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Several councils run by Reform UK have resisted efforts by the party’s Elon Musk-style “Doge” unit to access personal and commercially sensitive data, slowing the progress of the highly controversial cost-cutting drive.
Senior lawyers and data handlers at some Reform-run councils in England have so far blocked access to sensitive information by unelected volunteers running the party’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency, according to people briefed on the situation.
Kent county council, one of 10 local authorities where Reform took control in local elections in May, has hired an external counsel to help challenge Doge’s access to internal data sets, according to two people briefed on the move.
A senior Reform figure confirmed that no data-sharing agreements had yet been signed with councils where the party has political control, adding that there had been “resistance in some councils” and that some legal teams “are definitely slow-rolling things”.
They added that the primary areas of concern were GDPR, the use of personal data, and access to commercially sensitive information. Elected councillors make key decisions at English councils, but the authorities are run day-to-day by often-powerful permanent staff.
The person added that progress was being made and that Reform expected to begin signing data-sharing agreements in the coming days. “We can’t Doge 10 councils simultaneously,” the person said.
Reform launched its Doge initiative at the start of June promising to use “AI, advanced data analysis and forensic auditing” to cut “wasteful” spending, but it has so far been reliant on publicly available information about council expenditures.
This has led to several cases in which council spending, and contractual information, appears to have been misunderstood by Reform’s Doge team, for example misreading the value of a contract for services nationwide as one council’s outlay. The team is run by 12 volunteers, including software engineers and artificial intelligence specialists, according to Reform’s Doge chief Zia Yusuf.
The wrangling over access to internal data mirrors some of the legal battles faced by Musk’s Doge in the US, which faced dozens of lawsuits that temporarily slowed the US cost-cutting initiative.
One person familiar with legal conversations at a Reform-run council said local officials were struggling to come up with a workable way forward.
The person said an open procurement exercise would probably be needed for any external organisation to obtain the legal right to inspect confidential data. But they could not guarantee that Reform’s chosen Doge representatives would be selected, they added.
The senior Reform figure said this assessment of the situation was “inaccurate”.
Kent county council said officers were “working closely and positively with the new administration to ensure that they achieve their policy aims, whilst doing so within the appropriate legal and governance frameworks”.
“This collaboration with our newly elected members will ensure that any decisions taken are lawful, reasonable and proportionate.”
