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Reform UK has ruled out forming coalitions with the Conservatives in town halls across England after Tory leader Kemi Badenoch extended an olive branch by saying councillors were free to enter power-sharing agreements.
“Reform will not form coalitions with the Tories at any level,” Reform leader Nigel Farage said on Thursday. “The Tories broke Britain nationally for 14 years, and their councils continue to break local communities.”
His comments came after Badenoch talked up the precedent of her party going into “coalition” with other parties in local authorities. Some donors hope the two opposition parties will at some point join forces to avoid splitting Britain’s right-wing vote.
“At local level we end up with various coalitions. I’ve seen Conservatives go into coalition with Labour, with Liberal Democrats, with independents,” she told BBC Breakfast.
“You don’t get to have a rerun of an election at local level, so what I’m telling local leaders across the country: they have to do what is right for the people in their local area.”
The two right-wing parties have previously left the door open to limited co-operation at town hall level via confidence and supply agreements.
These narrow deals allow one party to prop up another on confidence motions and budget votes, but fall short of more stable and wide-reaching coalitions.
Local elections will be held across more than 20 councils on May 1. Reform is hoping to pick up more than 200 of the 1,600 seats available. The Tory party, which did well when the seats were last elected in 2021, is expected to shed councillors.
There is a precedent for Tory and Reform councillors to form coalitions in councils. In 2019, the Brexit party — as Reform was previously called — took over the running of Hartlepool Borough Council thanks in part to the support of three Tory councillors joining a coalition.
Badenoch on Thursday made clear that Tory councillors would be expected to adhere to the party’s principles and values, including “sound money” and a rejection of “excessive government intervention”.
She also stressed that she was not condoning any kind of electoral pact at a national level.
“I have said categorically that I’m not doing deals with Reform. Nigel Farage has said that he wants to destroy the Conservative party. When someone says they want to destroy you, don’t invite them into your house and ask to do a deal,” she said.
She added that she was not “made leader” of her party in order to “give it away to Reform”.
