Reform UK has issued Sir Keir Starmer with a warning after a Labour MP called for an unofficial “progressive coalition” to defeat Nigel Farage “at all costs”.
Sunderland Central MP Lewis Atkinson joined a Hope Not Hate fringe event yesterday to discuss the ways to deal with the “politics of hate”.
Atkinson, who holds a Red Wall seat where 10,779 voters backed Reform UK, used his appearance to issue a plea for progressive voters to block the rise of Farage ahead of key local elections.
He said: “I need two things to happen to defeat Reform. I need us to retain and gain support in white working-class communities … The second thing I need is a progressive coalition, for want of a better term, to be aware of the levels of danger and do what is necessary to defeat Reform at all costs.”
Reiterating his position, Atkinson distanced himself from formal deals but instead pointed to “coordinated sabotage” in the form of tactical voting.
Such a situation could also lead Labour voters to endorse the Liberal Democrats in Newton Abbot or the Green Party in Waveney Valley.
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf has since fired back against Atkinson just hours after his claim.
Speaking to GB News, Yusuf said: “Labour are right to be worried, we are professionalising, organising and preparing to win elections up and down the country at the local elections next May.
“Polls show support for Reform continuing to surge.
“Thousands of new members have joined in the last few days on the back of watching our conference, which was our biggest ever.
“Whilst Labour MPs sneer and disregard the concerns of hard working British people, Reform UK are speaking up for the silent majority.”
A Reform UK source also said: “The Labour Party are petrified of Reform UK and so they should be. We came second in 89 Labour-held seats.
“That shows you that we are the real challengers to the Labour Party among working-people who have been left behind by Westminster and Whitehall.
“And any suggestion to create a progressive coalition to stop us just proves that they do not respect democracy, that they do not understand ordinary working people.”
The insider added: “To claim that we are nostalgic in our policies and in our vision for Britain is absolute left-wing lunancy. It’s not backward looking to want to put the British people first.
“It’s not backward looking to want a strong economy. It’s not backward looking to have a bold and ambitious plan to support real people. That’s forward looking.”
Reform UK chairman Zia Yusuf
REUTERS
Farage is now hellbent on entering No10 in 2029, with Reform UK identifying a number of Labour seats including Llanelli and Sittingbourne & Sheppey.
Speaking at Reform UK’s conference on Friday, Farage told supporters: “We can win the next general election just with the numbers of people that agree with our principles.”
Ashfield MP Lee Anderson identified key areas where Reform UK could look to make gains in upcoming local election contests.
He told GB News: “We have to consider the seats that we won in the last election.
“My seat in particular in the Red Wall but the other MPs seats as well. But throughout the Red Wall you see places where we came second.
“We should be chucking our money and resources into these areas because I am pretty sure in May next year when we have council elections we will win lots of seats.”
Anderson added: “It’s a simple message; we are listening to you. The other parties aren’t listening. The subject of migration comes up time and time again.”
However, Farage’s political ambitions received plenty of attention at Labour Party conference yesterday.
Georgie Laming, who penned Hope Not Hate’s strategy plan against the populist party, labelled Reform UK “authoritarian b******s” at another fringe event held shortly after.
Speaking at a separate event looking at how to keep Starmer on the left, Corbynista MP Richard Burgon said: “We need to be mindful of the threat on the far-right because after 14 years of attacks on living standards, attacks on public services, people want change.
“Let’s be clear what change means; they want public services, like the NHS to radically improve, and they want their living standards to improve.
“If our Government doesn’t manage to deliver on those things, I am very worried that significant portions of the population will say ‘I’ve given the Tories a chance, I’ve given Labour a chance, how about giving the far-right a chance’.
“The electoral advance of Reform should concern us all and the racist, Far-Right riots should appall us all.”
Burgon, who lost the Labour whip after voting to scrap the two-child benefit cap, later told GB News: “I do think clearly there’s a difference between the political main players in Reform and people who voted for them.
“Do I believe that 17 per cent of my constituents think that Lee Anderson has the answer to all of our problems? No, I don’t. I think their politics will be different from his.”
