The Conservatives and Reform UK have dismissed pleas to 'Unite the Right' despite warnings that left-wing parties will take control of councils following local elections. Shadow housing secretary James Cleverly insisted that the 'default position' was for Conservative groups not to do deals with other parties, while Reform deputy leader Richard Tice derided the idea of pacts with 'soggy Lib Dems pretending to be Tories'.
Local Election Fallout
The blunt comments came after local elections saw a huge surge for Nigel Farage's party, mostly at the expense of Labour. The Conservatives also lost hundreds of seats, although there were bright spots with gains in places such as Harlow and Westminster. However, many town halls are now under no overall control, triggering intense negotiations between parties over forming a stable administration.
Cleverly's Stance
Appearing on Sky News, Sir James initially stated, 'We're not going to do coalitions, with Reform or other political parties.' Challenged that Tory groups had done deals to run councils in the past, he said it would depend on local circumstances. 'The default position is no,' he added. On GB News, Sir James said the approach should be to show how Reform 'mess up' in power. 'What we will do is we will highlight to our voters in Essex and elsewhere in the country that where Reform gets their hands on the levers of government, they inevitably mess it up,' he said.
Tice's Response
Mr Tice was similarly scathing when asked on GB News whether Reform would compromise to avoid a left-wing coalition. 'Anybody who's worried about that needs to avoid that by voting Reform. It's incredibly simple,' he said. 'We're not going to do a deal with soggy Lib Dems pretending to be Tories. The Tories are basically a soft, soggy southern party disappearing down the plughole and we are the party of the future that's going to save this country.' Mr Tice added that Reform would consider defections from Labour politicians, but not Conservatives any more. 'They've had their chance,' he said.
