BREWDOG founder James Watt has complained of paying high taxes for weak public services, hitting out at the current Labour Government.
“The last Conservative government was a complete shambles and Labour inherited a mess and their biggest task was not to make it worse and they’ve somehow done that,” he told The Sunday Times.
“We’re being taxed more than we’ve ever been taxed for a level of service that has never been weaker at the same time that the economy is really, really struggling as well. I want to try and see if we could show an alternative to austerity or further raising taxes."
It comes after Watt launched an unofficial government watchdog which he has styled after Elon Musk’s programme in the US.
Watt said that his venture would assess UK Government spending using Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and a hotline for whistleblowers to highlight waste.
The former BrewDog chief executive said the project could be thought of “as the unofficial, underground cousin of America’s Department Of Government Efficiency [Doge]”.
He has called it the Campaign for Operational Reform in Government (CORGI) and confirmed that it will target both the Uk Government and Holyrood.
The Scottish Tories and Scottish Labour have also announced they were planning to create their own versions of Doge.
Announcing the policy at his party’s conference, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar compared the £1 billion bill for a replacement Barlinnie to a luxury resort.
He said: “A project first estimated to cost £100 million – now on track to cost £1bn.
“To put that into context, the SNP is spending the same amount on the new Barlinnie prison as the cost of building the five-star, luxury Atlantis hotel in Dubai – which has over 1500 bedrooms, spas, a wellness centre, restaurants, cafes, an aquarium, swimming pools, and a water park with 105 slides.
“They think that’s value for money for a prison for murderers and rapists!"
Invoking the far-right Tesla chief executive Musk, Sarwar added: “As first minister I will respect every penny of your money. That’s why we will have our own Department of Government Efficiency [Doge] to stop the waste and deliver value for money for you, the taxpayer.”
