Nigel Farage’s Reform UK stretched its lead over the Tories as Robert Jenrick was seeking “one way or another” to unite the Right ahead of the next general election.
With just days to go until the May 1 local elections, the latest YouGov poll showed Reform on 25%, up two points on last week, with the Conservatives on 20%, down one point.
Labour is on 23%, also down one point.
The Liberal Democrats are on 16%, down two points, with the Greens on 10%, down one point.
The latest poll findings came as shadow justice secretary Mr Jenrick was vowing that “one way or another” he was “determined to bring this coalition together” so the Right was not split at the next general election, set to take place in 2029.
Mr Jenrick, who came second in the Tory leadership race to Kemi Badenoch, was said to have made the comments to a gathering of students.
Speaking to the UCL Conservative association dinner in late March, he reportedly said: “[Reform UK] continues to do well in the polls. And my worry is that they become a kind of permanent or semi-permanent fixture on the British political scene. And if that is the case, and I say, I am trying to do everything I can to stop that being the case, then life becomes a lot harder for us, because the Right is not united.
“And then you head towards the general election, where the nightmare scenario is that Keir Starmer sails in through the middle as a result of the two parties being disunited. I don’t know about you, but I’m not prepared for that to happen.”
He added, according to a leaked recording passed to Sky News,: “I want the fight to be united. And so, one way or another, I’m determined to do that and to bring this coalition together and make sure we unite as a nation as well.”
Mr Jenrick denied he was proposing a pact between the Tories and Reform.
A source close to Mr Jenrick said: “Rob’s comments are about voters and not parties. He’s clear we have to put Reform out of business and make the Conservatives the natural home for all those on the Right, rebuilding the coalition of voters we had in 2019 and can have again. But he’s under no illusions how difficult that is - we have to prove over time we’ve changed and can be trusted again.”
Mrs Badenoch has flatly rejected any pact with Reform.
She has braced the Tories for heavy losses at the local elections, where her party is under threat from Reform in council areas such as Kent and Lincolnshire, and from the Lib Dems in Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire.
About 1,650 seats will be contested on 14 county councils, eight unitary authorities, one metropolitan district, and in the the Isles of Scilly.
The Tories are defending more than 900 seats.
Mayoral elections will also take place in the West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and for the first time in Hull and East Yorkshire and Greater Lincolnshire.
