In our fourth interview ahead of the local election, Reform UK’s Enfield branch chair Stephen Bird tells James Cracknell they have got their own “Doge team” to slash council spending

Enfield Reform UK candidates pictured in Crews Hill — Local Reform UK candidates pictured in Crews Hill, including Stephen Bird (eighth from left)

Reform UK are flying high in the polls – and hoping to now win their first councillors in Enfield.

Nigel Farage’s right-wing party won control of a swathe of councils last year and Stephen Bird, chair of Reform’s Enfield branch, thinks they can play an important role here as well.

Asked what would represent success for Reform on 7^th May, Bird, a former Enfield Grammar School pupil, told the Dispatch: “Getting enough councillors so we have part or full control.”

Would Reform consider forming a coalition with the Conservatives if no party won an overall majority? “The official line is no deal with the Tories […] but if we can get into a position to implement our policies we would be prepared to compromise.”

Previously both a Labour and Conservative voter, Bird became more active in politics in the run-up to the last general election. “I was just unhappy about the way the country was going,” he explains. “The Conservatives don’t really represent anything any more and I looked at Labour and I thought they weren’t my sort of party.”

Bird then says something surprising: “I am quite centrist in my views – a lot of people are.”

Reform have built their recent success around a hardline stance on “uncontrolled” immigration, linking the issue – as they see it – to a general economic and social malaise in the UK.

While Bird admits this was what drew him to the party, Reform’s local election leaflets do not mention immigration. Why is that? “We are a local borough and we don’t have control of that so there is no point,” he replies, simply.

As for the policies Reform’s local campaign does mention, there are pledges to “protect our green spaces” and “safeguard Enfield from crime”. Others include making roads “fit for purpose” by fixing potholes and prioritising parking, supporting the reintroduction of weekly bin collections and a vow to “regenerate our high streets” with a greater range of shops and more support for businesses.

However, a Conservative leaflet has claimed Reform “cannot be trusted” on the Green Belt, pointing to a recent London Assembly vote. “The Tories have taken that one vote and claimed something – but it is lies. They are misleading the electorate by saying because one person in Reform said one thing it can be expanded to Enfield and mean another thing.”

In terms of council spending, Bird is taking inspiration from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, known commonly as ‘Doge’. At Enfield Civic Centre, Bird says Reform would use a “Doge dashboard” to find savings.

“We have got our own Doge team. We are going through the data, we have got lovely dashboards. One example is, they have got different departments that have contracts with different companies to do the same thing – it’s duplication.

“We will identify the waste. There’s spending on taxi services, translation services, professional services, they are all very high. By comparing spending to other boroughs, you can see where a council is spending three or four times more on something.”

Bird insists “council tax rises are not inevitable” but that “unfortunately there is also a huge amount of debt that has to be paid off”, explaining why Reform has not pledged to freeze tax, even if it is still an aim.

Asked where Reform might perform most strongly in Enfield, Bird says polling data shows they are “either first or a very close second” across the borough. Curiously, given it is a Tory area at present, Bird himself is standing in Whitewebbs ward.

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