Right-wing wave in Britain produces a teenage civic leader

WARWICK, England – Mr George Finch was too young to vote in the 2024 British General Election. Now 19, he lives with his parents in Nuneaton, a town in central England, and had planned to return to college in September for his second year studying politics and international relations.

But in May, Mr Finch ran in local elections for the populist, anti-immigration party Reform UK.

He won, becoming one of 57 council members in his region, as part of a

broader wave of support

for Reform that saw the party secure hundreds of seats across the country and signalled the disruption of Britain’s two-party political system.

Just a few weeks later, he was catapulted into leading Warwickshire County Council, which is responsible for policies like transport, social care and waste management in his area, after a Reform colleague stepped aside.

Mr Finch is now Britain’s youngest local government leader, overseeing £1.4 billion (S$2.4 billion) of municipal assets and around £450 million of annual spending.

“It’s surprising,” said Mr Finch of his rapid ascent, adding he had achieved in this brief time what sometimes took people 30 years.

He is one example of the seismic changes under way in British politics, where Reform – led by Mr Nigel Farage, an architect of Brexit and a loyal supporter of US President Donald Trump – leads comfortably in opinion polls before his party’s annual conference on Sept 5.

With only four lawmakers in Parliament, Reform’s first taste of power in local government is both an opportunity and a challenge.

While party officials have been vocal on social and cultural issues, including announcing

plans for mass deportations

if they win a general election, Reform has made fewer dramatic cuts to the local spending it controls than some expected.

“What you can’t do is go in with a sledgehammer and crush a walnut,” said Mr Finch in an interview in Shire Hall, the local authority’s main building in Warwick.

Analysts say that chimes with Reform’s approach around the country.

“The most remarkable thing about the first four months of Reform being in power is how unremarkable it is,” said London School of Economics professor of politics Tony Travers.

In Britain, councils like Warwickshire run services from repairing roads to social work.

While Mr Finch is the political leader, he works alongside an unelected, non-partisan chief executive, Ms Monica Fogarty, and her team of civil servants who oversee the day-to-day running of services.

In the run-up to the local elections, Reform announced a Doge unit modelled on the US initiative that Mr Elon Musk labelled the Department of Government Efficiency. The party said this team would root out “wasteful spending”.

But there is little sign so far of Reform wielding Mr Musk’s chainsaw.

“All the evidence is that the party is trying as hard as it possibly can to look rational and stable when it gets into government,” Prof Travers said.

He added that the party would want to avoid alienating voters before elections in 2026 to the Parliaments in Wales and Scotland. And after years of austerity across Britain, municipal spending contains little fat to cut.

Mr Finch, in a navy suit and pocket handkerchief, makes a point of differentiating himself from the average teenager and mocks those his age who dress more casually.

They are, he said, “tracksuit gangster wannabe kids” who “need to take a chill pill and really realise where they are in the world”.

The area Mr Finch leads encompasses Warwick, with its mediaeval castle and 700-year-old timbered buildings, as well as more gritty towns like Bedworth and Nuneaton.

His mother was a hairdresser and factory worker in Nuneaton, and is now a teaching assistant; his father used to work in construction.

He briefly flirted with the Conservative Party after an internship with one of its lawmakers in 2022.

But in 2024 he attended a meeting addressed by Mr Lee Anderson, a former miner and Labour council member who became a Conservative lawmaker before defecting to Reform.

Mr Finch was won over by Mr Anderson’s blunt, abrasive style and joined the party.

Reform won two mayoral contests in May, full power in 10 councils and control of a handful of others, including Warwickshire, where no single party has a majority.

It promised to cut spending on equality, diversity and inclusion programmes, but relatively little is spent on such initiatives, with one study showing they accounted for £22 million out of a total spend across the country of more than £130 billion.

Many councils are also responsible for sensitive policy areas including care for vulnerable children.

Slashing spending on projects to combat climate change is another target for Reform, which has received donations from investors in fossil fuels.

Ms Andrea Jenkyns, mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, in July said she does not believe climate change exists and has supported fracking – widely opposed in Britain.

In Kent, Reform’s “Doge” team outlined cuts to spending, but they are modest, with the council aiming to scrap part of its renewable energy programme, potentially saving £32 million over four years, and a further £7.5 million by halting a transition to using electric vehicles.

Culture war issues have furnished the party with more headlines.

In Warwickshire, Mr Finch demanded the removal of a Pride-related flag outside Shire Hall, where it flew during Pride month alongside a Union flag and a St George’s flag, which represent Britain and England.

After Ms Fogarty, the chief executive, refused to remove it before the end of the month, Mr Farage publicly criticised her.

“This unelected bureaucrat thinks she knows better than the people,” he said. “Perhaps Monica Fogarty should look for a new job.”

On a more serious issue, Mr Finch in August accused Warwickshire’s police of covering up the immigration status of two asylum seekers accused of raping a 12-year-old girl in Nuneaton.

The police denied any cover-up, saying they had followed official guidance that did not include sharing suspects’ “ethnicity or immigration status”.

Later in August, police forces were issued new national guidance that said forces would be “encouraged to disclose ethnicity and nationality when suspects are charged in certain cases”.

One of Mr Finch’s biggest fights has been over his decision to spend about £150,000 annually to employ three political advisers for Reform and the council’s next two biggest parties. Critics said the money should be spent on front-line services.

Asked how the new roles tallied with Reform’s promise to cut spending, Mr Finch argued they would help coordinate policymaking.

“We have to compromise, work with other parties, collaborate when it comes to policy,” he said. “Sometimes you have to spend money to save money.”

Mr Finch said he still hopes to cut spending, perhaps by £20 million to £30 million a year, but admits that some work he wants to halt is required by law. In those cases, he said, he aimed to reduce spending to the “bare bones”.

His objective, he said, is to lead a “steady administration”. Voters, he added, “will judge us for what we’ve done”. NYTIMES