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Nigel Farage has rubbished rumours of an electoral pact between Reform UK and the Conservatives ahead of the next general election.
“I would never do a deal with a party I don't trust. No deals, just a reverse takeover,” he said.
“A deal with them as they are would cost us votes."
The Reform UK leader suggested that, after the local elections in May 2026, the Conservatives will “no longer be a national party”.
In turn, the Conservatives were similarly definitive.
A Tory spokesman said: "Reform want higher welfare spending and to cosy up to Putin. Only the Conservatives have the team, the plan, and the backbone to deliver."
It follows claims that Mr Farage had privately told donors that an alliance with the Conservatives was “inevitable”.
“They will have to come together. The Conservatives have been a successful political party forever because the left was always divided … If the right is divided, it can't win,” a Reform UK donor told the Financial Times.
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Robert Jenrick launches scathing attack on David Lammy over jury trials and mistaken prison releases
Health Secretary ‘genuinely worried’ about consequences of Christmas doctors' strikes
Health Secretary Wes Streeting had admitted he is ‘genuinely worried’ about the consequences of planned doctors' strikes in the lead up to Christmas.
His comments come as it was announced that resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors, will stage a five-day walkout from December 17 to 22.
Speaking about the potential impact on patients, Mr Streeting said he did not want "to sound catastrophic about it", but admitted he was "genuinely worried" about the situation.
The Health Secretary said the timing of the strikes was a "different order of magnitude of risk".
The planned industrial action is over a long-running pay dispute, with resident doctors demanding a further pay rise despite receiving nearly 30 per cent extra last year.
Wes Streeting calls Putin’s ‘ready for war’ bluff as ‘same old sabre rattling’
Wes Streeting called Russian President Vladimir Putin’s comments that Moscow is “ready” for war with Europe as the “same old sabre rattling”.
Yesterday, President Putin said if Europe “wants to wage a war with us and starts it, we are ready right away” as he rejected changes proposed by Ukraine and Europe to a US-backed draft peace plan as unacceptable.
“I think we should see this for what it is, which is the same old sabre rattling we’ve heard from President Putin,” the Health Secretary said.
“And the irony of President Putin talking about warmongering on the part of European leaders would be laughable if what he’s doing in Ukraine weren’t so serious," he told Sky News.
However, Mr Streeting stressed that the Government “take the threat from Russia seriously”.
Wes Streeting slams ‘wildly out of kilter’ union over online GP access
Health Secretary Wes Streeting slammed the British Medical Association (BMA) as “wildly out of kilter” with GPs over online GP access.
“Their position has been wildly out of kilter with their members in general practice,” he told Times Radio.
“We agreed with the BMA in the GP contract negotiations that we would require all GP practices in England to provide online access, online booking for appointments, bringing the NHS into the 21st century, to give patients more ease and convenience, choice and control.
“You would think that from the howls of outrage we’ve heard from the BMA in recent weeks and from their GP committee, you would think that GPs don’t want to do this, that this is really difficult, that it’s not happening.
“And yet, when this kicked in, we have seen the overwhelming majority, now 98.7 per cent of GP practices in England, able to provide online access.”
“This could have been an opportunity for real celebration and to say: ‘look at what GPs are doing, look at the modernisation, look at how they’re improving access for patients, look at the fact that patient satisfaction with GP access has increased from 60% when Labour came to office to 75 per cent today’.
“So, this could have been a really great opportunity for Government and BMA and the profession to speak with one voice, but instead what we’ve seen from the GP committee is reflective of where we’ve been with the BMA overall, which is a lot of noise, a lot of outrage, and not speaking for their members, let alone speaking for patients’ interests," he told Times Radio.
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