Reform candidate, Allan Hopwood, more than doubled the vote received by the Labour candidate for the Longdendale ward council seat.
Following the victory, Mr Farage said that Reform will “astonish everybody” by “eating into the old Labour vote” when voters head to the polls next month.
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