THE Conservative Party is in a state of “permanent decline” according to Richard Tice.
Speaking to GB News, the leader of Reform UK also warned the future looked “very gloomy” unless urgent change took place.
He said: “The Tory party is in, I believe, permanent decline. And the MPs are jumping ship and abandoning it. We’ve experienced thousands of Conservative Party members and activists coming over and joining Reform. We’ve had over 6000 since Liz Truss left office, and over 900 since Jeremy Hunt set out his disastrous and appalling mini budget last Thursday. People have realised that they’re no longer a Conservative Party. They are a party of con socialists. We’ve now got two main parties, you’ve got the red socialists, and you’ve got the con socialists. It’s about high tax, high spending, low growth, less money to invest in our unreformed public services.
“The prospects for the country, unless we have serious change, serious reform, are really, really serious and very gloomy indeed. And that’s why we’re campaigning hard. You’ve got to be cutting taxes hard, you’ve got to cut unnecessary wasteful government spending. And you’ve got to have a sensible energy policy, plus you’ve got to talk about growth.”
Mr Tice also said immigration remained high on the agenda of most voters.
“The thing is that immigration, both lawful and illegal, is, we believe, the number one issue that people are really concerned about,” he said.
“And in that sense, it’s the ultimate betrayal of Brexit, isn’t it? Because Brexit was supposed to take back control of our borders so that we could have reduced lawful immigration and zero illegal immigration. We’re the only party now that stands for that.”
Mr Tice’s comments come days after Nigel Farage wanted the Conservative party will be “destroyed” at the next election if it pursues a so-called Swiss-style Brexit.
The former Ukip leader said “Remainers” were back in control of the Conservative Party and that “Brexit has been betrayed already to a certain extent”.
Mr Farage was responding to reports over the weekend that some in government want to bring the UK closer into the EU’s orbit and build a relationship resembling the one Switzerland has.
Asked about the story on GB News, Mr Farage said: “We’re replaying what happened in 2019. We’re going through the same process again, because that’s what Mrs May’s Chequers deal was all about. It was Brino, it was Brexit in name only.
“If you haven’t got the courage to free things up and look to a bigger world, deregulate, and you might just as well stay with the club.”
