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Farage to bring 'Doge' audits to Reform-led county

Jennie Aitken
BBC Stoke and Staffordshire political reporter•jen_aitken
BBC A man looking forwards and to the side of the camera. He is wearing a dark suit and dark purple tie and white shirt. Behind him are white cupboards and another man who is wearing a suit is looking down. BBC
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in Staffordshire, where his party took control on 2 May.

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 ".

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.

Nige Farage pictured with his arms apart and raised and smiling. There are more than 20 councillors behind him. Most are wearing suits and they are smiling and several men at the front have their hands folded in front of them.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage was photographed in the county buildings with Staffordshire County Council councillors and cabinet who were elected in May

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 by-election to replace Wayne Titley.

Titley resigned after he attracted criticism for a post on his Facebook 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 Titley 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 s 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".

A man looks at the camera. He has dark hair and is wearing glasses and is also wearing a blue jacket, white shirt and stripy tie. Behind him is a fireplace with a clock on it and white walls which have black and white photographs on.
Philip White, the Conservative leader of the opposition in Staffordshire, suggested the audit plan meant Farage did not trust Reform councillors to run the authority

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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