Badenoch says Reform pact ‘a non-starter’ after call to ‘get together with Nige’

Kemi Badenoch has again ruled out working with Reform UK after a voter urged her to “get together with Nige”.

The Conservative Party leader has repeatedly dismissed the prospect of a pact with Reform before the next election.

She visited Hertfordshire on Tuesday to publicise her party’s call to scrap VAT on energy bills for three years amid the war in the Middle East.

During the visit, a man passing by stopped to tell the Tory leader: “I like your stuff… scientist, business person… Get together with Nige!”

Mrs Badenoch laughed and replied: “Nice to meet you, and thank you for that.”

She said later that teaming up with Reform was a “non-starter”.

Asked whether such a move was out of the question if her party fared as badly at local elections, as expected, Mrs Badenoch told the Press Association: “Well, it was a really nice surprise to have that man come up to me. He said I was doing a fabulous job.

“He really liked what I did. It’s very clear that there’s some people who just don’t want to see Labour in government any more, and some of them think that working with other parties is the way to do it. That is not the way to do it.”

She said Nigel Farage wants “more government” and “more welfare” and that the Conservatives are the only party on the centre-right.

She said she was not often told by potential voters that they would like the Tories to make a pact with Reform.

“No, actually, that was a surprise, having someone on the doorstep asking me to team up with another party.

“It’s usually journalists who are asking me about teaming up with Reform. It is a non-starter. We are the Conservative Party.”

There has been a series of defections from the Conservatives to Reform UK, including former shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick and ex-home secretary Suella Braverman.

“A lot of the people who caused the problems in the Conservative Party have actually gone to Reform. Nigel Farage is doing my spring cleaning,” Mrs Badenoch said.

She said she was showing her party is “under new leadership”, adding: “I want people to see that this is a new party with new ideas for the future, not the past.”

She also spoke to High Street businesses about her party’s “cheap power plan”, which involves rolling back green energy rules and relying more on oil and gas.

The Tories have called for more drilling in the North Sea and published draft legislation they are proposing to remove legal obstacles that prevent new oil and gas projects being approved in the UK.

They say this would secure cheap, reliable energy and cut bills.

But Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has said more drilling will not change prices as they are set by global markets regardless of whether gas comes from the North Sea or the Middle East.