ZIA YUSUF: No money for potholes... but plenty for migrants' Big Macs
I wish I was joking.
Reform won control of ten councils in May, and we did so with a mandate to fight for taxpayers. The DOGE team – our Department for Government Efficiency – has begun its analysis of spending in English councils. Even at this early stage, what we have found is a slap in the face to every taxpayer in this country. Hundreds of thousands of pounds squandered on luxuries, fast food, entertainment and designer brands – all during a cost-of-living crisis where working families can't even afford a weekly shop.
Asylum is already a heavy burden on the Treasury. Figures released last November showed the Home Office spent a record £5.38 billion on asylum seekers in 2023-24 – up by 36 per cent on the previous year – in no small part due to hotel accommodation.
So to blow even a penny of that on crazy golf or skateboarding is a betrayal of the taxpayer.
These last two examples come courtesy of the high-rollers at Kent County Council who also forked out for trips to the cinema, bowling alley, safari park and circus – all booked to the asylum budget.
It's clear that those who came to the country illegally are enjoying better lifestyles than many of the taxpayers who fund all this. Small boat migrants who go on to claim asylum get a free life of leisure, while British families struggle to find the time and money to take their own families on holidays.
And the absurdity doesn't end there. We uncovered over £10,000 of spending on streaming services Netflix and Disney+, somehow justified as council expenses. This is on top of the thousands that Kent Council spent on TV licences for asylum seekers.
The fast food bill alone will turn your stomach.
A staggering £118,000 was spent across councils on McDonald's, Domino's, Greggs, Nando's and UberEats. Most of the McDonald's spend was booked into the education budget. Some education. Then there's Durham County Council. It blew £23,000 on Amazon, £12,000 on gift cards, £11,000 at Currys, £9,700 via PayPal and nearly £2,000 on Virgin Atlantic – all tied to asylum-related budgets.
The public never voted for its money to be lavished on electronics and gift cards for adult asylum seekers, let alone TV licences, Domino's or trips to bowling alleys.
No democratic mandate exists for this grotesque misuse of public funds.
Instead, it was waved through by treacherous politicians and unelected bureaucrats behind closed doors. The rot is systemic. From online shopping debts being paid off using public funds, to hundreds of thousands on fast food, the spending culture inside our councils reveals a contempt for the people footing the bill.
The fact that the bureaucrats presiding over this also have their snouts in the trough is adding insult to injury.
Some 238 council employees earn more than the Prime Minister. It's not just the CEOs. In London alone, over 90 council staff – including HR directors – have higher pay packages than the PM. Paying for performance is one thing, paying for dismal failure is another.
Despite these extraordinary salaries and ever-growing payrolls, most council employees 'work from home' for some or even all of the week, and have refused any independent analysis of staff productivity. I wonder why.
We are finding this waste and betrayal across former Tory and Labour city halls. While they were arguing about who could tax you more, they let the machinery of government quietly bleed you dry. Reform will give power back to the people who work hard, pay taxes and expect nothing more than fairness and common sense in return.
Britain needs a reckoning. We must end the era of blank cheques, and start holding public servants to the same standards the rest of us live by. My DOGE team will continue to uncover and expose waste, and under Reform UK every pound of taxpayer money will be treated as precious.
A hard reset in Whitehall is a must. A Reform government will respect your hard work, sacrifices and right to expect competence and honesty from those spending your money.
On May 1 this year, Reform decisively prised apart the stranglehold the two old parties have had on British politics for a century. Under Nigel Farage, we offer a totally new approach to politics. We will secure our borders, halt immigration, put the interests of British people first, and we will fight for taxpayers.
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