Nigel Farage has unveiled Britain’s first DOGE unit to stop alleged wastage in a UK county. Reform UK has assembled a squad of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors to visit the 10 councils the party now controls. Kent is the first local authority to be visited. The team will be lead by a top tech entrepreneur, but their identity has not yet been revealed. Reform has said that he specialises in data analytics and has been a turnaround chief executive, according to The Telegraph.
A letter sent to Kent County Council, signed by its leader Linden Kemkaran, Reform’s Chairman, Zia Yusuf, and Mr Farage, read: “The scope of the review includes but is not limited to: Contractual arrangements with suppliers and consultants, all capital expenditure, use of framework agreements and direct awards, any off-book or contingent liabilities, use of reserves and financial resilience, any audit flags raised by internal or external auditors in the last three years.”
The document added: “We request that all relevant council officers provide the DOGE team with full and prompt access to: Council-held documents, reports and records (electronic and paper), relevant finance, procurement, audit and contract data, meeting minutes and correspondence concerning major procurements, any internal investigations or whistleblowing reports relevant to financial matters, any additional documents that might be of assistance.”
The letter came with a warning.
It read: “Should you resist this request, we are ready to pass a council motion to compel the same and will consider any obstruction of our councillors’ duties to be gross misconduct.
“We trust this will not be required.”
Mr Yusuf said: “For too long British people have been British taxpayers have watched their money vanish into a black hole.
“Their taxes keep going up, their bin collections keep getting less frequent, potholes remain unfixed, their local services keep getting cut. Reform won a historic victory on a mandate to change this.
“As promised, we have created a UK Doge to identify and cut wasteful spending of taxpayer money. Our team will use cutting-edge technology and deliver real value for voters.”
