WORKERS at Reform-controlled councils were urged to join a union today after Nigel Farage threatened to slash jobs and inflict a raft of Doge-style cuts.
The far-right party gained more than 600 seats in the local elections last week, picking up 10 councils.
After Reform took control of Durham County Council on Friday, Mr Farage said that he would advise anyone working there on “climate change initiatives or diversity, equity and inclusion or thinks that you [can] go on working from home” to seek “alternative careers.”
Mr Farage has told the BBC he wants a British version of Doge — the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency that is cutting government spending in the US — to be implemented in every county council.
Commenting on the remarks, Unison general secretary Christina 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.
“Reform has consistently voted against these new measures that will make work more secure. So much for being on the side of ordinary working people.
“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.
“Nigel Farage and his party’s new councillors have much to learn about local government.
“They’ll quickly discover there’s nothing left to cut and many authorities are balancing on the edge of the financial precipice.”
In response, Reform’s newly elected mayor in Greater Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, called union reps “rent a mobs” in an interview with LBC.
She said that every employee should be “scrutinised” for the taxpayer and told unions that she is “up for a fight.”
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch apologised to the 674 Tory councillors who lost their seats, admitting the elections were a “bloodbath.”
Health Secretary Wes Streeting said that Labour is now treating Reform as a “serious opposition force” after the governing party lost 187 seats.
After Reform took Runcorn council from Labour on Friday, Liverpool MP Kim Johnson warned on X: “Voters want change — and if we don’t offer it with bold, hopeful policies that rebuild trust, the far right will.
“If we don’t step up now, the alternative won’t be more of the same — it’ll be an extreme right-wing government.”
