“We made some assumptions that we would come in here and find some of the craziness that Doge found in America and that was wrong, we didn’t find any of that.”
In what is incredibly embarrassing for Reform UK, its flagship efficiency programme, DOGE, has failed to find any savings at one of its councils, despite being launched to much fanfare and promises to cut wasteful expenditure.
Reform Councillors at Kent County Council have been forced to admit that they have failed to uncover any wasteful spending, despite party leaders claiming that local authorities were riddled with wasteful expenditure.
Reform’s DOGE unit, modelled on Elon Musk’s equivalent in the U.S., made headlines over the summer, when it was launched at Kent County Council to begin with. Reform announced a team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors who would “visit and analyse” local authorities in order to cut what it called ‘wasteful spending’.
Straight away the new unit was in turmoil after two of the five founding members – including Zia Yusuf – quit within the first week.
Now after a nine month review, Reform councillors in Kent have admitted that they have not found any savings.
Paul Chamberlain, a cabinet member responsible for the council’s so-called Department of Local Government Efficiency (Dolge), told the Financial Times that DOGE had failed to deliver what was promised.
He said: “We made some assumptions that we would come in here and find some of the craziness that Doge found in America and that was wrong, we didn’t find any of that.”
Reform councils are also having to raise council tax despite promising to cut taxes, after discovering the realities of local government.
Isn’t that the problem with populism summed up, promise a land of milk and honey that falls apart when it meets reality?
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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