Voting for the Tories or Reform UK will gjve Nigel Farage and Kemi Badenoch a “free pass” to set up coalitions of chaos across Britain, Labour has warned.
Ellie Reeves, the party chair said Ms Badenoch had “made clear” that her party is open to deals with Reform if their vote is split in next month’s local elections.
Writing for the Mirror, Ms Reeves warned: “Even though we know the Tories failed our country, a vote for either the Tories or Reform at the ballot box looks set to give them a free pass to let down communities even more than they already have.”
Ms Badenoch opened the door to Tory and Reform councillors entering formal agreements to run local authorities if it was “right for the people in their local area”.
She told the BBC : “You don’t get to have a rerun of an election at local level, so what I’m telling local leaders across the country [is] they have to do what is right for the people in their local area.”
“We mustn’t forget that the Tories decimated our NHS and left people languishing on waiting lists,” Ms Reeves added.
“Now Farage and his mates want to make people pay for NHS services when they’re sick. Just imagine what they’d do together given the chance.”
Mr Farage rejected the idea of coalitions with the Tories “at any level” in response to Ms Badenoch’s suggestion.
By ELLIE REEVES, Chair of the Labour Party
Picture the scene: you vote for Nigel Farage ’s party in the hope that he’ll reject the failing Tories as he claims to do. Then you wake up and realise you’re left with more of the same Tory chaos that held our country back over the past 14 years.
That’s the reality that Tory Leader Kemi Badenoch has made clear could be coming down the tracks.
In an interview on BBC Breakfast, Badenoch let slip that the Tories are open to doing deals with Farage’s no-reform party.
It’s a recipe for chaos. Chaos that the British people resoundingly rejected at the General Election last July.
We know the vast majority of the local elections being held on Thursday 1 May are in Tory heartlands. The Tories should expect to do well in their heartlands – particularly when they’re in opposition.
What’s now clear though is that, even though we know the Tories failed our country, a vote for either the Tories or Reform at the ballot box looks set to give them a free pass to let down communities even more than they already have.
We mustn’t forget that the Tories decimated our NHS and left people languishing on waiting lists. Now Farage and his mates want to make people pay for NHS services when they’re sick. Just imagine what they’d do together given the chance.
They’re not on your side – only Labour is.
If we see Badenoch’s plans to let Tories be propped up by Reform at a local level playing out, it will only embolden them to work hand-in-glove at a national level too. That could lead to a coalition of chaos that would plunge our country back into Liz Truss levels of turmoil. Or even worse.
Unfunded spending. Constant infighting. All talk and no plan. Caring more about their party interests than the country.
That’s what we’d be left with under the Tories and Reform.
As always when the Tories fail our country, it’s working people who are left paying the price.
That’s not a future I want for Britain and it’s why delivering on our Plan for Change is so important.
Just look at the contrast of that chaos with what we’ve been doing this week alone. Our Labour Government has taken decisive action to protect jobs in our car industry and our steel industry, got NHS waiting lists down 6 months in a row, and announced we’re hiring 3,000 new neighbourhood police and PCSOs.
That’s our Plan for Change in action and we’re just getting started. When we promised security for working people and renewal for our country we meant it.
We’re laser-focussed on kick-starting economic growth to put more money in working people’s pockets, rebuilding our NHS and strengthening our borders.
We know there is still so much more to do. We know that people are still struggling. But our Plan for Change is starting to show some early results.
So, our message is clear. If you want to bring change to Britain, then on Thursday 1 May reject the dodgy deals of the Tories and Reform and elect local Labour representatives who will work hand in hand with our Labour government to bring change and security to our communities.
The change people voted for last year won’t happen overnight – we’ve always been honest about that. But we can only deliver this by working together and preventing the Tories and Reform from careering us back into more of the chaos of the past.
Keir Starmer ’s Labour Government is securing Britain’s future – let’s move forwards together and make sure our country reaps the full benefit of the change we all want to see.
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