The head of Reform UK's team tasked with scrutinising council finances has stepped down alongside the party's chairman, Zia Yusuf.

Tech entrepreneur Nathaniel Fried said on X that Yusuf had appointed him and so it was ‘appropriate for me to leave with him'.

Fried was brought on to lead the party's efforts to cut spending in local authorities with a team inspired by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) in the US.

Yusuf has resigned his position as party chairman, tweeting that getting a Reform UK government elected was not ‘a good use of my time'.

The DOGE-style team's work began with Kent CC and this week expanded to Lancashire CC, which will reportedly be followed by West Northamptonshire.