A resurgent Reform party will split the vote at the next election and put Labour in power, the Tories warned last night.
Reform’s leader Richard Tice used a press conference on Wednesday to warn of an economic crisis under Labour, which he branded ‘Starmergeddon’.
Yet the former Brexit Party vowed to stand candidates in every seat, which is likely to split the vote on the Right and put Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street.
Conservative Party chairman Richard Holden insisted that every ballot cast for Reform was, in effect, a vote for Labour.
Mr Tice claimed the Tories were ‘terrified’ and had been ‘pleading’ with him to stop candidates from his party – which is polling at 10 per cent – standing against them.
Reform party leader Richard Tice categorically ruled out any electoral pact with the Tories and vowed to stand candidates in every seat
An analysis by voting firm More In Common last month showed Reform’s recent growth in support could cost the Conservatives up to 35 seats and hand Labour a majority in Parliament.
Mr Tice said he was ‘absolutely categoric’ that he would not enter into any electoral pacts with the Tories ‘under any circumstances’. After initially claiming that they would fight every seat in 2019, the Brexit Party eventually withdrew candidates to help Boris Johnson win an 80-seat majority.
But Mr Tice ruled out a rerun, saying the Tories had already been begging him to stand down.
He claimed: ‘The truth is the Tories are terrified. Yes, in the new year, the special pleading has already started. “Oh, please don’t stand here, please don’t stand there, I’m one of the nice guys, I believe in everything that you believe in”.’
His intervention caused fury in the Conservative Party, with Mr Holden saying: ‘A vote for Reform is what Sir Keir is praying for and gives him the best chance of Labour sneaking into Government with split votes.
‘It’s a dangerous risk that will result in the exact opposite of what people want – a Labour government, a £28 billion black hole in our economy, higher taxes and a stealth, backdoor EU deal.’
His deputy Brendan Clarke-Smith, the MP for Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire, Notts, added: ‘Whilst many people are understandably frustrated after difficult global factors, most Conservative voters don’t want to support Labour, which is why Sir Keir is so desperate for them to support Reform instead.’
Lee Anderson, also a Tory deputy chairman, has already claimed Reform is a ‘bigger threat to the country’ than Labour and would let ‘Remoaners’ in by splitting the Right-wing vote.
Sir John Curtice, professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, admitted: ‘Reform is now eating into former Tory support as much as Labour is.
‘If Reform are going to win 9 or 10 per cent of the vote, the Tories are going to lose out. They can do significant damages to the Tories.’
But he added: ‘The Tories were in trouble long before Reform started making a bit of progress. Reform might make Starmer more likely but, frankly, Starmer has been on the cards for months.’
While support for Reform has been growing, the return of its main electoral asset – Nigel Farage – could make the Party an even greater threat.
The I’m A Celebrity contestant, who led the Brexit Party, was not present yesterday though Mr Tice hinted at his return. He said he was ‘very confident’ the Brexit campaigner would play a role in the Reform Party but refused to say what it was.
Yet he did remark: ‘The more help that Nigel is able to give in the election campaign, frankly, the better.’
Sir John said the return of Mr Farage to frontline politics would be the Tories’ ‘worst nightmare’.
Mr Tice also claimed he was talking to ‘quite a lot’ of disgruntled Tory MPs, councillors and donors about a switch to Reform but would not say how many.
Mr Tice branded both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer as ‘socialist twins’ and attacked the Tories on immigration and taxation
Asked about Mr Anderson’s warnings, the Reform leader said: ‘Lee is very worried, he’s terrified that we’re going to basically put him out of the job. The truth is, there are a number of Tory MPs in a similar position.
‘Stop staying with the toxic Tories, stop defending the indefensible, be brave, be bold, come on over.’
Calling on Rishi Sunak to call an early election, Mr Tice stated the country wanted to go to the polls ‘sooner rather than later’ as voters want to ‘punish the Tories for breaking Britain’.
He added: ‘You’ve all broken Britain, you’re all responsible, so there’s no special deals, we stand in every single seat in England, Scotland and Wales.’
Branding Mr Sunak and Sir Keir ‘socialist twins’, he attacked the Tories on taxation and immigration, saying Reform wanted a ‘one-in-one-out’ policy.
He also attacked Labour’s economic vision, claiming it would be ‘Starmergeddon’ if Labour secures the victory suggested in the polls.
Reform also revealed that former MEP Ben Habib, the party’s co-deputy, would contest the Wellingborough by-election following the recall of scandal-hit MP Peter Bone, who held the Northamptonshire seat for the Tories in 2019 with 18,540 more votes than Labour.