Ben Houchen on Tory coalition with Reform UK
Ben Houchen was quizzed on Sunday, following an interview with Politico, in which he had spoken of the necessity of a “coming together” of Reform UK and the Conservatives in some form, saying it would be the “best thing for the country”. He didn’t give specific detail on what such a merger would look like but floated the possibility of a coalition, or pact.
Conservative mayor Lord Houchen was a guest on the BBC ’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg when he spoke about the Tories’ prospects in the upcoming local elections on May 1, as well as the leadership of the Conservative Party and the threats and potential solutions of Reform UK.
The Labour Party responded to Lord Houchen’s appearance on the show, arguing that the Conservative Party is trying to use Reform to “sneak in by the back door”. Reform UK have repeatedly said that they are not in the business of making deals with the Conservative Party.
On the local elections, Lord Houchen said: “I’m going to make a prediction, in that it’s going to be an extremely tough election for the Conservative Party, I think we are going to lose a lot of seats.”
When pressed on the position of the leader of the Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, he said: “I do think she’ll be safe in her job. I think coming off an historic defeat of the worst election result for nearly 200 years, it has been tough because for the first time, I think ever, you’ve got another right of centre party who is eating away at that.”
Greater Manchester’s Labour Mayor Andy Burnham interrupted Lord Houchen to point out that the Tees Valley Mayor had called for a pact with Reform, to which he responded that he hadn’t done this, but then said: “The example I used was, if at the next election, there are a number of MPs in the Tory Party and Reform that created a significant majority, then obviously there’s going to be a conversation to form a coalition or some sort of pact.”
Host Laura Kuenssberg said: “So you are talking about a coalition potentially at the general election?”
Lord Houchen disputed this, saying instead he was talking about the “practicalities of keeping Labour out of government” and that the situation he had described was if and not when. He added that over the next three years, the Conservatives needed to regain the trust of the electorate so that people vote for them and not Reform.
Kemi Badenoch and Reform UK leader Nigel Farage have both made it clear that there would be no coalition at a national level, though the former has left the door open to Conservative councillors working with Reform councillors in local government administrations.
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Nationally, Mr Farage recently said: “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.” He also did not want to see Reform going into coalitions with Tories at a local level.
A Labour Party spokesperson, responding to the Conservatives’ Sunday broadcast appearances, said: “Ben Houchen is saying what Kemi Badenoch only dares to hint at: the Tories and Reform will work together to stop Labour bringing the change this country needs. The only way to stop the Tories using Reform to sneak in by the back door is to vote Labour.
“We are determined to deliver security for working people through Labour’s Plan for Change with more money in people’s pockets and an NHS that is fit for the future.”