RICHARD Tice today says he has evidence of an astonishing waste of taxpayers’ money across Britain — promising that Reform UK will take a chainsaw to public spending.
He said parents with two Porsches in the driveway are getting taxpayer-funded taxis to take their child to school in an abuse of the rules.
Meanwhile he claims “ghost” taxi firms are charging councils vast sums for cab rides for kids with special educational needs which never actually happen.
The deputy leader spoke out in his first sit-down interview since taking over his party’s cost-cutting Doge unit — inspired by the unit set up by Elon Musk in the US.
Mr Tice – dubbed the Dogefather – said: “We all want to make sure those children genuinely with special needs get all the attention that they require and the extra provision.”
But he said demand is “going through the roof” and the system is open to “abuse”.
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Pointing to one case, Mr Tice said: “It’s not fair if parents have two Porsches on the drive and they are demanding a taxi company pick up their child to take them to school because they can’t be arsed to get out of bed.
“That’s just not fair. None of us like being ripped off. None of us like abuse.”
He also said a “ghost taxi” firm is ripping off taxpayers in Lancashire by charging them for phantom cab rides.
Mr Tice said: “Firms that don’t appear to have any office or any taxis are charging councils more than £1 million for taxis — ghost taxis.”
He also warned of abuse of the Motability system meant for disabled people on benefits, saying: “If you have ADHD you can get a Motability BMW. That’s just outrageous.”
Reform swept to victory in a dozen councils across the country in May on a promise to make big cuts to wasteful spending.
Businessman Zia Yusuf originally ran this team and has handed over the reins to Mr Tice.
But the party has struggled to identify major savings and around eight of its town halls are now threatening to actually put up council tax.
Critics say Reform are talking big but failing to deliver in office — an accusation hotly denied by Mr Tice.
He said: “We are dealing with ‘the Blob’ — the vested interests ripping off the councils and taxpayers. We’re going to war with these people.”
Mr Tice accused some in this town-hall Blob of trying to bully Reform councillors and torpedo their efforts.
And in a sharp warning to civil servants who might try to scupper Reform’s agenda if they win the next election, he said: “We’re not going to tolerate it.”
He said they would bring in big beasts from the business world to “kick backsides”.
He added: “The good news is we are cutting our teeth with the council Blob.
“Some are being helpful and thoughtful, and some are being a pain in the backside and deliberately obstructive.
“We’ve got to say to these civil servants, if we win a majority, we have got a mandate and they are contractually bound to deliver that mandate.
“If they don’t like that mandate — in the nicest possible way, folks — please go and get a lovely job elsewhere. Otherwise we’re going to fall out.”
Reform UK will make a series of announcements over the coming weeks laying bare the council waste they have discovered and their plans to cut it.
Recently the political debate in Britain has moved back to the economy.
Kemi Badenoch used the Tory conference to promise big welfare cuts and the abolition of stamp duty.
Labour Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to hike taxes again in next month’s Budget.
Reform UK have tried to whip their economic policy into shape, ditching a pledge to make £90billion of tax cuts.
Mr Tice, tipped as a future Reform Chancellor, insisted the party will cut taxes only once they have cut public spending.
He said: “We always said we have to save a whole load of money, we’ve got to cut daft regulations, and we can have an aspiration of tax cuts.
But you have to get the order right. What you can’t do is put the tax cuts before the spending cuts.”
Reform has enjoyed a meteoric rise over the past 18 months, storming ahead in the polls while Labour’s popularity has tanked.
Nigel Farage is now the bookies’ favourite to be the next PM.
Soul of the nation
And a growing number of panicked Tories are defecting to Reform’s turquoise banner.
Sir Keir Starmer says the election will be a straight fight between Labour and Reform and has pitched it as a battle for the very soul of the nation.
He used his big party conference speech to accuse Mr Farage of not even liking Britain, describing him as an “enemy of national renewal”.
But these attacks sparked fury from Reform, and Mr Tice said the PM was stoking anger and violence towards him and his colleagues.
He added: “I thought he went beyond the acceptable. Is it a coincidence that we have seen an increase in the abuse and attacks on us in the past few weeks?”
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But Mr Tice does agree with Sir Keir on one thing — that the Tories are dead.
“They should just give up and let us crack on”, he said. “The remnants of them can join the Lib Dems.”
Tactical voting could block Reform victory, pollster warns
TACTICAL voting could deny Nigel Farage the keys to No10, a pollster has warned.
Reform UK are ahead in the national polls and broadly predicted to win the next election.
But they suffered a blow earlier this week when they failed to win the Caerphilly by-election in Wales.
The seat – which has voted Labour for 100 years – went to Plaid Cymru instead. Labour support utterly collapsed.
Luke Tryl, from pollsters More in Common, said Reform is on course to win the next election if voters remain divided about who they will vote for.
But if a lefty popular front is forged Reform could be blocked from power.
He told The Sun on Sunday: “Tactical voting will be important. We saw that at the last election when many people voted Lib Dem to kick the Tories out.
“Keir Starmer wants people to vote tactically for Labour against Reform.
“But Keir Starmer is unpopular – particularly with the Left. The question is can he do enough to stop voters going off to vote Green?
“Do they think Farage is scary enough to hold their nose and vote Labour?”
Reform is getting around 35 per cent in the national polls.
But they need to hit 40 per cent or higher to be sure of victory in the face of tactical voting, Mr Tryl warned.