'Doge' audits needed in Reform-led Staffordshire, says Farage
The Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he is "absolutely certain savings can be made" on the costs of running Staffordshire County Council. It comes after the party announced it will send its first Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) team into local authorities to assess "wasteful spending".Reform said the first council to be audited will be Kent County Council, but Farage, who was in Staffordshire on Tuesday, said it would also get the Doge team in "soon". The Conservatives have called the auditing process a "big vote of no confidence by Nigel Farage in the ability of his newly-elected councillors to do their job of holding their council to account".
Farage met county councillors on Tuesday after Reform won 49 out of 62 seats on the council during the local elections on 1 May. The party took control from the Conservatives, who had led the authority since 2009.
The audit plans follow the US Doge, launched during Donald Trump's presidency to cut federal spending. Billionaire Elon Musk was involved but has since left his position spearheading the unit.Farage was asked about "wasteful spending" and the cost of an upcoming by-election to replace Wayne Titley.Titley resigned after he attracted criticism for a post on his Facebook account in March that called on the navy to intercept small boats attempting to reach Britain and use a "volley of gun fire aimed at sinking them".Farage said: "It's unfortunate. This guy said some things on social media. He shouldn't have said, as a result of that came under some pretty abusive online pressure, and would rather it hadn't happened."Reform had previously stood by Mr Titely saying he dropped out for personal reasons, and refused to comment on the social media post.
Reform said its new auditing team would be made up of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors who are doing the work for free. Farage added it is headed up by a 28 year-old tech entrepreneur, called Nathaniel Fried, "who supports the Reform cause" and takes the view that "government at all levels have not been looking after taxpayers' money". Ian Cooper is the Reform leader of the authority in Staffordshire, who said his first priority was to "lift the drains and see what comes out". He said this "Doge" would look at how departments are run and where the money's gone, adding "what it's spent on exactly, and that kind of level of granular detail. from that we can make better decision making".
Philip White, the Conservative leader of the opposition on the county said: "We have a by-election for the council after one of Reform's councillors quit after two weeks so perhaps Nigel Farage would like to put himself forward as a candidate given he does not seem to trust his local councillors to run the county council themselves."The by-election for the Gnosall and Eccleshall division will take place on 17 July.
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