Kemi Badenoch rules out deal with Nigel Farage after Makerfield by-election

Kemi Badenoch has ruled out a deal with Nigel Farage's Reform UK after the results of Thursday's by-elections.

The Tory leader shot down calls to "unite the Right" from the likes of Sir Edward Leigh after the Conservatives won the constituency of Aberdeen South and Reform UK's Robert Kenyon failed to beat Andy Burnham in the Makerfield by-election.

Describing the suggestion as "terrible advice", she claimed Douglas Lumsden's victory in Aberdeen South would be "diminished" if the Tories made an agreement to not run in Makerfield, in exchange for Mr Farage's party agreeing not to stand in Scotland.

Writing in the Mail on Sunday, she said: "People would have sneered that we won only because Reform stepped aside.

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"A win 'helped' by Reform would have been no real win at all."

Mrs Badenoch also said the two parties were not the same, adding that voters were "not ours to trade like football cards".

She also said Reform UK "dress like Thatcherites but act like Corbynites", claiming the party was in favour of "a bigger state, more spending, nationalisation, gimmicks and unfunded giveaways".

Mr Burnham's victory in the Makerfield seat has put him on course to enter No10, with speculation that Sir Keir Starmer could resign as soon as Monday.

The former Greater Manchester Mayor won 55 per cent of the vote, Reform UK won 35 per cent, Restore Britain secured 7 per cent, and the Conservatives garnered 2 per cent.

But in Scotland, the Conservatives' victory proved the party still had strength.

After Mr Lumsden's victory, Mrs Badenoch said: "The Makerfield by-election was about one man's job.

"The Aberdeen South by-election was about thousands of jobs all over the country but especially in the oil and gas sector."

POLITICS POST MAKERFIELD - READ MORE:

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• Election expert projects huge Labour landslide if Makerfield results were emulated nationally

And Scottish Conservative leader Russell Findlay said the result was a "sensational victory" and a referendum on North Sea oil and gas.

It had previously been suggested Mr Burnham would appoint Energy Secretary Ed Miliband as Chancellor if he entered Downing Street, but the Aberdeen South victory has thrown that into doubt.

On Saturday, General Secretary of Unite Sharon Graham urged the new Makerfield MP not to appoint the former Labour leader to the role.

This is not the first time Mrs Badenoch has declared she would not work with Reform UK.

Just last week she said at a Spectator magazine hosted event that Reform UK had "quite a lot of Left-wing ideas".

"They want more benefits, they want more nationalisation, they want the big state – they just want to be in charge of it. So the answer is a no," she added.

A Reform spokesman said Mrs Badenoch's comments about their politics were "quite ironic – as it's exactly how the Tories governed in office. She was one of the main culprits who dressed like a Thatcherite and acted like a Corbynite".

The spokesman added: "We won't need to ever deal with the Tories. They broke Britain and we won't give them a chance to do it again. We have now led the national opinion polls for well over a year.

"Kemi has taken the Tories backwards, from 25 per cent to 18 per cent."

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