Tories 'are not doing a deal with Reform,' Kemi Badenoch insists

Kemi Badenoch has said the Tories are "not doing a deal with Reform" after a Conservative mayor appeared to advocate for a "coming together" of the two rival parties.

The leader of the opposition criticised talk of "stitch ups" ahead of next week's local elections and said she was instead focused on ensuring that voters have a "credible Conservative offer".

Speaking to reporters from Stratford-upon-Avon, she said: "We are not doing a deal with Reform. There's not going to be a pact.

"What we need to do right now is focus on ensuring that voters have a credible Conservative offer.

"When we start talking about stitch ups before an election it sounds as if we are not thinking about the people out there but just about how we win.

"Winning is just the first step - we need to talk about how we are going to deliver for the people of this country."

Her words come after Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen suggested his party may have to join forces with Nigel Farage's Reform UK.

In an interview with Politico, he said: "I don't know what it looks like. I don't know whether it's a pact. I don't know whether it's a merger … [or] a pact of trust and confidence or whatever.

"But if we want to make sure that there is a sensible centre-right party leading this country, then there is going to have to be a coming together of Reform and the Conservative Party in some way."

He added: "What that looks like is slightly above my pay grade at the moment."

The intervention from the Conservatives' last remaining mayor will create further trouble for Ms Badenoch after shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick vowed to "bring this coalition together" to ensure that Conservatives and Reform UK are no longer competing for votes by the time of the next election.

According to a leaked recording obtained by Sky News, Mr Jenrick - who lost the Tory leadership campaign to Ms Badenoch - said he would try "one way or another" to make sure the two right-wing parties do not end up handing a second term to Sir Keir Starmer.

Mr Jenrick has denied his words amounted to calling for a pact with Reform - and told Good Morning Britain: "I've said time and again that I want to put Reform out of business ... I want to send Nigel Farage back to retirement."

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Questioned about Mr Jenrick's remarks, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told Sky News he was not going to do a deal with the Conservative Party.

He said: "I mean he's clearly shaping himself up to be the next leader of the Conservative Party. He doesn't care what internal division he causes within the Parliamentary Party.

"But he's actually mistaken. We are not going to do a deal with a Conservative Party that gave us record tax levels since the war, mass migration, I mean I could go on."