1 week Ago By Katie Harris
Nigel Farage insisted that local election deals between Reform UK and the Tories are "not happening". The Reform UK leader was reacting to reports that the two right-wing parties could strike agreements to prop each other up in order to take power in town halls across England after the ballots on May 1. Speaking at a British Steel plant in Scunthorpe today, Mr Farage said: "No, not happening.
" He added: "This place is closing because of their policies. It's the Conservatives that have closed down the steel industry and Labour are picking up the pieces. "And after the elections if we have X number of councillors and other parties have Y number of councillors then you'd do deals with anybody if you thought it was in the interests of the area.
"You might even find the Liberal Democrats might have a common view on a piece of local development or whatever it would be. But any talks of pacts, absolutely not happening." There have been calls from some to "unite the right" before the next general election in order to oust Labour from No 10.
The latest YouGov poll put Labour on 24%, Reform on 23% and the Tories on 22%. But Mr Farage and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch have both publicly dismissed any prospect of a formal pact. Mrs Badenoch yesterday acknowledged that the local elections are going to be "so challenging" as she campaigned in Salisbury.
She added: "We have to also look at the context of what happened four years ago, the last time we fought these seats, when we were polling at a high, winning seats that had never been Conservative before, like Hartlepool. "We had two-thirds of the votes during the vaccine bounce. So we know that this is a challenging set of elections.
" Mr Farage also warned against the closure of British Steel's two blast furnaces as he called for the company to be nationalised. There are fears of thousands of job losses after Chinese owner Jingye launched a consultation on the move. The Clacton MP said the Government has only three days to act so orders can be placed for the iron ore pellets and coking coal which keep the furnaces running.
He said: "There has to be an immediate nationalisation of this plant, an immediate nationalisation of primary steel production in Britain. "It has to happen before the end of this week. The orders for these primary commodities have to go in.
" Mr Farage added: "It would be madness for Britain not to be a producer of primary steel." Jingye has reportedly rejected a £500 million Government offer to help its transition to a greener form of steel production with a new electric arc furnace. Sir Keir Starmer said all options remain on the table for the future of British Steel's Scunthorpe plant.
The Prime Minister told MPs at the Liaison Committee. "Therefore we will keep talking. "We have made an offer, but all options are on the table in relation to Scunthorpe.
"I think it's really important and we're in the middle of those discussions.".
