Reform UK was accused of having ‘no plan for reforming anything’ after a poll suggested Nigel Farage’s party was just two points behind the Tories.
Conservative ministers lashed out, saying it was easy for Mr Farage and his party to shout from the sidelines but ‘these guys don’t even have a policy’.
And in a boost for Rishi Sunak, rumours of further Tory defections to Reform melted away. None were expected ahead of today’s deadline for nominations to stand in the General Election.
But Reform chairman Richard Tice said the Tories were ‘terrified’ of the insurgent party.
Following Mr Farage’s announcement of his return to front-line politics as Reform leader, Reform’s percentage point standing was 17 this week, according to a YouGov survey. Labour was at forty and the Tories at nineteen.
A slew of other polls suggested Reform was increasingly squeezing Tory support.
A Focaldata poll found Mr Sunak was just one percentage point above Mr Farage on the metric of who would make the best prime minister, at 20 versus 19. Labour leader Keir Starmer was on 41.
Focaldata had Reform up two to 14 points, the Tories down one to 25 per cent and Labour up one to 44 per cent.
Meanwhile, Redfield and Wilton found the Prime Minister to have a worse favourability score than Mr Farage, at -19 per cent compared with -7.
Tory candidates are growing increasingly concerned that Mr Farage’s rebel party would split the Right-wing vote and facilitate a Labour triumph.
Launching his campaign on Monday, Mr Farage predicted Reform could be level with the Tories in the polls ‘within a week’.
Furthermore, the fiery politician attacked Mr Sunak for departing early from D-Day ceremonies in Normandy, France, to continue his campaign.
Mr Farage attended ‘in a personal capacity’, where he was seen trying out a military truck on Gold Beach in Arromanches. Sir Keir attended the full day, along with world leaders and veterans.
Work and pensions secretary Mel Stride was asked if the YouGov poll sent ‘a shudder down your spine?’ He told Sky News: ‘The only poll that matters is the General Election.’
Bim Afolami, economic secretary to the Treasury, said: ‘[Reform] don’t have a plan for reforming anything. It’s easy to shout from the sidelines, if you’re Nigel Farage or anybody else, say “All of the established parties are rubbish”. But these guys don’t even have a policy.’
A deal between Mr Sunak and Mr Farage to allow their respective candidates a clear run in particular seats has been ruled out.
Their manifesto does seem to have some good ideas. Labour has had fourteen years to think of some, but Reform has had five minutes in comparison, and whatever ideas they do have, how will they be funding them because they will all have to be costed.
Since nothing can be implemented without funding, brilliant ideas come at a high cost to the taxpayer. Never does it come from their own pockets. We have to pay for everything in the end, even if they make it appear so nice!
It doesn’t matter whose manifesto you read, or how they plan to achieve it – action speaks louder than words. You see their mouths open and words come out, but at the end of the day, it’s all white noise. We promise you this, we promise you that but it’s all pie in the sky and much of it unworkable claptrap.
Whoever gets to be our Prime Minister in the next General Election has no plans whatsoever. They will get into power, tear up their promises and then wonder what to do next.
THE MONTHLY MOSQUITO 