A coalition between the Conservatives and Reform would be a “disaster for Britain”, Sir Keir Starmer has said as he defended his record on immigration.
The prime minister said voters of the rival parties were “being conned” as he suggested there were attempts to merge the two parties going on “behind the scenes”.
The prime minister was asked by Sky News political editor Beth Rigby whether he was “more worried” about Reform rather than the Conservatives ahead of the local and mayoral elections taking place across England this week.
He said: “I would challenge either of them.
“The Tories have got a terrible record – 14 years of failure. Reform moan about everything, but have got no answers. And at the end of the day, Reform and the Tories, there’s all this talk about them getting together and merging.
“If you’re a Tory voter who doesn’t want a pro-Russia foreign policy, how does a merger with Reform work for you? If you’re a Reform voter that thinks the Tories have failed for 14 years, how does a merger or coalition with the Tories work for you?”
He added: “Both sets of voters are being conned, because behind the scenes and behind the leader of the opposition, other people are looking for a coalition of these two parties.
“It would be a disaster for Britain.”
Sir Keir was challenged about the threat of Reform as the number of migrants crossing the Chanel in small boats this year is set to pass 10,000.
The number is recorded from between January and April this year and is more than in any equivalent four-year period since monitoring began in 2018.
The Labour leader said there was a “serious problem” but accused the last government of losing control of the country’s borders.
He added: “My strong belief is that we need to take down the gangs that are running the trade of putting people into boats.
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“That’s why we’re passing the Borders Bill – that gives much greater powers to our law enforcement. The Tories actually voted against that, if you can believe it.
“But also, what we’ve done is to… put an intense focus on removing people who have no right to be in this country, so 24,000 have been returned since we’ve had a Labour government.
“That’s the highest for nearly a decade I’m not going to duck your challenge, we’ve got to do more, but I think passing the legislation to get those stronger powers.”
Speculation that the Tories and Reform could join forces heightened after two senior Conservatives appeared to advocate for some sort of agreement between the two rival parties.
Robert Jenrick, the shadow justice secretary, was captured in a video recording leaked to Sky News vowing to “bring this coalition together” to ensure that Conservatives and Reform UK are no longer competing for votes by the time of the next general election.
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What leaked audio of Jenrick tells us
Mr Jenrick has denied his words amounted to calling for a pact with Reform.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Politico, the Conservative Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen also suggested the two parties should join forces in some way.
“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,” he said.
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“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.”
On Sunday, Kemi Badenoch did not rule out forming coalitions with Reform after the council elections on Thursday – but she did categorically rule out a pact with Nigel Farage’s party on a national level.
“I am not going into any coalition with Nigel Farage… read my lips,” she Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
This is part of a series of election previews with all major parties invited.
