Mel Stride slams 'toxic' Reform UK as 'economic fantasists' as he sets out why Kemi Badenoch is ruling out Tories ever doing a deal with Nigel Farage

A senior Tory today branded Reform UK as 'economic fantasists' as he set out why Kemi Badenoch will never do a deal with Nigel Farage's 'toxic' party.

Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, claimed Reform's 'numbers never add up' as he criticised their 'irresponsible' promises and 'unfunded' spending commitments.

It came after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch killed off any prospect of an electoral pact with Mr Farage after Reform's poor showing in last week's by-elections.

In an article for the Mail on Sunday, Mrs Badenoch emphasised distinctions between her Conservatives and Reform.

She criticised Mr Farage's party over their support for 'a bigger state, more spending, nationalisation, gimmicks and unfunded giveaways', saying: 'Reform dress like Thatcherites but act like Corbynites'.

The Tory leader's comments have dashed any immediate prospect of the main Right-wing parties joining forces to defeat Labour.

Despite Reform's initial hopes of running Labour's Andy Burnham close in the Makerfield by-election on Thursday, he won 55 per cent of the vote – well ahead of Reform's Robert Kenyon on 35 per cent.

On the same day, the Tories won a Westminster by-election in Scotland for the first time in more than 50 years, taking Aberdeen South from the SNP.

Mel Stride, the shadow chancellor, claimed Reform's 'numbers never add up' as he criticised their 'irresponsible' promises and 'unfunded' spending commitments

It came after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch killed off any prospect of an electoral pact with Mr Farage after Reform's poor showing in last week's by-elections

Explaining why Mrs Badenoch was ruling out a deal with Reform in the wake of the by-election results, Sir Mel told Sky News on Sunday: 'Reform are economic fantasists – the numbers never add up.

'They had £140billion worth of unfunded commitments and tax cuts.'

He added of Mr Farage's party: 'The numbers do not add up and, seemingly, they do not seem to care about that.

'They just simply think that if you go out and promise the Earth to everybody, somehow that is going to be enough – well, it isn't responsible.'

There have been suggestions that some Tory voters backed Labour in Makerfield in order to stop Reform.

Mr Farage's party were also squeezed out in the Gorton and Denton by-election in February, as anti-Reform voters flooded to the Greens.

Sir Mel said: 'The second thing is this point about toxicity. Why would we want to get in bed with a party that is going to continuously get hammered by tactical voting?

'An increasingly large proportion of the electorate do not like populist politics.'

The Tories have been stung by a series of high-profile defections to Reform in recent years.

Asked if the Conservatives would now accept disillusioned Reform members wanting to defect the other way or rejoin the Tories, Sir Mel said: 'Well, we'll have to see.

'Look, at the end of the day we are seeing… there was a local councillor, recently who's come back and left Reform and says that he's very sorry they left in the first place and he was sold all sorts of lies about what Reform were.

'He saw them close up and the way that they work in local government, he doesn't want to have anything more to do with it.

'We will see, probably, increasing examples of that, but it will be a case-by-case basis, and it will be for Kemi to make those decisions. Not for me.'

Michael Gove, the Conservative peer and ex-Cabinet minister, said the Tories' victory in Aberdeen South showed Reform's argument that his party are 'irredeemably tainted' by their 14 years in government 'no longer holds'.

'That means it's game on in the fight for disaffected voters between Reform and the Conservatives in a way it wasn't before,' Lord Gove added.

In her article for the Mail on Sunday, Mrs Badenoch said of the differences between the Tories and Reform: 'We are not the same, and voters are not ours to trade like football cards.'

'Farage may be trying to unite the Right, I am trying to unite the country,' she added. 

'Some say refusing a deal risks letting in Left-wing coalitions. I disagree. The way to stop Left-wing coalitions is to build a Conservative majority that reaches beyond the Right.

"Unite the Right' is really just a demand that Conservatives stand down and give Reform a free run because they can't win a general election otherwise. Well, we can.'

A Reform spokesman said Mrs Badenoch's comments about their politics were 'quite ironic – as it's exactly how the Tories governed in office. She was one of the main culprits who dressed like a Thatcherite and acted like a Corbynite'.

The spokesman added: 'We won't need to ever deal with the Tories. They broke Britain and we won't give them a chance to do it again. We have now led the national opinion polls for well over a year.

'Kemi has taken the Tories backwards, from 25 per cent to 18 per cent.'

Reform like to dress up as Thatcherites… but they behave like Corbynites, writes KEMI BADENOCH

There will be many words written about the Makerfield and Aberdeen by-elections, but one thing is clear – the results have left the idea of the Conservatives doing a deal with Reform stone-dead.

When those elections were called, I came under intense pressure to 'unite the Right'.

The argument sounded clever: the Conservative Party had never won in Makerfield, so why not do a deal with Nigel Farage and stand down?

Reform UK could do the same in Aberdeen, and everyone would claim victory.

Thankfully, I know terrible advice when I hear it and the results on Friday proved my point. 

Reform would not have won Makerfield even if it had taken every vote on the Right.

Meanwhile, in Aberdeen, the Conservatives took half the votes despite Reform being on the ballot paper.

Had I listened, our emphatic victory in Aberdeen would have been diminished. People would have sneered that we won only because Reform stepped aside. A win 'helped' by Reform would have been no real win at all.

Writing in today's Mail on Sunday, Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch rules out a deal with Reform UK

In any case, we would never have got 50 per cent of the vote in Aberdeen if our campaign had been associated with Farage's divisive rhetoric.

Labour and the SNP would have been let off the hook for the damage their energy policies are causing.

We showed we can unite people with a clear message of common sense – on welfare, defence, energy and with a candidate of good character.

Farage may be trying to unite the Right. I am trying to unite the country.

I met a small-business owner recently who couldn't decide between the Conservatives and Reform.

He thought Reform were a low-tax, small-state option. He was shocked when I told him Reform promises a bigger state, more spending, nationalisation, gimmicks and unfunded giveaways.

These are not the policies of the Right. They are populism.

The truth is, if you want lower taxes, you cannot vote for a party that keeps finding new ways to spend money it does not have.

Reform dress like Thatcherites but act like Corbynites. Reform is not like the Conservative Party. At all.

We are not the same, and voters are not ours to trade like football cards.

Mrs Badenoch pictured with Scottish Tory leader Russell Findlay (left) and Douglas Lumsden (right), who won the Aberdeen South by-election on Thursday

There are so many reasons why we can't 'unite the Right' in this way. Where does one start?

It's not just policy differences or the fact that everyone who has ever worked closely with Farage has fallen out with him. It's the lack of seriousness, the lack of discipline, the lack of good character.

I could point out the competence issue with Reform councils, or that every Reform economic policy has fallen apart when people look at the numbers because it cannot do detail.

Those who think politics is all about policy or vibes are most likely to talk about doing deals. But politics is also about character.

What kind of characters are in Reform? Do they take responsibility? Do they do the hard work? Do they tell people the truth? Do they calm the country when it is angry, or pour petrol on the fire?

Character matters in politics because character is what is tested when things get tough.

Do you have the strength to face down your own backbenchers on wasteful welfare spending?

Keir Starmer did not. He failed that test.

And what kind of character accepts £5million in cash and says it was merely a gift?

Mail on Sunday readers have far too much common sense to believe that. Nobody gets £5million in their pocket for nothing, whatever Nigel Farage claims.

Character tests how you will use power. Will you be restrained? Or will you use power to harass political opponents?

Restore would not be causing Reform so many problems had Farage and Rupert Lowe not fallen out so spectacularly, with Lowe even being reported to the police over allegations that went nowhere.

Rupert Lowe left Reform to start the Restore Britain party after a rift emerged between him and Mr Farage

Yes, I know that Reform has tapped into the country's anger.

But it is easy to promise everything. It is easy to blame everyone else, as Starmer did repeatedly. It is easy to shout about betrayal, easy to offer unfunded giveaways and move on before anyone asks how the numbers add up.

Winning elections may be about popularity, but government is different.

Government means making tough choices – something Andy Burnham is going to learn the hard way.

I know what people will say. The Conservatives were in government for 14 years. We did not get everything right. On some things, we failed. You were right to expect better from us.

That is why I have changed the Conservative Party.

No more Left-wing policies, drift or timid managerialism. We are ditching mad Net Zero policies, leaving the ECHR so we can deport those who don't belong here and planning an economic revolution that will deliver prosperity to our country.

Some say refusing a deal risks letting in Left-wing coalitions. I disagree.

The way to stop Left-wing coalitions is to build a Conservative majority that reaches beyond the Right.

'Unite the Right' is really just a demand that Conservatives stand down and give Reform a free run because it can't win a general election otherwise. Well, we can.

Mr Farage pictured with Reform's Makerfield by-election candidate Robert Kenyon

The surest way to hand Britain to the Left for a generation is to abandon the serious centre-Right and floating voters any Conservative majority needs.

I met supporters of my party who would rather stay at home, vote Lib Dem or sometimes even Labour before backing Reform.

That is why Nigel Farage lost in Makerfield. That is why, under my leadership, the Conservative Party is focused on being the party of common sense.

Britain is too divided already.

If you want secure borders without turning communities against each other; if you want equality under the law, not a fight between Black Lives Matter and White Lives Matter; if you want British culture without American-style grievance politics, then the Conservatives are the only party on the Right who will deliver this.

We need a government that stands with people who work hard, save hard, play by the rules and want their children to inherit a better Britain.

I want to unite our country. Around fairness. Around responsibility. Around British culture. Around common sense.

That is how we beat Labour. That is how we defeat the politics of rage. And that is how the Conservatives win again, on our own terms, for the good of the whole country, as we did in Aberdeen.