Reform UK leader Richard Tice has ruled out an election pact with Rishi Sunak and the Conservative Party.
Reform – which was founded as the Brexit Party – recorded its best by-election results on Thursday, polling 13% in Wellingborough, Northants, and 10% in Kingswood.
It prompted discussions on whether or not the party had split the right-wing vote, taking possible voters away from the Conservatives.
And, with the upcoming general election expected in the back end of the year, attention turned to a possible deal with Sunak. Nigel Farage had agreed a similar pact as the Brexit Party in 2019.
Writing in The Telegraph, Tice has rejected the notion of an election pact this year. He says Conservative MPs “deserve to lose their jobs”.
He said: “They cannot be trusted at their word, and we cannot reward failure with more incumbency. Tory MPs deserve to face redundancy for their woeful performance.
“They should hang their heads in shame, then stand aside and let Reform UK take on the grave threat of Starmergeddon. This is why we will not be doing any deals with the Tories. We stand everywhere.”
Tice criticised the Conversative Party’s track-record on the economy, blaming “mass low skilled immigration policies” on the falling GDP – in a week where the country was announced to have falled into a recession.
They cannot be trusted at their word, and we cannot reward failure with more incumbency. Tory MPs deserve to face redundancy for their woeful performance.
A Conservative source told the paper insiders are concerned “Labour are currently storming to a huge victory”, and cited the rise of Reform as another cause for concern.
The source also highligted Reform’s honorary president and former Brexit Party and UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s warning that voters feel “let down” by the Conservatives.
Farage has previously said Tory members want him to lead the party instead of Sunak. He said: “I think if you asked Tory party members right now, they’d vote for me to be leader and not Rishi Sunak, and that I have no doubt at all and that’s backed up by polling.
“But look, let’s focus on this general election. I’m backing Reform, we’ll have to see what active role I play, and maybe, maybe after the Tories lose heavily, maybe they’ll rethink what they actually stand for. Let’s see.
“What we do need in this country is a centre-Right government at the election after this that believes in a small state, encourages entrepreneurship, controls its borders and actually believes in the country. That’s what I believe we need.”
