Over the Border: Nigel Farage commits to ending “work from home culture” at councils
Elections / Thu 24th Apr 2025 at 08:54am
NIGEL Farage has said Reform UK would end “a work from home culture” at Hertfordshire County Council if his party wins control of the authority in next month’s local elections reports the Local Democracy Reporter.
Visiting The Red Lion pub in Nash Mills yesterday (Tuesday, 22 April), Reform UK’s leader told a cheering crowd of candidates that a Reform-led county council would tell staff “you either work from the office or you’re gone”.
Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Farage said: “We know, by every single measure that’s been done, on public sector productivity both in Whitehall and at county hall we’re performing worse than we were five years ago despite advances in technology.
“The work from home culture ends with us on day one … a completely different, more business-like approach to the way the whole thing is run.
“I haven’t got a magic wand, but can a fresh set of eyes on this and a fresh voice in the chamber improve things? I genuinely believe it can.”
He suggested the county council had gone “woke”, claiming that a portrait of Sir Winston Churchill at County Hall now has “a warning note about colonialism, slavery and racism” – a claim denied by a county council spokesperson.
Farage said: “There is a complete lack of respect for, as we see it as a party, proper values, and the whole thing needs a proper shake-up.”
He has said Reform UK will cut down on “wasteful” council spending, suggesting that in Hertfordshire, the party would look at the millions spent on consultants and money spent on translators.
But he refused to discuss the specifics of how Reform UK would deal with one of the biggest issues facing Hertfordshire County Council at the moment—education for children with special educational needs and disabilities.
Asked how his party would fix a system that has “widespread and systemic” failings according to Ofsted, and in which only just over half of children have their EHCPs (Education, Health and Care Plans) sorted within the legal limit of 20 weeks, Farage said: “Let’s send in the auditors, let’s find out who is being contracted, where the money’s being spent, why’s it being spent in this way. Can we get business-like arrangements to get better bang for our buck?
“The second thing I would say is with all these issues … I think local government has become too much about itself and less about the original purpose of what it’s there for.”
Reform UK are yet to win an election for a county or borough council seat in Hertfordshire – though three councillors have defected to the party across the two levels of local government – but Farage is confident his party will win some of the 78 seats up for grabs when voters head to the polls on May 1.
He said: “I have a hunch … a lot of seats will be won or lost by 100 votes. You’re going to get so many three-way splits, in some cases four, across the county.
“We’re energised, we’re excited.
“This event wasn’t even advertised until Friday or Saturday, and of the 78 [candidates], 55 are here, which shows the energy we’ve got.
“We’re going to run to the line, and some of the political map in Hertfordshire will be a different colour.
“Are we going to win seats in Hertfordshire? Yes.
“How much? It’s anyone’s guess.”
Guy flegman
2025-04-24 09:52:59
All people need to know is work from home soon becomes work from India/china/Mylasia., and they by and large do a better job
Secret Squirrel
2025-04-24 13:21:55
Guy, going in to the office can and does also become work done from those countries.Happened to me for example. If the reason to stop people working from home is because they're not doing the work then that's the problem that needs to be fixed.
Mike
2025-04-24 15:46:39
Says a man who has hardly set foot in the constituency he supposedly represents! I’ve found that people are more productive when working from home; have less sick days and it saves the council money. Can’t see the issue with it as long as the work is being done.
AB
2025-04-24 21:19:46
Garage is certainly not working in his home constituency. This deceitful grifter is fooling a lot of people with his bar-room style bluster that is without real substance or costed policy.
David White
2025-04-25 09:05:51
Then ill just get a new work from home job 🤷♂️
Mr N Wearing
2025-05-04 10:20:52
How can increasing the cost of local authority spending on providing every member of staff with office facilities, from desks to heating, lighting, water usage and facilities management save money as an 'efficiency'? Add to this that across England this would lead to 1000's of extra car journeys everyday by enforcing a huge increase in commuter work journeys, adding tens of thousands of addition vehicle miles and the associated wear on the already crumbling highways of the country. More commuter cars = more potholes= more claims paid out for damage by local authorities who already are too poorly funded to be able to keep pace with the current vehicle usage and the associated damage. so "working from home forget it" in terms of local council workers translates as "increase the cost of employing local authority staff to the general public who pay council tax to fund them and increase the number of potholes on the roads, again funding repairs from council revenue i.e council tax, and increase the number of claims pay-outs, again revenue funded from council tax. Hybrid and flexible working was ushered into mainstream reality by covid, and half a decade later has proved to one of the few palpable benefits to have come from the pandemic. Every local authority has reported benefits from the last 5 years in terms of savings from reduced office facility provision, hugely reduced losses from paid sick days, improvements in staff well fare and working efficiency. Add to this the added appeal of recruiting a tech savvy younger generation to local authority roles by offering flexible working practices. The sector has seen a drop off in recruitment and retention of skilled staff, and the majority of workers are in the 50 plus age bracket and have amassed years of experience and skill. those officers supply expert advice to the elected members of their authorities and by and large work hard and are constantly belittled by the general public who don't see that it is the elected government officials at local and county and national levels who choose to ignore advice and implement spending policies based on the hope of placating the masses and securing their electorates support. Yes local government was in dire need of a shake up and Reform have done just that. but if you have any sense look at what is broken and fix that, if you want a sweeping statement try 'If it isn't broken don't fix it!" Take the best, most efficient parts and keep them and encourage and support them, build on it and improve it, then yes by all means prune the dead wood that refuses to keep pace with new improved working practices and the advantages technology provides to delivering services, and the small numbers who may take too much advantage of flexible working to the detriment of their service. But most of us respect the flexibility and work hard in return, often outside of normal office hours and beyond our contracted hours because we are proud of what we do and passionate about trying to do the best we can with dwindling resources. Please do not tar everyone with the same brush, especially as many of your new seats are to be held by councillors who have never really engaged with the reality of the day to day workings of local authorities and don't yet have a full grasp of the complexities they are going to face and the reality how much actually needs to be delivered v's what can be delivered with current funding levels
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