Nigel Farage visits Lancashire and tells residents:  'We'll spend your money wisely' - video Dailymotion

Lancashire Post

The Reform UK leader was in Preston to speak to the new administration at Lancashire County Council.  He told local democracy reporter Paul Faulkner he was confident his party would find savings - and impress council taxpayers.

Transcript

00:00Mr Farage, County Hall in Lancashire.

00:03It'd be fair to say, isn't it, this isn't really where your heart lies, local government.

00:06You've been on the national, the European stage for 25 years.

00:11You're not really interested in places like this other than there being a means to an end, are you?

00:14I'm working in reverse.

00:16I started off at International Global Politics and then went to Westminster Politics

00:20and here I am in Lancashire County Hall today.

00:23I tell you what, this matters to ordinary folk.

00:24This matters to council taxpayers.

00:26This matters to people without much money who hit a pothole and face a huge bill.

00:32It matters to people who've got kids that really do have bad educational problems.

00:36It matters to elderly people, you know, who need social care.

00:39So interestingly, the impact of a county council on a family and on everyday life

00:45is probably greater than the impact of national government.

00:49I want to be clear, you know, we talked during the campaign when I was up here in Lancashire.

00:53I knew we'd do well.

00:54I didn't really, in my wildest dreams, think we'd win 53 of the 84 seats, but we have.

01:01And we formed a cabinet and we're bedded in.

01:04I'm very proud of what we've done.

01:06Now, the challenges that we face are huge.

01:09This council is £1.2 billion in debt.

01:13The interest payments are £100,000 a day.

01:17There was a deeply critical report last year of the special educational needs for children.

01:22I mean, almost on the verge of special measures, central government coming in.

01:25So I know we face...

01:27That was purely on the special educational needs.

01:29On the special educational needs, massive problems.

01:32So I know we face, you know, a heck of a job here.

01:36We're going to have the Doge team coming in next week.

01:38We believe we will find savings.

01:41We will find efficiencies.

01:42And we're going to, you know, do our best to tackle these serious problems.

01:46When we did last meet, you said that this council was on the brink of bankruptcy.

01:50It's got £180 million of usable reserves.

01:53It had to only use £1.5 million of those to balance the books this year.

01:56By anybody's definition, that is not the brink of bankruptcy.

01:59That's nonsense, isn't it?

02:00And you knew that when you said it.

02:02Well, it depends where the reserves are.

02:03And it depends how liquid those reserves are.

02:05So there are lots of questions around that as well.

02:07There is clearly a very serious debt problem here.

02:10There are assets as well.

02:12We've got to look very seriously at those assets, how realisable they are.

02:17And that could be used to reduce some of the debt.

02:19But it's not an easy situation.

02:21That debt, though, is not for day-to-day spending.

02:23It's for capital investment, as it's called.

02:25For investment in those assets that you talk about.

02:28Schools, roads, maintenance of assets that already exist.

02:32And the purchase of others.

02:34How can you cut that dramatically?

02:36Is it even desirable to cut that dramatically?

02:38It's normal to borrow for a council.

02:40Yeah, it is normal.

02:42But this is quite excessive compared to other councils around the country.

02:46It's the point that I would make.

02:47Look, we've got a lot to do.

02:48We've got our feet under the table.

02:50We know what the challenges are.

02:52Our cabinet have been appointed.

02:54We're looking at the contracts that have been signed.

02:56We're looking at the service contracts that have been signed.

02:58Working out whether we've got the best companies.

03:00We're going to bring a fresh, different approach to this.

03:03And we're determined to succeed.

03:04Just talking about the Doge team, obviously, based on Elon Musk, or modelled on Elon Musk's

03:09team of the same name in the United States.

03:13Do you really think that after years of austerity and spiralling demand for local authority services,

03:18that you're going to find wasted money sloshing around in Lancashire County Council that's just

03:23waiting for the singular brilliance of the reform Doge team to come in and discover it?

03:27Well, you don't know the answer to that, and we don't fully know it until we go in and

03:31look.

03:31All I do know is that Lancashire County Council spent half a million quid on ergonomic chairs

03:37for staff, many of whom work from home.

03:40Can I say, actually, that contract, I've actually looked into that contract.

03:43They've only spent $20,000 of it, yet they could spend $520,000 over four years.

03:47We will get out of that contract.

03:49There's your first saving.

03:51Uncomfortable staff reform policy.

03:52I'm sorry, but we have to get a sense of perspective here.

03:57Just on those finances, what are the savings an end to?

04:02Is it to reinvest, to cut council tax, or what are these savings you're seeking going to achieve?

04:08Initially to try and balance the books.

04:11Well, the previous Conservative administration already knew that they had to save $100 million

04:15over the next two years just to balance the books.

04:18You're not going to get beyond that, are you?

04:20It's just balancing the books.

04:22But would they have delivered it?

04:23That's the point.

04:24Would they have delivered it given the previous track record?

04:26We need to balance the books.

04:28But also, let's try to establish some trust with council taxpayers.

04:35If you look at the cumulative rise in council tax over the last decade or so, it's very significant.

04:42It's a big part of household bills.

04:45And if we can show them that actually the money is being spent where it really should

04:48be spent, and not on other things, they'll be pleased.

04:52Just finally, what would you like those Lancashire County Council taxpayers to notice after 12

04:58months of a reform in administration?

05:00What would be the takeaway message that you would hope that they will get?

05:04Better value for money, for their taxes, and I hope a beginning of an improvement on the

05:12pothole situation where no one really knows what the true figure is.

Nigel Farage visits Lancashire and tells residents: 'We'll spend your money wisely'

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