'I'm 24 and I stood for Reform UK in the election - this is why young people are getting behind my party'
Reform UK are popular with young people as they are social media savvy, fun and rebellious
In sport, we love an underdog.
The same can be said for British politics.
Despite being handicapped by the first-past-the-post system, Reform UK won 14 percent of the vote in this year's General Election.
The insurgent party came second in 98 seats, of which the Labour Party won 89.
In a two-party system, that's an astonishing result. It also points to how fragmented Britain has become.
Labour attracted fewer ballots than it did under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019 and the Conservative Party's vote share collapsed by 20 percentage points - its worst result ever.
This is not the only interesting story of the night.
A new report has revealed that more people aged between 18-30 voted Reform than Conservative on July 4.
The YouGov poll which surveyed more than 35,000 voters found that 9.5 per cent of people in that age group plumped for Nigel Farage's party while just eight percent voted Tory.
As expected, Labour was the most popular party for Gen Z, bagging 41 per cent of the vote among those aged 18-24, but this nascent movement on the right should not be overlooked.
With data suggesting 1.2million Tory supporters will die by 2029, Reform UK could shape the future of British politics.
Despite being handicapped by the first-past-the-post system, Reform UK won 14 percent of the vote
REFORM UKSo what's going on?
GB News caught up with the candidate for Faversham and Mid Kent to better understand the party's young voter base.
At just 24, Maxwell Harrison came third in his constituency on July 4, reducing a 21,000 Tory majority to 1,400.
Max is not at all surprised Reform is winning over young voters.
While he's loth to pigeonhole his peers, he describes them as social media savvy, rebellious and "sick to death of the system" after 14 years of Tory rule.
He told GB News: "Lots of us, myself included, live with our parents because it is nigh on impossible to get a mortgage unless we're in a partnership with someone else or our parents pass away. That's the reality of the situation."
Add student debt to the mix and "it feels very much like there is a ceiling above us which is squeezing and getting tighter", Max laments.
Why not vote for Labour, then? After all, Keir Starmer has pledged to “take the brakes off Britain” by tearing up planning restrictions to build 1.5million new homes.
The Reform candidate retorts that this option is off the table for many of his peers, who are secretly small-"c" conservatives and want a tougher stance on immigration.
Blue revolution
The 24-year-old highlights an oft-overlooked point about youth rebellion - it is not always on the left.
For Max and many of his peers, conservatism is a rejection of being constantly told how to think and behave by a stuffy elite who spend too long virtue-signalling and too little on bread-and-butter issues.
They subscribe to a worldview that seeks to empower rather than create "barriers and limitations".
This brand of conservatism rages against political correctness and has a playful sense of humour.
His analysis helps explain the rise of figures like Jordan Peterson, who resonate with young men in particular.
In a political context, it explains why Farage is more of a draw than Rishi Sunak, Max reckons.
Just as young people on the left were more enamoured with Jeremy Corbyn than Keir Starmer, the Reform leader is more charismatic than his Conservative counterpart, the 24-year-old claims.
"Nigel is fun, vibrant and likes a laugh. He's your mate down the pub with a pint and cigarette in hand," Max said, adding: "He's not some Eton/Oxford-educated gentleman who doesn't understand the real world."
This ability to connect with young people has made Farage a tour de force on TikTok. Since joining the platform in March 2022, the Reform leader has amassed almost one million followers.
In terms of engagement, the Reform leader outperformed all other parties and candidates on the social media platform throughout the general election campaign, an analysis by The Guardian shows.
Between 22 May and 17 June, Farage's TikTok beat Labour on a per-video basis by 30 per cent – and the Tories by more than double.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Farage's ability to connect with young people has made him a tour de force on TikTok.
GettyA storm is brewing
Farage's ability to tap into "meme culture", as Max puts it, is not the only draw for Gen Z.
He reminds your correspondent that 25 percent of young people voted in favour of Brexit.
Max concedes that this is a "slim number" of the electorate but it feeds into this narrative of Farage as a rebel who does not submit to authority.
So where does this leave the Conservative Party?
The worst is yet to come for the Tories, the 24-year-old predicts.
"The Tories are doomed. Nigel is picking up huge amounts of support. When it comes to the conference later on in the year, I think people are going to be shocked by the amount of young people who are invested in the future of Reform."
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