BBCReform UK has selected an 18-year-old to lead Warwickshire County Council on a permanent basis.
George Finch was installed as the full-time leader of the Reform group in the county after a members’ vote on Friday and said afterwards he would deliver “meaningful change”.
The election was needed after his predecessor, Rob Howard, quit the role in June, just 41 days into the job – citing health reasons and Finch took over as interim leader.
Reform does not hold an outright majority on the council but is the largest party meaning the 18-year-old and Reform need the support of colleagues in other parties on 22 July, when a full council vote will be held, to officially appoint him as council leader.
So far since the May elections, the local Conservative group has helped Reform to push through political appointments.
If Finch was confirmed as the council’s leader, he would be among the youngest in that position in the country and, in Warwickshire, oversee a budget of half-a-billion pounds along with council assets worth £1.5bn.
Following his election, Finch said: “I’m determined to give every Warwickshire resident proper representation at council level.
“In May’s local elections, my colleagues and I stood on a promise of delivering meaningful change and that’s what we will do.”
Finch, the councillor for Bedworth Central, was a member of the Conservative Party for three months before switching to Reform on the grounds, he said, that it would “better tackle illegal immigration”.
