A York candidate in the upcoming General Election is aged just 21, making him one of the youngest in the country.

John Crispin-Bailey was born in York Hospital in February 2003, has lived in Wiggington all his life, attending Wiggington Primary School and the Joseph Rowntree School and Sixth Form.

John’s career to date includes working as a personal and fitness trainer and as a model and actor, before working for a mortgage advisor company, where he hopes to become a qualified mortgage advisor.

John said: “I used to do bits of tv work, as a background artist, with minor acting roles. It was amazing.”

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He has appeared in TVs Waterloo Road and Malpractice, as well as the British-made Prime Video teenage rom-com How to Date Billy Walsh.

Earlier this year, he joined Wiggington Parish Council.

John told the Press: “We are very lucky to live where we are. It’s a nice place to live. I want it to stay that way.”

Whilst polls show about half the country’s 18s-24s plan to vote Labour, Reform and the Lib-Dems are joint-second on 10% and the Tories on 9%.

John is the candidate for Reform UK, saying its policies and values fit own his best, particularly those on taxation and defence.

Many of its policies will benefit younger people, not just older ones, he says.

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These include scrapping the interest to be paid on student loans and extending the repayment term to 45 years, as he says it is ‘not easy’ to repay student debt.

At present central government limits the number of placements in medical schools at 10 years. Reform would remove that limit, ending the shortage of doctors and nurses.

If elected, Reform would also write-off the student debt of those who work in the NHS for ten years.

And his ‘favourite policy’ is a Reform government would raise the tax-free threshold to £20,000 a year.

“We won’t see tax cuts that still only favour the rich. If you are only earning £20-30,000 a year, this helps the poor more than the rich,” he said.

Such a move could help people invest in themselves, such as more study or buying a house.

John also backs Reform policies to allow nurses and police to train on the job, rather than have to go to university and build up debt.

The committee member of groups including the Haxby and Wiggington Youth and Community Association plans to start leafletting this Thursday.

John said: “The biggest challenge that Reform UK faces is not everybody has heard of us. If we get our vote out, I think we will do really well this election.”

“Hopefully we will see some MPs and Nigel Farage taking Clacton, getting a few voices in parliament.”

From this platform, Reform plans to win the General Election of 2029.

John added: “I want to show people we are here and there’s a fresh option- a third way of doing things.” 

“One thing is for certain, this is likely to be the most consequential election in a generation, and every voter has the opportunity to change political history on the 4th of July, with nothing more than a pen or pencil. The power is in the hands of the people."

* Labour also has a 21-year-old candidate in Essex and the Greens have a 20-year-old standing in North Devon, all considerably younger than Labour’s Keir Mather, who was elected in the Selby & Ainsty by-election last July, when aged 25, becoming Parliament’s youngest MP.

The other candidates for York Outer are: Darren Burrows (Ind), Luke Charters (Labour), John David Eadington (Yorkshire Party), Keith Hayden (Independent), Andrew Hollyer (Liberal Democrat), Michael Kearney (Green) Halaenas Mayne (Independent) and Julian Sturdy (Conservative).