Tories in 'panic' mode over growing Reform UK threat as Sunak braced for by-election disaster
RISHI’S GOING TO LOSE ANYWAY, REFORM WON’T MAKE A DIFFERENCE - FARAGE
The Conservative Party is in a "panic" over the threat of Reform UK, the party's leader Richard Tice has said.
This comes ahead of Thursday's Wellingborough by-election, which could see the Tory Party come third after Reform.
Veteran Conservative backbencher claimed the fringe party's "credibility is on the line" at this week's by-election, as they need to prove they can outperform national polling in a seat which has pro-Brexit leanings.
Meanwhile, the Tory party has been keen to claim that voting for Reform will put Labour in power - something the Prime Minister told voters at Monday night's People's Forum in County Durham.
The Conservative Party is in a "panic" over the threat of Reform UK, the party's leader Richard Tice has said
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But Tice welcomed the attacks on his party, telling the Daily Express: "It shows we have got them worried. They are in a panic."
Meanwhile, Deputy leader Ben Habib, who is standing as the party's candidate in Wellingborough, added: "Of course, the real credibility question rests with the Tories, not Reform UK.
"They’re about to lose their sixth by-election in a row with the overturning of yet another massive majority.
"Hayes would be best advised to reflect on why his Party has become so unpopular. Could it be anything to do with their breaking the United Kingdom economically, socially, politically, and constitutionally?"
He continued: "All the Tories have achieved is record borrowing, record taxation, record numbers on benefits, record immigration, record illegal immigration, record waiting lists and now a record in the number of by-election losses in one Parliament. The Tories have no credibility."
People Polling for GB News published last month showed that Reform UK is now just eight points behind the Tories.
In a fresh blow to Sunak, the survey put Labour at 45 per cent, the Conservatives at 20 per cent and Reform at 12 per cent.
Habib said both the Tory and Labour candidates - Helen Harrison and Gen Kitchen - are "asleep at the wheel".
Tice welcomed the attacks on his party, telling the Daily Express: "It shows we have got them worried. They are in a panic."
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He explained: "Their candidates may be local to Wellingborough but they don’t know what’s going on. I’ve been there a few weeks and this is what I discovered British citizens having their homes possessed by a Tory council housing illegal migrants.
"This madness will never end under the Tories and Labour. They both believe in open borders."
The Tories are fighting by-elections in both Wellingborough and Kingswood this week.
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Ben Habib said the Tories are "about to lose their sixth by-election in a row with the overturning of yet another massive majority"
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If they lose one or both of Thursday’s by-elections, it will mean the Government has taken more by-election defeats in a single parliament than any government since the 1960s.
Chris Skidmore's Kingswood seat had a Conservative majority of 11,220 in the 2019 general election but had previously been held by Labour from 1992 to 2010.
Peter Bone's majority in Wellingborough was 18,540 in 2019.