KEMI Badenoch yesterday refused to rule out town hall coalition deals with Reform UK.
Ahead of Thursday’s local elections, the Tory chief suggested in areas where no party wins overall control, the Conservatives could form a pact with Nigel Farage.
Dan CharityKemi Badenoch refused to rule out town hall coalition deals with Reform UK[/caption]
Nigel Farage’s Reform Party are set to make major gains across the country on May 1stEPA
Ms Badenoch repeated her pledge to never sign a deal with Reform UK at a national level — but told Sky News: “At a local level, it’s different. There might be no overall control.
“And what I’ve said to our councillors, I trust them, they’re very smart, they’ve been doing this for decades, is you have to do what is right for your local area. They have to look at who the people are they’re going into coalition with and how they can deliver for local people.”
Reform chief Mr Farage immediately hit back, insisting: “Reform has no intention of forming coalitions with the Tories at any level.
“The Tories broke Britain nationally for 14 years and their councils continue to break local communities with the highest taxes ever and worst services.”
The rebuke by Farage came as one of the Conservatives’ major donors, Bassim Haidar, announced he is pumping £1million into Reform.
He had donated £700,000 to the Tories under ex-PM Rishi Sunak.
But Ms Badenoch claimed she was not fazed by his defection, saying the latest figures showed that the Tories had raised more than the Lib Dems, Reform and Labour combined.
She added: “So we’re doing fine on donations.
“Obviously, we don’t want to lose our donors, but we need to make sure that what we are doing is about the public, it’s not just about winning elections.”
Polling by YouGov last week put Reform on track to secure two mayoralties, Gtr Lincs and Hull & East Yorks.
A poll by think-tank More in Common found Mr Farage’s party is the most popular in Britain and would sweep up 180 seats if an election were held today.
Labour and the Tories would win 165 each and the Lib Dems 67.
Cabinet Office Minister Pat McFadden yesterday insisted the polls did not worry him, but acknowledged some of the Government’s policy decisions “have not been the most popular”.
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