The head of the UK’s biggest trade union urged staff at Reform-controlled councils to sign up after Nigel Farage promised swingeing DOGE-style job cuts.
Mr Farage has warned council staff working on diversity or climate change initiatives to seek ‘alternative careers’ after Reform UK took control of Durham council.
The Clacton MP’s party made major gains in the local elections, picking up 10 councils and more than 600 seats in Thursday’s poll.
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: ‘Unions are there to ensure no one can play fast and loose with the law.
‘Any staff working for councils now controlled by Reform, and who aren’t yet members, should sign up so they can be protected too.’
Mr Farage has said he wants a British equivalent of DOGE in every council – referring to the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency, which was set up with the intention of slashing government spending in the US.
He said he would advise anyone working on climate change or diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives to be ‘seeking alternative careers very, very quickly’, in a speech in Durham on Friday.
‘We want to give council taxpayers better value for money. We want to reduce excessive expenditure,’ he said.
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea (pictured in December 2022) said staff working for UK councils run by Reform UK should join her union to ‘ensure no one can play fast and loose with the law’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has said he wants a British equivalent of DOGE in every council – referring to the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency, which was set up with the intention of slashing government spending in the US
UNISON is one of the UK’s largest trade unions, with 1.3 million members, and represents staff who provide public services in the public and private sector
On Saturday, a newly elected Reform UK councillor said Durham County Council would be ‘getting the auditors in’ right away to slash spending in areas like net zero and green initiatives.
‘We’re getting the auditors in to see … actually what those jobs are, and if they’re good value for money, and if they’re not, well, the answer is, ‘Yeah, goodbye’,’ Darren Grimes, a Durham councillor and former GB News presenter told the Today programme.
Ms McAnea said: ‘This is not the US. Thankfully, workers in the UK have laws to protect them from bad employers.
‘And soon employees will get even more protection from unscrupulous bosses when the government’s new employment rights come in.’
She said the new Reform UK councillors have ‘much to learn about local government’ and will ‘quickly discover there’s nothing left to cut and many authorities are balancing on the edge of the financial precipice.’
‘Most local authorities would love to be doing their core work, as Mr Farage says. But they simply don’t have the staff nor the resources to do even that.’
Reform UK’s success in this week’s local elections 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.
Speaking on Today on BBC Radio 4, Farage said: ‘We are deeply dissatisfied with the way that county councils and unitaries in Britain have been running their budgets.
The Reform leader said he hoped to emulate Elon Musk’s (above) DOGE, which has attempted to cut federal spending, including by closing the US foreign aid agency
‘We look at the millions a year being spent, in many cases, on consultants. We look at the money being spent on climate change; on areas that county councils, frankly, shouldn’t even be getting involved in.’
Mr Farage promised to bring in auditors to assess long-term contracts as well as to introduce a ‘change of culture’ by putting an end to working from home.
He added: ‘That won’t be a magic wand, it won’t solve every problem, but it will be a good start.’
Mr Farage said Reform councillors would also push through culture change among staff, adding: ‘No more working from home, increased productivity from staff.’
