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.
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