Nigel Farage is to highlight Reform’s young and female activists at his party conference this week, in a sign that his party is gaining support among every type of voter. The highlight of the conference in Birmingham will inevitably be Mr Farage’s speech, and the Reform leader may even deliver two - one major speech setting out party policy and another to thank activists as the event draws to a close.

But he is to take a step back and allow others to share the spotlight, in an effort to show that Reform UK is a team rather than a one-man-band. And a key message will be that Reform is no longer the party of older man - a demographic that in the past has been most likely to support Reform’s patriotic approach to politics.

Those due to speak include Annie May O’Neill, a Reform town Councillor for Chipping Ongar who became the star of the party’s campaign to advertise Reform UK football shirts. She is a student at the University of Law.

Others include Derbyshire councillor Charlotte Hill, a former beauty queen and Derbyshire entrant in the Miss Great Britain and Miss Universe Great Britain. She is a full-time engineer with National Highways.

Polls have shown Reform UK is consistently ahead of the other parties - and is wining over younger voters.

A survey by More in Common found 23% of 16 and 17 year olds said they would back Reform UK if they had the vote, with the Government planning to cut the voting age to 16 by the next election. It places the party second behind Labour, on 30%, among potential voters aged 16 to 17.

Labour is attempting to take the fight to Farage and has accused him of putting children at risk by opposing the Online Harms Act, which places age restrictions on some content.

But Nr Farage is taking his battle for free speech to the US this week, when he gives evidence to a Congressional committee investigating the Act.

US politicians including vice-president JD Vance have condemned the law, which introduced age restrictions for pornographic and “harmful” websites from July 25, claiming it restricts freedom of speech in the US as well as in the UK.

He will give evidence to a House Judiciary Committee which is investigating “Europe’s threat to American speech and innovation.”

The hearing “will examine European threats to American free speech and innovation” according to the Committee, which is chaired by former amateur wrestling champion Jim Jordan, an ally of Donald Trump. Mr Jordan claimed the Online Safety Act and EU internet regulation “create a serious chilling effect on free expression and threaten the First Amendment rights of American citizens and companies”

Mr Farage has vowed to repeal the Act if he becomes Prime Minister, calling it “state suppression of genuine free speech”.