0:00
Well, the Reform UK Limited, or whatever they're called this week, has elected a new leader of
0:05
Warwickshire County Council who will have approximately £1.5 billion worth of assets
0:11
and will oversee a budget of around £500 million. It's crazy, isn't it
0:17
I must be reading this wrong. No, he's 19. Councillor George Finch was formally elected today as the leader of Warwickshire County Council
0:25
He was drafted in as interim leader a couple of months ago when the existing council leader
0:29
stepped down and yeah he's just 19 we think he's the youngest ever so you have to say no no no 19
0:34
no no no 19 thank you why did the last one step down and what happened to nigel farage's hatred
0:39
of career politicians i know exactly what has he done with his life um can you yeah can you really
0:44
be um in charge of of a job uh like you say with a 1.5 billion pounds worth of assets and a revenue
0:51
budget of 500 million pounds at the age of 19 and get this it was a tied vote 23 votes for reform
0:58
23 votes for the Lib Dems so the council chair who is a reform member
1:03
Councillor Edward Harris he had the tied vote so pretty tight so reform don't have an overall majority
1:10
on this council Did any of their councillors not vote for the child
1:15
19 year old? No, no, no, 19 No, believe all of them did vote for him
1:21
but yeah, it's crazy and also because there was a story last week about this It basically him accusing Nigel Farage and George Finch accusing the council of basically obstructing what they want to do in the council
1:35
So instead of just sort of trying to get on with this, basically saying, you know, we are
1:40
now in charge, they've decided that they're going to hire three more assistants for Warwickshire
1:43
County Council, costing the taxpayers another £200,000. They're not saving money. Exactly, which is exactly it
1:51
But this is doing so that they can implement their policies. Yeah, because they believe... So what are their policies
1:56
Well, apparently saving money. Because I read that some of the Liberal Democrats were concerned
2:01
that they didn't have any. Yes. And some Reform UK councillors responded by saying that they didn't have..
2:06
They'd only been in charge of the council for two months and were not rushing to announce on, and I quote
2:10
policy, policy, policy. And you can see how you're supposed to say... They don't have any policies
2:14
Policy, policy, policy. We can't be expected to have policies. We're only running a half a billion pound council
2:22
Exactly. I don't know if this comedy is working. The only things I think they've announced so far is the policy on flags, right
2:27
Can't fly any flags anymore. Not okay. I bet you can fly some flags. Only some flags
2:31
Yeah, a big flag of Nigel. Exactly. Nigel's face on a flag, totally okay
2:36
Okay, you can fly those. That's the only policy they've really announced. That and obviously they want to, they say, save money by cutting down on what they call diversity spending
2:44
Those are the only two announcements. Was this one of the councils that turned out not to have any diversity spending
2:48
Oh, I'm not sure about that one. Because most of them did. That was my favourite reform policy was getting rid of all the diversity offices from councils that don have diversity or equality Also down with diversity and equality Yeah definitely not managed to save any money on this at all or maybe they just not
3:03
managed to find any, but Nigel Farage was speaking about this over the weekend, he was
3:07
grilled and a rival broadcaster about this, and basically defended the idea, saying that
3:12
councils are obstructing them from looking at the books, looking at the credit cards, looking at all of this stuff behind the scenes, so they've got absolutely, he says, no choice
3:20
Did he provide any proof or evidence? No, he didn't. He didn't provide any proof. He's normally overflowing with proof and evidence for all of his claims
3:26
But it does fly in the face of you're trying to save taxpayers money. You say that there's so much waste in local government
3:32
and you're now hiring an extra three members of staff to do it. And like I say, also the idea that a 19-year-old, like you say
3:38
is somebody that is in a position that should be running such a huge administration
3:43
is a big question for a forward. When I'm not listening to chart-topping hits from 1985
3:48
I do try to follow some of this stuff, albeit that at the moment I'm kind of just a bit exhausted
3:55
by the absurdity of treating Nigel Farage like an honest man or even a vaguely plausible politician
4:03
But I fully accept that puts me in a very lonely place in the UK media at the moment
4:08
But the reason they gave for hiring these people from the private sector
4:12
was that the councillors were not coming up with any... Imaginative ideas
4:16
Imaginative ideas, which makes you wonder what their job is. I'm not quite sure why he's outsourcing his ideas
4:22
isn that the whole point of running a council is that you basically get to put in your own policy and they don think that their job is policy and they don think that their job is imaginative ideas What do you think they think their job is I don know Well I suppose if you think you having a bad day you could live in Warwickshire
4:39
I just think, you know, the point of principle for this is that Nigel Farage is, you know, at least planning, at least hoping that he'll do well in the next general election, right
4:48
This is an example to show what reform could be like in government
4:52
Well, you know what Farage would say. He might only be 19, but he hasn't been locked up for beating up his girlfriend
4:58
So it's an improvement on one of the people we put into Parliament last year. And he'll say, oh, I didn't vet him, I didn't vet him
5:02
It was before my time, it's before my time. But actually, I think for many people
5:06
they will be seeing these elected representatives in their own back gardens doing things
5:11
And it will be a real test of whether reform what they look like in office
5:15
Will it, though? That's the answer to the $64,000 question, isn't it
5:18
Whether or not he will file. Because Bruce has already crossed with you, Natasha. It says he wasn't grilled
5:23
It was Laura Koonsberg who conducted that interview. I think she did a decent job this week
5:28
She did a good job and she did grill him on what he meant
5:31
by the fact that he was being undermined by the council. Undermined by the council
5:36
Proof, please. Proof and evidence, please. It's all you have to do. I don't think I'm going to get the chance to interview him ever again
5:41
because it went so well for him last time. But that's all people need to do. Proof and evidence, please
5:45
Could you provide some proof and evidence? Proof and evidence, please. Evidence and proof. Proof and evidence
5:50
Anyway, in conclusion. na na na na na na na na 19
