Reform Says A Labour Government Is Worth It For ‘Obliterating Tories’
The co-deputy leader of Reform UK Ben Habib said having a Labour government is worth it to remove the Tories (Alamy)
4 min read
The deputy leader of right-wing party Reform UK has said they would be comfortable with Labour forming the next government if it meant “booting out the Tory party” at the next general election, due this year.
Ben Habib, who said he wanted to “obliterate” the Conservatives when he joined the party last year, told PoliticsHome podcast The Rundown he was happy with the idea that standing candidates in this year’s election, and the likelihood of splitting the right wing vote with the Tories, could enhance Keir Starmer's chance of becoming the next Prime Minister.
Polling published this week has seen Reform UK reach a new high of 12 per cent in national voting intention, with analysis suggesting they could take enough votes away from the Tories to guarantee Labour a majority victory.
But Habib rejected the suggestion they should stand down candidates in some seats, as their predecessor The Brexit Party did ahead of the 2019 election in order to help the Conservatives enter Downing Street. Instead Reform is trying to peel Conservatives away with a new 'defections unit'.
“This is a really fundamental point for British politics, you cannot elect people just because you think the person you're voting for is bad, but the other lot are even worse,” Habib explained.
“We've got to break out of that spiral of inadequate performance, we've got to punish failure.”
Habib, Reform’s co-deputy leader alongside David Bull, and also its candidate in the upcoming by-election in Wellingborough, said the current government “has been an utter disaster, they must therefore be booted out”.
"When you fail, you cannot be rewarded with incumbency," he continued.
“If we get a Labour government and they do badly, which I expect they will, we will then boot them out, that’s democracy.
“And we'll keep booting people out until we get proper governance for the United Kingdom.”
Habib said what is needed is “a sea change in the way this country is governed, and only Reform UK has that agenda”.
The party, which has reducing migration to the UK as its central policy aim, has seen support growing in opinion polls from around five per cent last year to double figures in multiple surveys in recent weeks, as the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda has stalled and public confidence in Rishi Sunak’s ability to deal with the issue is waning.
Nigel Farage could return to lead Reform UK into a general election later this year (Alamy)
The party is currently led by businessman Richard Tice, but having been co-founded by Nigel Farage there is constant speculation if he will return to lead Reform into a general election campaign.
Habib said the chances of Farage being appointed at the helm of the party felt increasingly plausible, having felt "remote" only three months ago.
“I know he put 20 years of his life into frontline politics and he's now very happy doing his thing as a presenter, but the sands seem to be shifting quite dramatically," he said.
“And clearly with Reform’s rise in the polls he may just be looking at it thinking well, there's a real fight on here.”
Farage has been in America this week covering Donald Trump’s victory in the first Republican primary as he seeks to return to the White House, with the former US President giving him a shout out from the podium as he attended a rally in Iowa.
Habib said a likely Trump candidacy could be “very positive” for Reform, especially if both elections end up happening at the same time. The US election is scheduled for 6 November, meaning a UK election campaign could easily coincide if it goes ahead in Autumn as expected.
He added there was “every possibility” Trump could even endorse his party if his old friend Farage was at the helm.
“I've never met Donald Trump, and I'm not going to venture an opinion on him,” Habib said.
“But if an American election takes place before a British election, and Donald Trump wins, I think it helps Reform UK because that's the direction of travel.”
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