DOGE-style unit on the way at Lancashire County Council

Lancashire County Council is next on the list to get a visit from a Reform UK team that has modelled itself on Elon Musk’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the United States.

The party revealed on Sunday that the self-styled spend-slashing group – made up of “software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors” – would be visiting all 10 of the county councils Reform now controls.

Kent was announced as the first in line, but on Monday evening, party chair Zia Yusuf declared on X that Lancashire and West Northamptonshire were to follow.

Lancashire County Council leader Stephen Atkinson told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that he was “looking forward to welcoming the DOGE team” to what is the second largest of the local authorities now run by Reform following last month’s local elections.

He added: “Residents gave us an overwhelming mandate to root out waste and reinvest in frontline local services.  I’m excited to see how this unit can deliver for the people of Lancashire.”

However, some opposition groups at County Hall have questioned both the premise and purpose of the DOGE team – and also expressed concern over the potential cost to the public purse of its activity.

Reform has told the LDRS that the work is being undertaken “pro bono” – free of charge – and so will not be a drain on the council budgets that the party suggests are ripe for savings.  No date has been given for DOGE’s work to begin in Lancashire.

The Telegraph reports that the unit is being led by a 28-year-old “tech entrepreneur and data analytics specialist”, Nathaniel Fried, which the paper also describes as having been a “turnaround chief executive”.

The LDRS understands that just hours before Monday’s announcement by Zia Yusuf, Lancashire County Council was unaware of its position on the list of planned DOGE visits – and even believed it may be near the back of queue due to the fact the new leader had already made spending cuts a priority in the weeks since he was confirmed in post.

The budget set by the previous Conservative administration in February was based on the need to save £103m over the next two years – £51m of which originate from previously promised savings that had not been delivered.

County Cllr Atkinson has said all of Reform’s plans and promises are predicated on achieving the goal of balancing the budget.

However, Azhar Ali, leader of the official Progressive Lancashire opposition group of independents and Green county councillors, branded the installation of a DOGE-style team in County Hall “undemocratic”.

“It’s not right for any unit to come into the council unless it’s from the auditors or is sent in by the government to inspect particular services.

“What skills and experience do they have that’s any different to the 84 elected members within the council or its [employed] officers?

“I don’t think we need people coming up from London and telling us what to do and then leaving.  Councilors were elected to make these decisions, not a unit like Trump’s in America – because we’ve all seen what’s happened there,” County Cllr Ali said.

Liberal Democrat group leader John Potter said he thought the announcement of DOGE units for county councils was “a parody”.

“Given that they have been a chaotic and clueless failure in the US, why would we want them in Lancashire?

“The vast majority of the information they want is publicly available anyway.  It’s embarrassing that Reform has such a poor understanding of how local government works.

“They need to grow up, stop messing about and get on delivering services for the people of Lancashire,” County Cllr Potter added.

Reform – both locally and nationally – made claimed local government waste a major part of its local election campaign.  The party attacked the Tory group previously in charge at Lancashire County Council for accumulating £1.2bn of debt – a sum the Conservatives defended as being the basis for a planned programme of capital investment in assets like new schools and roads.

To that end, Aidy Riggott, the leader of the now shrunken Conservative contingent on the authority – and a cabinet member within the previous administration – said while he relieved DOGE would be “a distraction”, he welcomed their arrival, although for very different reasons to Reform.

“Will it uncover any scandal or ridiculous waste of taxpayers’ money? No, it will not.

“What it will start to do is shine a light on the huge gulf locally between Reform’s spin and reality, just like we are starting to see appear now on a national level.

“Hopefully then the new Reform administration at County Hall will get on with delivering for the people and businesses in Lancashire and confirm what they will actually do differently from the previous Conservative administration, rather than simply hiding behind performative politics.”

Lancashire County Council’s Labour group was also approached for comment.

The original Musk version of the DOGE concept – heralded by the X boss brandishing a chainsaw on stage – has courted controversy during its budget-cutting mission in the US, which has seen tens of thousands of public sector jobs and a raft of grants axed.   The unit claims to have so far saved $175bn, from an initial target of $2 trillion.