Nigel Farage has advantage Elon Musk didn't in pursuing DOGE-style initiative

Reform UK is to pilot a DOGE-style scheme at Kent County Council. Modelled on Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) stateside, the scheme will be led by a team including Brexit donor Arron Banks and cybersecurity entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried. Reform said the team would examine all council expenditure, while utilising artificial intelligence, advanced data analytics and forensic auditing.

Can the scheme actually work however? In the US, the consensus is DOGE over-promised and under-delivered. One issue identified in DC was targeting the federal payroll before reducing agencies' regulatory powers and eliminating programs. Another criticism was relying too heavily on technical expertise but refusing to accept help from think-tankers and others with specialist knowledge.

To be fair to Musk and DOGE, at the very least a much-needed debate was sparked about government waste, including outside the US.

Nigel Farage and co may in fact have a second-mover advantage in learning what went wrong in Washington.

Meanwhile local government in the UK perhaps represents a more manageable task than the entirety of the US national government.

Nevertheless, Reform needs to be careful this is more than a gimmick. Serious efficiencies need to be found and, if external help is available, it should be accepted.

Finally, the public sector is a different beast to business. The kind of cost-cutting which can work in a company is not necessarily transferable at a county council.

Reform's national spending plans are already being criticised. Within reason - given how far away the next election is and how far ahead Reform is in the polls - this doesn't matter too much. Yet!

But soon Reform's council track record will come under tremendous scrutiny, including whatever UK DOGE throws up. The Reform team needs to make sure this plan actually saves taxpayers money and drives up standards into the bargain.

If not, Reform could instead gain a reputation for cutting staff and undermining local services, without really saving anything at all. Bad publicity is the last thing Farage needs.

All eyes therefore will be on this latest scheme to assess Reform's worthiness for government.