Havering’s First Reform Councillor Says Time To Bring In DOGE To Town Hall.

Havering’s first Reform councillor says Department of Government Efficiency-style changes are needed in the borough to prevent financial doom, writes Sebastian Mann, local democracy reporter.

The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, was set up in the United States by tech boss and former government advisor Elon Musk to cut what President Donald Trump’s administration branded wasteful spending.

Squirrels Health councillor Keith Prince said he would set up a similar economic department in Havering Council “without a shadow of a doubt,” as the town hall faces spiralling costs and mounting debt.

In February, Havering was forced to borrow £88million from the central government and is on track to overspend by around £1m by the year’s end. Paying for social care and temporary accommodation are the two biggest pressures the council faces, and both are expected to worsen.

A similar DOGE-style unit was set up in Kent County Council, one of the 12 authorities won by Reform in this year’s local elections.

Councillors have slashed net-zero projects and plans to move the head office after the leader reportedly identified £40m in potential savings. However, they have now announced plans to hike council tax by 5% – the highest amount allowed without a referendum – in the new year.

Polly Billington, Labour MP for East Thanet, accused them of making “huge promises about savings, then failing to find any because they don’t know what they’re talking about.”

“That’s what they’re doing in local government and it’s what they’d do to Britain,” she added.

Cllr Prince said there were not “billions” to be saved in Havering, but cuts could still be made.

Though the former Redbridge leader said he would not want to lead Havering Council, he told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he would ideally be in a “position of influence”.

Cllr Prince, also the representative for Havering and Redbridge on the London Assembly, left his party of 49 years over the weekend, on the eve of the annual Conservative Conference in Manchester.

He is one of 25 assembly members that scrutinises the Mayor of London’s office, and now the second Reform assembly member next to Alex Wilson. The pair will form an official group, giving them seats on committees overseeing transport and crime and the ability to lay down motions.

He is the only Reform councillor in the borough, which is expected to be the party’s biggest London council target in next year’s local elections.

Leaving the Conservatives was “not an easy decision,” Cllr Prince said, and he felt it was more that “the Conservatives left me”.

He said: “We had a very dynamic leader [in Margaret Thatcher], we had a vision, and we changed the country. I don’t think we can say that anymore.

“Whereas with Reform, we have a very dynamic leader and we have a vision. I really do think Reform can put right what’s been going wrong in the country.”

He added that, even if the Tories could put forward popular policies, the public “won’t trust them for a long time”.

Though they could have a resurgence “in ten years’ time,” problems in the country “need sorting now”.

Cllr Prince’s defection was soon followed by 20 Tories across the UK leaving the party, announcing on Tuesday (7th October) they had crossed the floor to Reform.

They included local politicians in the London borough of Bromley, in north Yorkshire, and in Lincolnshire. One fifth were Gravesham borough councillors, in Kent where Reform controls the county council.

Only seven were members of a Tory-run authority, though two held cabinet positions.

The volume of Tories switching to Reform has prompted critics to say the two parties are inherently indistinguishable on their ideologies.

Cllr Prince said that “no party would tick every box” but praised Reform for taking a more libertarian and “Thatcherite” approach to British politics.

He said the party stands up for “the basic core values that most people in Britain adhere to and aspire to”.

“They’ve got the right idea about the NHS,” he added. “A whole load of money is wasted on the back office.

“It’s free at the point of consumption, but that doesn’t mean private organisations can’t provide the service – and they can do it so much better, without the red tape.”

He also pointed to the Tories’ failure to “get a grip” on law and order, and said Reform would “rein in these mayors and these mad left-wing councils”.

Councillor Emma Best, deputy leader of the Tories in the London Assembly and leader of the Waltham Forest Conservatives, said she “wished Keith well” but implored him to “do the honourable thing and call a by-election”.

However, her former colleague in City Hall said a by-election so close to the May 2026 local elections would create “unnecessary” paperwork and costs.

Elsewhere, Cllr Prince’s move to Reform earned derision from some high-profile Conservatives in east London.

Councillor Paul Canal, leader of the Redbridge Conservatives, said: “Keith Prince has traded principle for protest and swapped a party of government for a party of grievance.

“We wish him well personally — but politically, he’s taken a wrong turn down a dead end.

“The Conservatives are busy fixing London’s future; Reform is busy shouting at it. Keith may enjoy the noise, but we’ll stick to delivering results.”

Cllr Prince was leader of Redbridge Council between 2009 and 2014, while Cllr Canal led the Tory opposition to Labour from 2014 until 2018 and again from 2022 onwards.

He disagreed with his eventual successors’ assessment, saying it was instead the Tories that was coming to a “dead stop”.

Councillor Michael White, who took over as the new leader of Havering Conservatives in January this year, was approached for comment.

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