The leader of Warwickshire County Council doubled down on claims that dads get "persecuted" by domestic abuse allegations during questions on his proposed new policy.

In a speech at a party conference in September 2025, Cllr George Finch vowed to shield "stern dads" from what he called a "weaponised" system of social services referrals.

Cllr Finch subsequently told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that he intended to bring forward changes but rival parties were concerned that members of the public could have been misled into thinking politicians get to see or influence work on individual case files.

The leader was at the forefront of launching his administration's new council plan last week which, under the umbrella of creating "vibrant places, safe communities and environment", set out a desire to "tackle domestic abuse by building on existing work with survivors and perpetrators".

That sentence finished by specifying the inclusion of fathers "in creating safe family environments". 

Cllr Lorraine Grocott questioned why dads had been singled out for inclusion. 

"From my understanding parents are nurturing," she said.

"It doesn't matter whether they are mothers or fathers. If I was to put (the opposite) into a council plan, me being a liberal, sort of wokey mindworm woman, you would be saying I am pointing fingers at men, effectively."

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Cllr Finch laughed before responding. 

"I will break it down," he said.

"What we are saying is that, unfortunately, most of the time the assumption is that the fathers are the problem. We don't know that in any given circumstance, you have to look at issues case by case.

"You can't just paint every father with the same brush, that's not fair. We are saying we are going to work with everyone in the family to make sure it is a proper, secure and supportive outcome.

"I don't necessarily understand where you are coming from with this."

Cllr Grocott came back.

"As you say, it is case by case," she said. "I don't think there is anything in legislation or our policies that says it is always one gender that is the issue. 

"If I was to put that into something you would say I was being some sort of strange feminist type. It just seems very specific to say to include fathers. 

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"They are not the only factor in safe family environments, there are other things such as addiction issues, mental health issues. It just seemed a very one-dimensional way of tackling domestic abuse."

Cllr Finch, who is also the council's portfolio holder for children and families, stressed that Reform's approach "is that we want to support the victim all the way" but went on to make comments that aligned with those he made in September.

"What we need to understand is that when it comes to that assumption that it is always the father, that is not fair," he added.

"That is where you have things where fathers do get persecuted or put in systems that they shouldn't necessarily be in because they haven't done anything wrong. 

"That's where you have to look at it, you can't just take a 'one size fits all' approach."

Cllr Jennifer McAllister argued that specifying fathers seemed like an "odd statement". She also asked whether Cllr Finch had any data for how many times fathers are blamed for domestic abuse but followed that with a number of other questions about the council plan with that element not covered in Cllr Finch's responses.

The council is due to launch a four-week engagement exercise on Reform UK's council plan imminently.