As Reform UK sends its Elon Musk-style Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) team into its new councils to assess “wasteful spending”, host Patrick Baker takes a trip to Durham to speak to the county council’s new deputy leader, the former Brexit activist and GB News broadcaster, Darren Grimes, about what Reform’s DOGE plans might mean for the local area.

And in Westminster a whole host of copycat DOGEs have started popping up too. 

Max Young, news editor of the right-wing political website Guido Fawkes, runs the project ‘UK DOGE’, highlighting perceived government waste including Foreign Office cooking courses and research into how to feel like a bee.

Matthew Simmonds, economics editor of the Spectator Magazine, explains his own project SPAFF (the Spectator Campaign Against Frivolous Funding), and says tax-payer money is being wasted on items such as expensive e-bikes for welfare claimants and research projects with titles like “The Europe that Gay Porn Built”.

With claims on the right of so-called “woke waste” in universities and research institutes, Clare McNeil, chief executive of Timewise, a non-profit research organisation, argues the independence of the UK’s research sector is vital for our economy and democracy.

In Durham, Darren Grimes sets out where he believes Reform will find savings and says the budget for diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives is in the crosshairs of the party’s incoming DOGE unit.

Mel Metcalf, chair of Durham Pride, explains his concerns over what any cuts to diversity, equity and inclusion would mean for his festival. 

Amanda Hopgood, the former Lib Dem leader of Durham council, defends her record in local government and argues Reform have wildly overstated any savings the incoming DOGE unit will be able to make.