'DOGE unit' will face a fight if they suggest cutting staff, say unions

UNION leaders have told the Reform UK 'DOGE unit' set to scrutinise the finances of Lancashire County Council that it will find little fat to cut - and will face a fight if it suggests sacking staff.

- BY PAUL FAULKNER

They were reacting to the announcement that the authority is next in line to receive a visit from the party's cost-cutting squad, which has been modelled on Elon Musk’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency in the United States.

Pete Billington, secretary of the Lancashire Association of Trades Union Councils (LATUC), said the hundreds of millions of pounds saved by County Hall during more than a decade of austerity rendered the DOGE process in Lancashire 'meaningless.

"The only way they're going to [achieve their aim] is by sacking people and cutting services.

"I know that the unions involved are going to react strongly - to say the least - to any idea that a group of people like Reform are going to start cutting jobs.

"I just can’t see them taking any attempt to cut employment without a massive fight.