A new team of auditors, led by a UK ‘tech entrepreneur’, will be tasked with reviewing the finances of Reform UK-controlled councils, party chair Zia Yusuf has announced.
The team - inspired by the US Government's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) - will consist of software engineers, forensic auditors and data analysts appointed to ensure the ‘prudent management of public funds’ within the 10 councils now controlled by Reform UK following its success in the recent local elections.
Emphasising the party’s ‘commitment to transparency’ and ‘accountability’, Reform UK proposes that its DOGE teams will ‘help eliminate wasteful spending’, beginning with an assessment of Kent Council.
In a letter outlining the aim of the review, the party and council leaders confirm the DOGE team leader’s entitlement to council information, citing the 1972 and 1985 Local Government Act, as well as the common law ‘need to know’ principle as sources of authority.
The construction of the DOGE council unit follows an announcement made by Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice last week, revealing the party’s plans to cut ‘overgenerous’ council pensions.
Tice told The Telegraph: ‘It’s an outrage – the public can’t afford it. It’s absolutely ludicrous, and this is why the country is going bust and it’s all got to stop.’
For more information about Reform UK, check out: Reform UK: What Britain’s fastest rising party stands for.
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