So much for Reform wanting to cut waste.
A Labour MP has taken apart Reform’s DOGE unit in a single post on social media, as the party comes under growing scrutiny over its record in local government.
Reform’s DOGE unit, modelled on Elon Musk’s equivalent in the U.S., was supposed to be an innovative cost-cutting machine, aimed at reducing what Farage and his cronies had slammed as ‘wasteful expenditure’. However, it’s been an abject failure.
The party’s DOGE unit made headlines over the summer, when it was launched at Kent County Council to begin with, with Reform announcing 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 it’s being criticised after failing to find any savings and after Reform councillors themselves have engaged in wasteful spending.
Labour MP Luke Charters posted on X: “Reform’s been mysteriously quiet about their DOGE work recently.
“Maybe it’s because they’ve spent:
“£600k on free councillor parking in Kent
“£1.4 million on ‘cost-cutting’ consultations in Leicestershire
“£5000/day on empty offices in Worcestershire
“So much for efficiency.”
It comes after it was revealed that Reform run Kent County Council had spent £600,000 on a private car park for its own senior councillors.
Leicestershire County Council has also announced it will pay consultants £1.4m to carry out a cost cutting review.
The Reform UK-led authority said it had launched a “top-to-bottom” analysis of its £1.3bn annual spending.
And to make matters worse for Reform, Worcestershire County Council has spent more than £5,000 a day maintaining empty office space.
Its county council’s headquarters in Worcester County Hall were closed in June last year following the discovery of potentially dangerous legionella bacteria in the building’s water supply.
So much for Reform wanting to cut waste.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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