Warwickshire County Council has put off trading standards enforcement so it can afford leader George Finch's more ambitious but "partially unfunded" plans.

Financial outturn figures for the year ending March 2026, presented to the Reform UK cabinet that runs the council on Thursday, show that £55,000 was held back from resources that had been allocated to enforcing laws governing the supply of goods and services, including the investigation of rogue traders and product safety.

The explanation for keeping that money back was that leader Councillor Finch (Reform UK, Bedworth Central) had asked for a "broader" operation to "tackle the toxic activity we see in some of our high street shops". The report, authored by council professionals, noted that this was also a national priority.

It details how the council has traditionally focussed on distinct issues in shops such as the sale of illegal vapes but that a three-year programme of wider work had been drawn up to kick in this month (June 2026).

However, the plans are "partially unfunded" and Reform UK's budget for 2026-27, set back in February, not only failed to resource its priority but signed off a £100,000-per-year cut to the department's budget from April 2028.

An alternative budget jointly put forward by the Liberal Democrats and Greens sought to reverse the cut, promising to redirect the money "to strengthen enforcement against vape shops and illegal trading activities", but it was rejected at the time with this latest development prompting Green group leader Cllr Jonathan Chilvers to question how seriously Reform's plan should be taken.

"This is one of the main tools we have to crack down on criminal gangs on our high streets," he said.

"Why is the leader chasing headlines on this but when it comes to the actual delivery, you are delaying enforcement on trading standards and cutting the service?"

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Cllr Finch replied: "We do understand that our town centres (have) an epidemic of barber shops popping up everywhere, illegal vape shops taking over our towns, destroying our town centres.

"We are working with all agencies to make sure we can put a stop to that. That's all I'm going to say on the matter at this time because we have to make sure something happens.

"This administration is 100 per cent committed to eradicating as much as possible these vape shops and barber shops that are destroying business and trade."

Cllr Chilvers raised his hand to ask a follow-up question but Cllr Finch moved on to the next speaker without acknowledging the request.

The Green leader was brought in to speak on a later item and before doing so said: "When I asked for some substance behind the headline on why we were cutting trading standards, I just got another soundbite."

After that he asked questions on the council's performance against its savings plan which were addressed by a different cabinet member. Cllr Finch, who as chair has discretion to refer back to matters should he wish to, did not choose to offer further comment on the trading standards issue.