Nigel Farage has pledged to ban working from home and slash wasteful spending at councils seized by Reform.
He promised radical changes including slashing spending on consultancy, reducing council ‘overreach’ into issues such as climate change and diversity initiatives, and imposing a ‘change of culture’ on staff.
Reform councils will also resist Government efforts to house Channel migrants in their areas, he added.
The Reform leader told the BBC that he hoped to emulate Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge), which has attempted to cut federal spending, including by closing the US foreign aid agency.
He added that ‘every county needs a Doge’.
Referring to the culture changes his party would be pushing through at local authorities, Mr Farage said there would be ‘no more working from home’ and ‘increased productivity from staff’.
Critics warned that Reform would struggle to slash spending significantly because much of it is mandated by law for things such as social care.
The surge in local council support came after Reform recorded an extraordinary win in the Runcorn by-election, taking one of Labour’s safest seats by just six votes.
It puts Mr Farage’s party in control of some of Britain’s biggest local authorities, in charge of delivering key services funded by budgets running into hundreds of millions of pounds.
He added: ‘We are deeply dissatisfied with the way councils are running their budgets. Look at the millions a year being spent on consultants. Money is being spent on climate change and areas that councils frankly should not be involved in.
‘So we are going to get the auditors in looking at the long-term contracts and asking why they are signing up to, for example, pothole providers that are not doing the business.’
Mr Farage said Reform councillors would also push through culture change among staff, adding: ‘No more working from home, increased productivity from staff.
‘That won’t be a magic wand but it will be a good start and we will be judged on that.’
After Reform took control of Durham County Council, Mr Farage said: ‘I would advise anybody who’s working for Durham County Council on climate change initiatives or Diversity, Equity and Inclusion or … thinks that you go on working from home, I think you all better really be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly.’
Critics warned that Reform would struggle to slash spending significantly as much of it is mandated by law for things like social care.
Labour and Conservative sources also warned that Reform’s success could backfire if the party’s hundreds of new, untested councillors fail to deliver.
In Lincolnshire, former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns celebrated victory in the mayoral race by calling for asylum seekers to be removed from hotels and rehoused in tents.
One Labour source: ‘I’m looking forward to Andrea Jenkyns being on Question Time every week.’
Labour Party chairman said voters would now ‘take a closer look at Reform’s policies’ rather than just listening to the party’s ‘hype’.