Ben Chapman
Guest Reporter
The Tories and Reform UK need to “unite” to defend their shared values, according to Conservative frontbencher Richard Fuller MP.
Speaking on GB News, the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury admits his party are “worried” about the rise of Nigel Farage.
He urged the Reform leader to row back on his comments about wanting to “destroy” the Conservative Party.
Speaking about a possible alliance between the two parties, he said: “I don't know about that…we saw that this week in the second reading of when Labour, trying to put through this jobs tax and we had Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Democratic Unionists, Scottish Nationalists and Reform MPs all voting the same way.
“We all recognise that the main challenge for this country is the Labour government doesn't seem to have a grip on the economy and it's making some very poor choices and that's where I think we need to put our heads together.”
Asked if Kemi Badenoch needs to hold talks with Farage, he said: “I think that question is directly at Mr Farage, because he says he wants to destroy the Conservative Party.
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“You don't go into a discussion with someone to say, hey, let's all get together with an opening line as ‘I want to destroy you’.
“That isn't the right approach…it's early days, so we'll see in a couple of years’ time. Will Mr Farage's rhetoric change? Will he stop saying that he wants to destroy the Conservative Party?
“Will he look at the issues that you've just raised, that if the vote is split from people who have Conservative principles, that we get another Labour government with a big majority doing damage to our country?
“It’s for Mr Farage to say, ‘you know what? I was wrong, I didn't want to destroy the Conservative Party, now let's see how we can make sure that we get rid of a Labour government that's doing damage to the country’.”
It comes amid a swathe of optimism for the populist party who are flying high in the polls.
They surged three points to 21 percent in the latest Techne UK poll, as the insurgent party continues to close the gap with Labour and the Conservatives.
The survey of 1,644 voters conducted on Friday shows Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party narrowly maintaining their lead at 27 percent, down one point from last week.
The Conservatives remain in second place at 25 percent, dropping two points.
Earlier this week, a Find Out Now poll put Reform UK ahead of Labour for the first time, showing 24 percent support for Farage's party compared to Labour's 23 per cent.
Reform chairman Zia Yusuf declared: "Reform has all the momentum in British politics. The British people want real change after years of failure and deception."
The party recently surpassed 100,000 members and unveiled former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns as their candidate for Greater Lincolnshire mayor.
"Labour has hundreds of employees, 402 MPs and the full apparatus and distribution of the government at its disposal. Reform is polling ahead of them with 5 MPs and 16 employees," Yusuf added.
Farage responded to the polling surge saying: "And we're just getting started."
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Speaking on GB News, the Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury admits his party are “worried” about the rise of Nigel Farage.
He urged the Reform leader to row back on his comments about wanting to “destroy” the Conservative Party.
Speaking about a possible alliance between the two parties, he said: “I don't know about that…we saw that this week in the second reading of when Labour, trying to put through this jobs tax and we had Liberal Democrats, Conservatives, Democratic Unionists, Scottish Nationalists and Reform MPs all voting the same way.
“We all recognise that the main challenge for this country is the Labour government doesn't seem to have a grip on the economy and it's making some very poor choices and that's where I think we need to put our heads together.”
Asked if Kemi Badenoch needs to hold talks with Farage, he said: “I think that question is directly at Mr Farage, because he says he wants to destroy the Conservative Party.
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“You don't go into a discussion with someone to say, hey, let's all get together with an opening line as ‘I want to destroy you’.
“That isn't the right approach…it's early days, so we'll see in a couple of years’ time. Will Mr Farage's rhetoric change? Will he stop saying that he wants to destroy the Conservative Party?
“Will he look at the issues that you've just raised, that if the vote is split from people who have Conservative principles, that we get another Labour government with a big majority doing damage to our country?
“It’s for Mr Farage to say, ‘you know what? I was wrong, I didn't want to destroy the Conservative Party, now let's see how we can make sure that we get rid of a Labour government that's doing damage to the country’.”
It comes amid a swathe of optimism for the populist party who are flying high in the polls.
They surged three points to 21 percent in the latest Techne UK poll, as the insurgent party continues to close the gap with Labour and the Conservatives.
The survey of 1,644 voters conducted on Friday shows Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party narrowly maintaining their lead at 27 percent, down one point from last week.
The Conservatives remain in second place at 25 percent, dropping two points.
Earlier this week, a Find Out Now poll put Reform UK ahead of Labour for the first time, showing 24 percent support for Farage's party compared to Labour's 23 per cent.
Reform chairman Zia Yusuf declared: "Reform has all the momentum in British politics. The British people want real change after years of failure and deception."
The party recently surpassed 100,000 members and unveiled former Tory minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns as their candidate for Greater Lincolnshire mayor.
"Labour has hundreds of employees, 402 MPs and the full apparatus and distribution of the government at its disposal. Reform is polling ahead of them with 5 MPs and 16 employees," Yusuf added.
Farage responded to the polling surge saying: "And we're just getting started."
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