North Yorkshire Council should refer £250K judicial review to councillor's Elon Musk-style DOCE, MP says
North Yorkshire Council should refer its judicial review against the Government to a councillor’s Elon Musk-style efficiency body, an MP has said.
Coun Keane Duncan, the Cabinet member for Highways and Transport, wrote on X that he was running a Department of Council Efficiency (DOCE) to highlight dubious uses of taxpayer money, inspired by Mr Musk’s DOGE in the US.
He highlighted £1,000 spent on knitting wool and £1,500 spent on a circus entertainer.
North Yorkshire leader Coun Carl Les recently revealed that the council’s judicial review against the Government over the cuts to the rural services delivery grant could cost more than £250,000.
When questioned about the cost at a meeting, Coun Les replied: “£14.3m is the amount we lost at the stroke of a pen. I think that is worth challenging. I would hope that members would agree with that.”
However, now Selby MP Keir Mather has called for the judicial review to be referred to Coun Duncan’s DOCE.
He said: "If Elon Musk could see some of the decisions taken by out of touch Tory Councillors in North Yorkshire, he'd be demanding an office in Northallerton.
"After 14 years of savage cuts to local government funding, it is nothing short of extraordinary that the Conservative council’s leadership have chosen now to find their voices - when the Government has just ensured an above-inflation increase in their core spending power.
“If Coun Duncan does intend to realise his vision for DOCE, I would urge him to refer this proposed legal adventure to it as soon as it’s established, so that councillors might be given the opportunity to walk back from the brink on this clear waste of taxpayers’ money.”
North Yorkshire Council has been contacted for comment.