Pints are flowing at the bar. And then there is a stall with bright lights and images of Nigel Farage pointing at the camera underneath the words: “Protect your wealth in uncertain times”. It’s an advert for a company which sells “tax-free gold” to investors, and former commodities trader Farage is promoting them.
In the absence of corporate chief executives, however, there is an abundance of young faces in the crowd. At just 19, George Finch is Reform’s youngest council leader, heading up Warwickshire County Council and a £2bn budget. A young colleague over in County Durham, 22-year-old councillor Saffron Sims-Brydon, stands by a food truck. She’s here to “feel the energy” but says that she joined Reform for one reason: “aspiration”. Only Reform, she says, gives young people “hope”.
@theipaper‘In Reform it gives us a fresh start’… With Reform polling strongly with Gen Z, we went to the Reform UK conference in Birmingham to find out what policies they actually have to offer young people.
♬ original sound – The i Paper – The i PaperFarage has made much of Reform’s “TikTok awakening” and appeal to young people. Though some studies cast doubt on whether it will turn into votes, analysis has shown that more voters under 30 backed Reform than the Conservatives in last year’s general election. Other polls have found that Reform could be in second place behind Labour among younger voters, particularly young men, and voting intention polling data from More in Common suggested that younger people are increasingly open to supporting the party.
Are the ambitious young people excitedly extolling their support for Farage being neglected by a party that, ultimately, does not have their interests at heart?
‘Reform is offering a future,’ says Cameron Anderson, 20, the group leader for Reform at Buckinghamshire Council (Photo: Robbie Hawken)
“This would help students and young people who work as bartenders, waiters or stacking shelves,” he says. “I worked in hospitality from the age of 16… these are bad places to work under the tax threshold at the moment, but Reform is offering a future… a tax system and economic environment for young people to go into, to succeed and to prosper.”
Cameron is also still living with his parents even though he “would like” to move out. He’s not alone. In the last two decades, the proportion of 25- to 34-year-olds still living with their parents has increased by more than a third.
However, what’s for certain is that axeing inheritance tax, full stop, would leave a hole in the Treasury’s annual income and privilege those young people who have wealthier families by giving them a tax break. Yet at a Countryside Alliance drinks reception, Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice tells the room that the party would “scrap all inheritance tax”.
Vicky Spratt talks to a young Reform supporter in Birmingham, many of whom have been swayed by Farage’s pledge to increase the personal tax allowance to £20,000 (Photo: Robbie Hawken)Scrapping it could mean that young people’s fortunes are even more heavily defined by how wealthy their parents are. Those whose parents had expensive homes to pass on would have more money to spend on housing than those without wealthy families. With no inheritance tax, Britain could become even more of an inheritocracy than a meritocracy. And as inheritance tax receipts hit £8.2bn in 2024-25, it would likely mean more cuts too.
Samuel hopes to stand as a councillor in Dudley and thinks “potholes” are probably one of the biggest financial burdens local councils face. When I ask him what he thinks about other issues, such as the cost of rising homelessness across the country, he says: “Obviously I don’t have the experience because this is what Reform is. We aren’t a party of career politicians, I’m not a career politician.”
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These young people, working away from their bedrooms in their family homes, may not be career politicians yet. But the upper echelons of their party are filling up with them. In a bid to seem like a credible proposition to voters, Farage has welcomed the likes of former Conservative MP Nadine Dorries into the Reform fold, amid much fanfare. Tory big beast Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg has also been spotted stalking the NEC’s halls.
Those young people have helped them gain a foothold in local councils, putting their faith, their reputations, their ambition and their early adult lives on the line. Their elders, meanwhile, buy gold in case of emergency.
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