Former Tory MP Miriam Cates has shown support for Reform UK describing it as “rapidly professionalising and building infrastructure”.
Cates, who has presented some shows on GB News, also warned that there are two parties operating on “very similar ground” and at another election, a vote on the right could again be split.
Writing on X, Reform UK’s chairman Zia Yusuf quoted Cates stating: “Reform UK is rapidly professionalising and building infrastructure, and there is no reason to believe that their advances will be reversed.”
He added in his own words: “Reform has all the momentum in British politics.”
Miriam Cates – former Tory MP:
“Reform UK is rapidly professionalising and building infrastructure, and there is no reason to believe that their advances will be reversed.”
Reform has all the momentum in British politics.
— Zia Yusuf (@ZiaYusufUK) October 17, 2024
On Wednesday, the former MP for Penistone and Stocksbridge wrote in Conservative Home about the Tories needing the Reform UK Party to win again in 2029.
She wrote: “The Conservative Party is no longer the principal beneficiary of Labour’s demise.
“Step forward Nigel Farage, whose Reform Party continues to go from strength to strength.
“With Labour and the Conservatives polling around 27 points apiece and Reform UK on 20, Britain is now a three-party state.”
“Most of the support lost by Starmer since the election has been picked up by Farage, and there is no guarantee that a new Conservative Party leader will change this trajectory.
“We must accept that there are now two parties occupying very similar political ground, with both Reform and the under-new-management Conservatives offering a centre-right approach to immigration, tax and the family,” Cates continued.
The former PM said it is easy to dismiss Farage as merely a “populist” but “this challenger party is rapidly professionalising and building infrastructure, and there is no reason to believe that their advances will be reversed.”
Cates explained this could lead to the vote on the right being evenly split at the next election allowing Labour to win again.
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In this case, the “only route” back to a centre-right majority in parliament is, according to Cates, some form of “pact” between the Conservatives and Reform UK.
She explained the two parties could agree not to stand competing candidates in key constituencies, thus preventing the vote from splitting.
“Both parties – and Britain – would benefit from such an agreement,” she concluded, however, there is no guarantee Reform would agree to such negotiations.
