Reform council cost-cutting drive in doubt

The tech entrepreneur who quit heading up Reform UK's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) says he did so because the resignation of the party's chairman left him with "a bit of doubt" about the future of the project.

After 11 months in the role, Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf resigned on Thursday alongside Nathaniel Fried, who was said to be leading the unit.

Asked by Politics South East whether the Doge audit of Kent County Council (KCC) was going the same way as Elon Musk's project in America, he said: "I don't know to be honest, I'm no longer in charge of Reform's Doge."

Reform councillors at KCC have said it is "business as usual" following the double resignation.

Mr Fried said the outgoing chairman was "spearheading" the Doge initiative and expressed concerns that the scheme "might not turn out how I wanted it to" without him.

KCC deputy leader Brian Collins said "absolutely nothing's changed" following the double departure.

"We have a focus, we have a mission, that mission hasn't changed, business as usual," he told BBC South East on Friday morning.

Both Mr Yusuf and Mr Fried were part of the Doge team which attended its first meeting at KCC on Monday.

Reform said the meeting was "very productive" but the party admitted it did not know how long it would take for the unit to produce recommendations.

The scheme, modelled on the Doge unit created by billionaire Elon Musk as part of Donald Trump's second term as US president, aims to identify and eliminate wasteful spending.

Responding to claims that the "engine room" of the unit had now been lost, Mr Collins said: "The engine room is the 57 councillors that have been elected to run this council."

Anthony Hook leader of the Lib Dem group on KCC said: "This is utter chaos.

"Reform's so-called Doge unit seems to be cutting itself. This isn't a crack unit, it's a circus.

"Meanwhile, residents are being put second. Time for Reform councillors to stop cancelling audit meetings and dodging real responsibility, and focus on delivering for the people of Kent."

Conservative councillor Sarah Hudson described the current situation as a "mockery".

She said: "It's like a circus coming to town, and then you've got various clowns, and they've thrown their toys out of the pram at the first issue that's come along."

Mr Fried said he took on the project for free because he felt the "social contract between tax payers and the British government has been a little bit broken".

Asked what people in Kent would make of the resignations, just four days into the project, he said he was sure they were "disappointed".

"I have great confidence in the local councillors who are working very hard at the moment, especially the head of the council," he said.

"I'm sure that people are disappointed but thus is politics."

A spokesperson for Reform UK said: "The work of the Reform UK Doge unit will continue. The team is larger than just one man.

"Many Reform-controlled councils already have their respective Doge cabinet members, so this work was happening before and will continue after."