The Conservatives will never merge with Reform UK as the party would take the country "into a very dark place", Shadow Chancellor Sir Mel Stride has said.
Sir Mel also refused to rule out resigning from the Tories if its leader agreed to merge with Nigel Farage's party.
The Shadow Chancellor also launched a personal attack on Mr Farage saying that he could not build a team to run the country and his party was a "one man band".
Speaking to GB News' Chopper's Political Podcast, Sir Mel said he could not imagine any king of merger between the Conservatives and the Reform UK party.
Sir Mel Stride said Reform's problem is that it is not a 'party of government' and a 'one man band'
|GB NEWS
He said: "No. Why would I support a merger with a party that is fiscally irresponsible and would do things with our economy that would take this country into a very dark place."
Asked if he would quit the Tories were the Conservatives to merge with Reform, he said: "I'm not getting into any hypothetical questions because it depends on what exactly the circumstances were and so on.
"But as to merging or whatever with Reform, absolutely not."
Sir Mel said Reform's problem is that it is not a "party of government" and a "one man band".
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Sir Stride launched into a personal attack against Nigel Farage too
|PA
He said: "It is all about Nigel, and I think Nigel Farage sets the agenda, makes the decisions, you know, is the one that the public knows about and relates to and so on.
"There's not been much evidence that he’s been very good at building a team if you look at the way that they've fallen out, as the MPs in Parliament."
Farage declined to comment when approached by GB News.
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