Reform's Elon Musk-Style 'DOLGE' Team Accused of Making 'False and Misleading' Claims About Flagship Council
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The team appointed by Nigel Farage to slash spending at Reform's new flagship local authority Kent County Council (KCC) has submitted a progress report based on inaccurate and misleading information derived from the party's own former chairman's social media account, opposition councillors claim.
The 'Progress of the Kent Department of Local Government Efficiency' report, released on July 16, was delivered with the stated aim of providing "an introduction to the work of the Kent DOLGE and the priorities of the administration", and followed an announcement by the new leader of KCC, Linden Kemkaran, about proposed savings to the council budget.
However, the appendix, issued as a "reply from Reform Head Office to some questions" asked of DOLGE by the local authority scrutiny committee are simply references to tweets sent by former Reform chair Zia Yusuf between 4 June and 16 June 2025.
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Many of them have been found to contain inaccuracies and distortions of the truth, and the appendix - which appears to try and counter some of the backlash the tweets received - fails to address the core concerns.
The three-page report came under heavy opposition scrutiny at a council meeting the day it was released, with members stating that "never has a committee waited so long, for so little".
Reform members were also asked by committee members if any of them would be willing to distance themselves from Yusuf's tweets, which were accused of causing reputational damage to the council.
Central to the complaints were four widely circulated assertions from Yusuf cited in the appendix, relating to the work of DOLGE since the May election.
Firstly, he claimed on 15 June that: "Kent County Council is using taxpayer money to pay for TV licences for asylum seekers. Remember that next time you are asked to pay for yours." The tweet was not backed up by evidence.
The DOLGE document refers to his post as evidence of a "national scandal".
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Yusuf's claims were later reported on by a number of media outlets, which appeared to take at face-value, the idea that 'illegal migrants' were not only being given free TV licences but treated to taxpayer-funded activities like bowling, cinema trips and trampolining.
In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to KCC on 14 July 2025, the council confirmed it "does not have a policy or scheme to fund TV licences for asylum seekers".
This first allegation hinges on a conflation of two legally distinct groups; adult asylum seekers (the responsibility of the Home Office) and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) - individuals under the age of 18 in the care system, who arrive in the UK seeking asylum and who have been separated from parents or guardians.
Every local authority has a legal duty to protect both British nationals and UAS children in care, and to provide basic amenities for them. This includes access to activities crucial to a child's development like recreational activities (swimming, the cinema, etc). The money for UASCs comes from the central Government, and is not paid for by council taxpayers.
It's also inaccurate to state that the money is exclusively for individual TV licences. The council receives a Home Office grant to cover the costs of licences in care homes, to UAS Children in reception centres in Kent, as we...
Subscribe to our newsletter for exclusive editorial emails from the Byline Times Team.
Sign up
The team appointed by Nigel Farage to slash spending at Reform's new flagship local authority Kent County Council (KCC) has submitted a progress report based on inaccurate and misleading information derived from the party's own former chairman's social media account, opposition councillors claim.
The 'Progress of the Kent Department of Local Government Efficiency' report, released on July 16, was delivered with the stated aim of providing "an introduction to the work of the Kent DOLGE and the priorities of the administration", and followed an announcement by the new leader of KCC, Linden Kemkaran, about proposed savings to the council budget.
However, the appendix, issued as a "reply from Reform Head Office to some questions" asked of DOLGE by the local authority scrutiny committee are simply references to tweets sent by former Reform chair Zia Yusuf between 4 June and 16 June 2025.
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Reform Council Bans All Mentions of Climate Change While Quietly Taking Green Funds From Government
Reform-run West Northamptonshire is removing all references to 'climate change' and 'net zero' from official documents, yet continuing to take government green grants
Josiah Mortimer
Many of them have been found to contain inaccuracies and distortions of the truth, and the appendix - which appears to try and counter some of the backlash the tweets received - fails to address the core concerns.
The three-page report came under heavy opposition scrutiny at a council meeting the day it was released, with members stating that "never has a committee waited so long, for so little".
Reform members were also asked by committee members if any of them would be willing to distance themselves from Yusuf's tweets, which were accused of causing reputational damage to the council.
Central to the complaints were four widely circulated assertions from Yusuf cited in the appendix, relating to the work of DOLGE since the May election.
Firstly, he claimed on 15 June that: "Kent County Council is using taxpayer money to pay for TV licences for asylum seekers. Remember that next time you are asked to pay for yours." The tweet was not backed up by evidence.
The DOLGE document refers to his post as evidence of a "national scandal".
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Yusuf's claims were later reported on by a number of media outlets, which appeared to take at face-value, the idea that 'illegal migrants' were not only being given free TV licences but treated to taxpayer-funded activities like bowling, cinema trips and trampolining.
In response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request sent to KCC on 14 July 2025, the council confirmed it "does not have a policy or scheme to fund TV licences for asylum seekers".
This first allegation hinges on a conflation of two legally distinct groups; adult asylum seekers (the responsibility of the Home Office) and Unaccompanied Asylum-Seeking Children (UASC) - individuals under the age of 18 in the care system, who arrive in the UK seeking asylum and who have been separated from parents or guardians.
Every local authority has a legal duty to protect both British nationals and UAS children in care, and to provide basic amenities for them. This includes access to activities crucial to a child's development like recreational activities (swimming, the cinema, etc). The money for UASCs comes from the central Government, and is not paid for by council taxpayers.
It's also inaccurate to state that the money is exclusively for individual TV licences. The council receives a Home Office grant to cover the costs of licences in care homes, to UAS Children in reception centres in Kent, as we...
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