Reform vowed ‘Doge’ savings – then spent £13k on complaints about its own councillors ...Middle East

A Reform-led council has received dozens of complaints about the behaviour of the party’s councillors just four months after winning power – with investigations costing thousands of pounds, The i Paper can reveal.

Durham County Council officers received 163 “standards” complaints since Reform took control of the authority in May, according to a Freedom of Information request.

At least 153 have been addressed and closed at a cost of £12,956 in officers’ time, the council said.

By comparison, there were 20 formal complaints received by Durham between May and August 2024.

A number of the complaints relate to social media posts by Darren Grimes, the former GB News presenter and rising star of Reform UK who is now deputy leader of the council.

He has described complaints, including allegations of racism, as being politically motivated and wasting the time of police and council officers.

Amanda Hopgood, the former Lib Dem leader of Durham, claimed the council has had to divert extra staff to deal with the volume of complaints and accused Reform of being more concerned with “headlines and clickbait” than running the council.

Reform’s leader Andrew Husband denied any additional staff have been needed and said: “As with many issues the council deals with, we seek to manage demand through existing resources.”

Nigel Farage’s party won control of 12 authorities in England in the May local elections on the back of promises to cut “waste and inefficiency” in local councils, rip up net-zero strategies and stop migrant boats crossing the Channel.

Durham, the eighth largest authority in England serving more than 500,000 people in a traditional Labour heartland, was one of the party’s most eye-catching victories.

But critics say Reform is now having to confront the reality of running a council that, like many others across the country, is in an increasingly difficult financial position.

Promises of a Doge-style review – named after the Trump administration’s controversial Department of Government Efficiency – to identify major savings at Durham council have yet to materialise.

Instead council leader Husband has complained that Reform faces having to put up council tax by the maximum 5 per cent or cut services due to its financial position.

Durham faces a deficit of £71m over the next four years and Husband said he needs further funding to “more adequately reflect the demands and cost pressures we face”.

Reform’s Durham council leader Andrew Husband believes his party can make ‘waste and inefficiency’ savings (Photo: Ian Forsyth/Getty)

“They’ve got this vision that there’s all this wasted money – we’ve had 15 years of austerity,” Hopgood told The i Paper.

“If you think there’s any waste left that’s easily accessible… we’ve already done it.”

Husband said Reform still believes there is “waste and inefficiency” to be found in Durham and that for his administration “it is not just about savings but revenue creation”.

He added: “Savings will have to be made as long as the resources provided to local government don’t meet our cost pressures – which is currently the case in County Durham.

“Hopgood will no doubt be proved incorrect once again. Her administration left this council facing a £1bn debt. Reform won’t let this happen.”

Disputes over net zero and Pride festival

Durham’s Reform leadership claims it has already saved money by scrapping net-zero policies and funding for the city’s Pride festival.

However, opposition parties have disputed this arguing that net zero investments were always based on extra grant funding that the council would receive from central or regional government.

“They say they’ve saved £25m – they haven’t, they’ve stopped us getting £25m in investment on things like solar panels on our buildings,” Hopgood said.

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“Most of it was government grants which we are going to have to give back. What was in the budget for net zero? Nothing, it was on reliant on government giving us money and getting grants.”

Husband said: “We have plenty to announce with regards to net zero. A sneak preview into one example will be the fact we will no longer be spending £4.2m upgrading our fleet to electric vehicles.”

When Reform swept to power in May, Farage visited Durham and promised to axe jobs related to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and stop council employees working from home.

The party has also vowed to cut back the number of staff at councils on salaries of more than £100,000.

But opposition leaders believe Reform would not be able to make such drastic changes to terms and conditions and salaries without running into serious legal problems and that councils need to offer competitive salaries in the face of much higher pay in the private sector.

“Some roles we just can’t recruit because the private sector pays so much more – planners, legal people – it’s really hard when we’re restricted to what we can pay,” Hopgood added.

Aside from the day-to-day running of Durham, Reform has also experienced some controversies among its 65 councillors.

Within a week of taking political control of the authority in May, councillor Andrew Kilburn was forced to resign because it emerged he had failed to declare that he already worked for the council.

In June, Reform councillor John Bailey stood down citing health reasons, sparking another by-election.

And a third councillor, Paul Bean, is currently suspended over allegations he breached impartiality rules with comments he made on social media about asylum seekers.

Locals claim not to have seen councillor Rhys Burriss, left, while fellow councillor Paul Bean, right, was suspended over comments about asylum seekers

Residents in Sherburn and Pittington have also told The i Paper it has been “impossible” to contact one of their new Reform councillors, Rhys Burriss, about local issues and that he has “never been seen” in their village since being elected.

Burriss, who previously stood as a Ukip candidate in Bishop Auckland, grew up on a council estate in the West Midlands before a career in law which saw him serve as a magistrate in the Turks and Caicos Islands.

When a resident asked in the Sherburn Facebook group how to contact Burriss recently, it set off a flurry of complaints about his alleged lack of response.

“His name should be the Scarlet Pimpernel,” wrote one resident.

“People say on here he has never been back to the village even one time since being elected.”

One local business owner, who asked not to be named, told The i Paper: “It’s impossible to get hold of him.”

Burriss was contacted for comment.

‘No change whatsoever’

Durham’s Reform administration is due to set out a new “council plan” at a meeting of the full council in October.

Documents published in recent weeks suggest many of the priorities will be similar to the ones approved by the previous administration in February.

Reform says it wants Durham council to demonstrate things like “good governance”, “value for money” and have a “workforce fit for the future”, for example.

The previous Lib Dem plan said the council would show “effective governance”, “value for money” and have a “workforce fit for the future.”

Hopgood claims that residents in Durham “won’t see any change whatsoever” under Reform’s leadership so far.

“It’s all headlines and clickbait,” she said.

What does Reform say?

Husband said it is “strange” to suggest that residents in Durham will not have noticed any difference with Reform in charge.

He said that “on day one” there was an “immediate flags change” – in reference to Reform’s announcement that only the Union and St George’s flag would be permitted to fly from council buildings.

He also pointed to Reform’s efforts to secure an Article 4 direction which would mean properties cannot be turned into houses in multiple occupation (HMO) without securing planning permission.

A number of councils have implemented this measure in a bid to reduce the number of HMOs used to house asylum seekers.

Husband also claimed there have been “factual savings on net zero”, a “care emergency announced” and that “residents are loving seeing their communities in colour with our patriotic flags”.

Grimes did not respond to The i Paper, but has written on X about some claims made against him.

Last month, he wrote: “I’ve received yet another formal complaint for ‘racism’. My residents didn’t elect me to stay quiet — they elected me to speak up for them.”

In another, he said: “Apparently, saying a political party ‘deserves to die’ now requires police intervention, political opponents saw fit to report this post to the police. What’s next – arrest warrants for calling them useless?”

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