Latest news with #Reform-controlled
Daily Mirror
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Huge row as Tories demand watchdog probes Reform over data grab
The Tories have called on the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) to look into a 'cyber-security disaster waiting to happen' affecting Reform-controlled councils Nigel Farage's Reform must be probed over a "cyber-security disaster waiting to happen", the Tories have demanded. The Conservatives have called on the information watchdog to launch an investigation into their right-wing rivals, who have asked for a mountain of data from councils it controls. This includes information on whistleblowers and the names and addresses of people who receive meals on wheels. The Tories also accuse Mr Farage's underlings of risking the amount of cash foster carers receive becoming public. In a letter to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), shadow communities secretary Kevin Hollinrake lashed out at "unauthorised data transfers". He warned taxpayers could be landed with massive bills if Reform is fined for breaking the law. It comes after Mr Farage's party said it would use a "unit of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors" to trawl council finances to find waste. Mr Hollinrake wrote: "I believe that the scale of such unauthorised data transfers across local government is a cyber-security disaster waiting to happen. READ MORE: Rachel Reeves pumps cash into NHS with 4million more tests and procedures to cut waits "There is a strong public interest in the Information Commissioner taking pro-active steps to investigate and, if necessary, issue enforcement notices against the public authorities and Reform UK Ltd. "I also suspect that council staff would welcome the support of the Information Commissioner, given the clear threats to sack them if they sound the alarm on breaches of the law. It is also not in the financial interests of local taxpayers for their council to be exposed to the liability of fines for breaching the law." The Tories went on to claim there is a "lack of legal basis" for Reform's data requests. Reform has launched its own Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) modelled on the chaotic department Elon Musk headed in the US. In a letter to Kent County Council signed by Mr Farage, Reform's head of Doge Zia Yusuf and its new council leader Linden Kemkaran, the party said its team of analysts was "bound by data protection obligations and professional standards". It also warned: "Should you resist this request, we are ready to pass a council motion to compel the same and will consider any obstruction to be gross misconduct. We trust this will not be required." Reform won control of 10 councils in the May elections, which also include County Durham, Derbyshire, Doncaster, Lancashire, Lincolnshire, North Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Staffordshire, and West Northamptonshire. The party also won the inaugural regional mayoral contests in Greater Lincolnshire, and Hull and East Yorkshire, and has minority control of several councils. Reform's head of Doge Mr Yusuf claimed the Conservatives "were desperate to cover up the corruption and waste of their now deposed local government regimes". He added: "It will not work. "Just as they plundered hundreds of millions from the British taxpayers during Covid, they have done the same at councils. Reform councillors were voted in to expose it, and with the help of Reform's Doge team, they will do just that."
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Doge head quit due to 'doubt' over the project
The tech entrepreneur who quit heading up Reform UK's Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) says he did so because the resignation of the party's chairman left him with "a bit of doubt" about the future of the project. After 11 months in the role, Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf resigned on Thursday alongside Nathaniel Fried, who was said to be leading the unit. Asked by Politics South East whether the Doge audit of Kent County Council (KCC) was going the same way as Elon Musk's project in America, he said "I don't know to be honest, I'm no longer in charge of Reform's Doge." Reform councillors at KCC have said it is "business as usual" following the double resignation. Mr Fried said the outgoing chairman was "spearheading" the Doge initiative and expressed concerns that the scheme "might not turn out how I wanted it to" without him. KCC deputy leader Brian Collins said "absolutely nothing's changed" following the double departure. "We have a focus, we have a mission, that mission hasn't changed, business as usual," he told BBC South East on Friday morning. Both Mr Yusuf and Mr Fried were part of the Doge team which attended its first meeting at KCC on Monday. Reform said the meeting was "very productive" but the party admitted it did not know how long it would take for the unit to produce recommendations. The scheme, modelled on the Doge unit created by billionaire Elon Musk as part of Donald Trump's second term as US president, aims to identify and eliminate wasteful spending. Responding to claims that the "engine room" of the unit had now been lost, Mr Collins said: "The engine room is the 57 councillors that have been elected to run this council." Conservative councillor Sarah Hudson described the current situation as a "mockery". She said: "It's like a circus coming to town, and then you've got various clowns, and they've thrown their toys out of the pram at the first issue that's come along." Mr Fried said he took on the project for free because he felt the "social contract between tax payers and the British government has been a little bit broken". Asked what people in Kent would make of the resignations, just four days into the project, he said he was sure they were "disappointed". "I have great confidence in the local councillors who are working very hard at the moment, especially the head of the council," he said. "I'm sure that people are disappointed but thus is politics." A spokesperson for Reform UK said: "The work of the Reform UK Doge unit will continue. The team is larger than just one man. "Many Reform-controlled councils already have their respective Doge cabinet members, so this work was happening before and will continue after." Follow BBC Kent on Facebook, on X, and on Instagram. Send your story ideas to southeasttoday@ or WhatsApp us on 08081 002250. No time frame for Reform Doge review in Kent Reform to begin Musk-style audits of councils Farage to bring 'Doge' audits to Reform-led county Reform UK to give council Musk-style audit What is Doge and why has Musk left? Kent County Council
Powys County Times
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Powys County Times
Ask women if burka is genuinely their choice, says Reform UK's Richard Tice
Women who wear burkas should be asked if it is 'genuinely their choice', Reform UK's deputy leader has said amid a row over calls to ban the garment. Richard Tice said the issue should be subject to a 'national debate' as he entered the count for a Holyrood by-election on Thursday night. His comments followed the sudden resignation of Reform's chairman Zia Yusuf, who had described a call from the party's newest MP to ban the burka as 'dumb'. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, Mr Tice said: 'I think it is right that we should have a debate about whether or not the burka is appropriate for a nation that's founded in Christianity, where women are equal citizens and should not be viewed as second class citizens.' Asked whether he supported a ban, he said he was 'pretty concerned' about whether the burka was a 'repressive item of clothing', adding: 'Let's ask women who wear the burka, is that genuinely their choice?' Wearing face-covering clothes is currently banned in seven European countries – France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Bulgaria – while other countries have enacted partial bans. On Wednesday, Reform's newest MP Sarah Pochin asked Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions whether he would support such a ban. A day later, Mr Yusuf said on social media that it had been 'dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do'. Shortly after that, he announced that he was quitting as Reform's chairman, saying that working to get the party elected was no longer 'a good use of my time'. Party leader Nigel Farage said he had had only 10 minutes' notice that Mr Yusuf was going to resign, adding he was 'genuinely sorry' that his chairman had decided to stand down. Mr Yusuf's resignation was accompanied by that of Nathaniel Fried, who was announced earlier this week as the head of a party team examining spending at Reform-controlled Kent County Council. Mr Fried said that as Mr Yusuf had 'got me in' it was 'appropriate for me to leave with him'. The resignations came as Reform UK hoped to win or come a close second in a by-election for the Holyrood seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. In the end, the party came third with 7,088 votes, 869 votes behind the SNP and 1,471 behind the winning Labour candidate.
North Wales Chronicle
06-06-2025
- Politics
- North Wales Chronicle
Ask women if burka is genuinely their choice, says Reform UK's Richard Tice
Richard Tice said the issue should be subject to a 'national debate' as he entered the count for a Holyrood by-election on Thursday night. His comments followed the sudden resignation of Reform's chairman Zia Yusuf, who had described a call from the party's newest MP to ban the burka as 'dumb'. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, Mr Tice said: 'I think it is right that we should have a debate about whether or not the burka is appropriate for a nation that's founded in Christianity, where women are equal citizens and should not be viewed as second class citizens.' Asked whether he supported a ban, he said he was 'pretty concerned' about whether the burka was a 'repressive item of clothing', adding: 'Let's ask women who wear the burka, is that genuinely their choice?' Wearing face-covering clothes is currently banned in seven European countries – France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Bulgaria – while other countries have enacted partial bans. On Wednesday, Reform's newest MP Sarah Pochin asked Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions whether he would support such a ban. A day later, Mr Yusuf said on social media that it had been 'dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do'. Shortly after that, he announced that he was quitting as Reform's chairman, saying that working to get the party elected was no longer 'a good use of my time'. Party leader Nigel Farage said he had had only 10 minutes' notice that Mr Yusuf was going to resign, adding he was 'genuinely sorry' that his chairman had decided to stand down. Mr Yusuf's resignation was accompanied by that of Nathaniel Fried, who was announced earlier this week as the head of a party team examining spending at Reform-controlled Kent County Council. Mr Fried said that as Mr Yusuf had 'got me in' it was 'appropriate for me to leave with him'. The resignations came as Reform UK hoped to win or come a close second in a by-election for the Holyrood seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. In the end, the party came third with 7,088 votes, 869 votes behind the SNP and 1,471 behind the winning Labour candidate.
South Wales Guardian
06-06-2025
- Politics
- South Wales Guardian
Ask women if burka is genuinely their choice, says Reform UK's Richard Tice
Richard Tice said the issue should be subject to a 'national debate' as he entered the count for a Holyrood by-election on Thursday night. His comments followed the sudden resignation of Reform's chairman Zia Yusuf, who had described a call from the party's newest MP to ban the burka as 'dumb'. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Friday, Mr Tice said: 'I think it is right that we should have a debate about whether or not the burka is appropriate for a nation that's founded in Christianity, where women are equal citizens and should not be viewed as second class citizens.' Asked whether he supported a ban, he said he was 'pretty concerned' about whether the burka was a 'repressive item of clothing', adding: 'Let's ask women who wear the burka, is that genuinely their choice?' Wearing face-covering clothes is currently banned in seven European countries – France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria and Bulgaria – while other countries have enacted partial bans. On Wednesday, Reform's newest MP Sarah Pochin asked Sir Keir Starmer during Prime Minister's Questions whether he would support such a ban. A day later, Mr Yusuf said on social media that it had been 'dumb for a party to ask the PM if they would do something the party itself wouldn't do'. Shortly after that, he announced that he was quitting as Reform's chairman, saying that working to get the party elected was no longer 'a good use of my time'. Party leader Nigel Farage said he had had only 10 minutes' notice that Mr Yusuf was going to resign, adding he was 'genuinely sorry' that his chairman had decided to stand down. Mr Yusuf's resignation was accompanied by that of Nathaniel Fried, who was announced earlier this week as the head of a party team examining spending at Reform-controlled Kent County Council. Mr Fried said that as Mr Yusuf had 'got me in' it was 'appropriate for me to leave with him'. The resignations came as Reform UK hoped to win or come a close second in a by-election for the Holyrood seat of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. In the end, the party came third with 7,088 votes, 869 votes behind the SNP and 1,471 behind the winning Labour candidate.
