"A vote for anyone who isn’t the Conservative candidate, whether that’s Reform or anyone else, is just a vote to put Keir Starmer in power", the Prime Minister warned in the wake of last week's disastrous double by-election defeat.
Speaking about the fledgling party, Tory chairman Richard Holden added: "Their ambition is to block Conservatives winning seats and therefore put Keir Starmer into Downing Street.
“They’ve made it very clear … that’s what Reform UK want to do, they want to see Keir Starmer in Downing Street and not have a Conservative government.”
Rishi Sunak has been at pains to remind voters that by backing Reform, they're effectively supporting Starmer's bid for the keys to Downing Street.
Rishi Sunak has been at pains to remind voters that by backing Reform, they're effectively supporting Starmer's bid for the keys to Downing Street
PA
Speaking after last week's by-election, the increasingly desperate PM said: “That’s the actual choice at the general election, between me and him, between the Conservatives and Labour."
It sounds like the rhetoric of a nervous incumbent, pleading with voters not to turn their backs.
But Sunak might also be right.
Fresh analysis from left-leaning think tank Labour Together has suggested that the impact of Reform UK could be the difference between a large Labour majority and a hung parliament.
The think tank sets out three possible scenarios for this year's election outcome - from a landslide victory for Sir Keir Starmer, a working Labour majority and a hung Parliament.
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Josh Williams, the group's director of strategy, warned that just a "few small shifts in voters' views" could cause Starmer's majority to narrow.
He explained: "A collapse in the resurgent Reform party, just like Ukip and the Brexit Party before them, could change the picture entirely. There is no room for complacency."
The think tank's report suggests that a decline in Reform UK's support - either due to Rishi Sunak delivering on his small boats promise or the party stepping aside for the Tories - could lead to Labour falling short of a majority, resulting instead in a hung parliament.
While their best-case scenario sees Labour securing a 1997-style landslide victory, based on its current 20-point lead in opinion polls - this could fall drastically if Reform's support collapses.
Under the projection, Labour would pick up 312 seats - 14 short of a majority.
One thing's for sure - as the UK gears up to go to the polls, Labour shouldn't be opposed to the rise of Reform UK. In fact, they should be very worried if it sinks.
