Sunak: Reform backers are going to put Starmer in power
‘The next election is a straightforward choice ... either Keir Starmer or I are going to be prime minister’
RISHI SUNAK has told Reform UK supporters that they will put Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party into No10 unless they vote Tory in a plea on live television.
Answering questions from voters in Co Durham on GB News, the Prime Minister was challenged by a voter who said he was minded to back Reform.
Reform, to the Right of the Tories, has soared in the polls in recent months amid Conservative infighting, with about one in 10 voters saying they will vote for Richard Tice’s party.
Mr Sunak told the voter: “The next election is a straightforward choice. At the end of it, either Keir Starmer or I are going to be prime minister, and a vote for anyone who is not a Conservative candidate is simply a vote to put Keir Starmer into No 10.
“So the question for you, and everyone else who clapped – I completely appreciate your frustration – is who do you want to see in government after the next election?
“Who do you think is more likely to deliver on the things that you care about? You talked about those traditional Conservative things – controlling spending, cutting taxes, a strong economy, bringing mortgage rates and inflation and borrowing down, strong borders, police on the streets.
“All of those things that you care about, who is more likely to deliver them? Because it is certainly not Keir Starmer. That’s the choice. A vote for anyone who is not us is a vote for him.” That argument is expected to be used prominently by the Tories as they attempt to squeeze the Reform vote share down as the election looms.
Tory strategists believe making Reform voters focus on election realities about who will be the next prime minister will convince them to return to the Tories. It was the argument deployed against Ukip by Lord Cameron in 2015 and used against the Brexit Party by Boris Johnson in 2019.
Nigel Farage, the former Ukip and Brexit Party leader, is the honorary president of Reform, though he is yet to run to be an MP in this election – unlike in previous votes.
Elsewhere during the hour-long question and answer session, Mr Sunak responded to a heated question from a person who claimed Covid vaccines had at times caused health damage. The Prime Minister noted that there was a Covid vaccine compensation scheme.
Government health advisers have long said that the vaccines have saved countless lives and are recommended for the vulnerable, a position echoed by many independent scientists.
Mr Sunak also defended his private schooling and personal wealth, saying that he had previously criticised Sir Keir for focusing on his attendance at Winchester College.
He said he told the Labour leader: “You’re not really attacking me, you’re attacking my parents … I think that’s wrong, I don’t think it’s British and it’s not the kind of country I will build.”