Watch as GB News’s Camilla Tominey pulls up Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride on his suggestion that Reform UK is Britain’s “none of the above” party.
Nigel Farage’s party may be riding high in the polls, but Mr Stride told the People’s Channel that converting this momentum into votes at the ballot box will be a formidable challenge.
Mel Stride said Reform UK is a ‘none of the above’ party
|
GB NEWS / PA
He said much of Reform UK’s success can be attributed to how they are “occupying a vacuum”, adding they are a “none of the above party”, a claim Camilla questioned fervently during a lively discussion on.
“We have four years until the next general election and Nigel Farage has got to keep spinning the plates and letting off the fireworks and all of the things he does so brilliantly for the next four years”, he asserted.
“There is a lot to play for.”
Camilla said: “They’re not the none of the above party, are they? Spectator’s poll of polls. Reform on 31 per cent, Labour on 21 per cent and Tories on 17 per cent.
“You can’t possibly tell me people are voting for Reform because they are ‘none of the above’, they are voting for them because they like Nigel Farage more than Kemi Badenoch.”
Mr Stride hit back: “I disagree, you have a populist party here willing to promise people everything without a serious plan on how to deliver, particularly on the economy.
“Where they are doing well is where the Tories were deeply unpopular at the time of the last general election and that will take time to put things right.
“We also have a Labour Party that is really messing everything up. In that environment, Populism thrives and that is what we are seeing.”
Camilla said the problem with Mr Stride’s argument is that populism is “quite popular”, something that cannot be said for the previous Tory Government’s “sky-high taxes and corporation tax going up by six per cent”.
Mr Stride insisted that were he Chancellor, he would be focused on ensuring all taxes create growth.
He committed to taking a look at the size of the state to “make sure we get on top of it”, pointing to the ever-expanding Civil Service.
