Reform plans to “dramatically” cut the number of civil servants if they win the next election, the party has said, despite the lack of government experience within the party.
Danny Kruger, who defected from the Tories last month, told a Westminster press conference that the party would not renew the leases on a number of government buildings, including those housing the Home Office and the Department for Transport.
He promised that the growth of the service in recent years will be “reversed” and pledged a “more concentrated government machine”, pledging to overhaul the code that governs Whitehall work.
The East Wiltshire MP, who defected to Mr Farage’s party in September, was assigned the role of leading Reform’s preparations for government.
The MP, who served as a shadow minister but has never held a cabinet role, told the press conference: “If we win the election we will have legislation drafted and ready to go, a new ministerial code and civil service code drafted, orders in council prepared, people lined up for key appointments, and it will all start on day one.”
He said that they were putting the “civil service on notice that under a Reform government we expect the headcount to fall dramatically”.
He also said that his party “don’t come with a chainsaw or a wrecking ball”, adding: “We respect the institutions of the country, the armed forces, the police, the church, the judiciary and we respect the professionalism and expertise of the people who work in them, so long as those people respect in their turn the right of parliament, and of ministers to make the rules they work by.”
Mr Kruger highlighted six buildings currently occupied by government departments where Reform would not plan on renewing the lease.
They included buildings on Marsham Street, Horseferry Road and Victoria Street, which house the Home Office, the Department for Transport and the Department of Health and Social Care respectively.
Asked by The Independent whether the reduction in office space would mean provision for civil servants to work from home, Mr Kruger said that the party is “against” the idea of work from home, believing it to be bad for productivity and staff wellbeing, but that they are confident that a reduction in headcount means they will be able to do without those buildings.
Mr Kruger was the first sitting Conservative MP to switch to Reform, and described the move at the time as “personally painful”, and described his former party as “over”.
“We have had a year of stasis and drift,” he said, “and the sham unity that comes from not doing anything bold or difficult or controversial ... and the result is in the polls.”
Asked whether he thought he had made the right decision in his defection, the MP said on Tuesday: “I’ve been hugely inspired by the people I’ve met in Reform. This is a serious party taking its job seriously, and I’m very encouraged by that.”
Addressing the racism row which has embroiled the party after its MP Sarah Pochin said the sight of Black and Brown people in adverts “drives me mad”, Mr Kruger said every party is “going to have its bad days in the media”.
But he insisted Reform was seeing a “continued rise in popular support” and was setting its plans out in public “so that nobody can claim they were blindsided when we get into power”.
Reform continued to cement their lead in the polls with new figures from YouGov released on Tuesday.
Data indicated that Reform are 10 points ahead with 27 per cent of the public saying that they would back the party if there were a general election tomorrow.
Labour and the Conservatives are neck and neck on 17 per cent each, with the Greens and the Liberal Democrats not far behind on 16 per cent and 15 per cent respectively.
