'We should all be very grateful'

Farage says new DOGE team will make huge council savings but opponents dismiss it as a 'stunt'

- Phil Corrigan Local Democracy Reporter

NIGEL Farage says Reform UK will help find 'significant' savings at Staffordshire County Council.

The Reform leader visited County Buildings in Stafford to meet the council's new cabinet, following his party's landslide election victory in Staffordshire last month.

Mr Farage spoke about Reform's plans to send a team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors to comb through the county council's finances in order to identify savings. The unit, led by 28-year-old tech entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried, has been labelled DOGE after the American Department of Government Efficiency, previously headed by Elon Musk.

While Mr Farage believes there are 'significant savings' to be made in areas such as climate change policy, he declined to predict how much DOGE would achieve.

The DOGE team, which Reform says will be working for free, started work at Kent County Council this week and will be visiting all 10 authorities controlled by Reform over the course of this year.

Mr Farage believes the team will be able to bring expertise and a fresh perspective to the county council.