Britain's right-wing wave produces 19-year-old head of local government

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.

- Stephen Castle

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 signaled 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.