Feverishly counting down the days to the Local Elections, Reform UK’s grassroots have set their sights on a turquoise tidal wave that could finish off the Tories – once and for all.
Even Kemi Badenoch has openly admitted that “nowhere is safe” for her party next Thursday as the Tories stubbornly edge towards a make-or-break electoral hurdle.
The Tory leader made the humiliating admission while campaigning in the Home Counties, in what was once the beating heart of the Conservative Party.
While Reform UK continues to gear up for next Thursday, Kent is emerging as a major litmus test in Badenoch’s battle to cling onto Toryland.
Reform UK’s grassroots have set their sights on a turquoise tidal wave that could finish off the Tories
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Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch speaking at their local election campaign launch at The Curzon Centre in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire
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Former Mid Kent & Faversham candidate Max Harrison said: “The Labour vote is collapsing. Their heartlands are gone. All we are waiting for is the collapse of the Tory Party.
“All candidates across the country are saying the same things as myself. You know, we think we’ve got a really good chance of having a turquoise tidal wave here in Britain.
“Next year, we will be the largest party in Wales. There’s absolutely no doubt in my mind about it at all.”
However, some of Reform’s rivals looked to downplay the populist party’s chances on May 1.
Conservative Councillor David Beaney told the People’s Channel: “I’m just not seeing the move that polls are saying.”
Meanwhile, leader of Kent’s Liberal Democrat group Antony Hook seemed pleasantly surprised with his party’s own progress in the region.
‘Reform is going to absolutely wipe the floor here next week. There’s no doubt about it,’ one Reform candidate enthusiastically told GB News
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“We’re quite happy with the way things are going. We’re not being complacent. We’re going to keep going right until polling day next week,” he said.
Hook added that his party was expecting to conquer a “number of seats” and expand their local group around strongholds across Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells.
Like Beaney, the Lib Dem trashed the polling and claimed that the figures were overestimating Reform’s popularity at the polls next week.
As is expected for a coastal county campaign, migration is top billing for voters.
Harrison said: “I’m standing in Sheppey, a little island coastal community.
“We’re not having the boats arrive onto our shores but people can sense it. They can feel it. Hundreds and hundreds of these men break into our country daily.
“Today, immigration, and particularly illegal immigration, is the number one key issue.”
Reform candidates campaigning
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A map of Nowcast’s current forecast
NOWCAST
Despite Farage’s fall-out with ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe appearing to halt some of the populist party’s momentum, the Clacton MP can still call on the support of his loyal followers – many of whom form key regiments in the Brexit supremo’s “People’s Army”.
“Of course, he will be the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom,” Harrison said. “There’s no doubt about it.”
He added: “He’s the only man who can win us the General Election and save our country.
“Because it doesn’t matter if you’re left, centre or right – we can all see this country is on its knees in terms of its culture, community, economy.
“He is the only man in politics who can save it and make it great again.”
And Reform insiders are expecting swathes of true blue Toryland to be treated to a turquoise takeover next Thursday.
Others prepping for a Reform revolution include Derbyshire, Doncaster, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Nottinghamshire, and Staffordshire.
Traditionally a treasured heartland for the Tories, it seems fitting that Tory defector Andrea Jenkyns is predicted to win big in the Greater Lincolnshire mayoral contest, armed with a 15-point lead ahead of her Conservative challenger.
Nigel Farage outside No10
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YouGov’s polling gurus revealed that Reform has held a five point lead over the historic party in an embarrassing blow to Badenoch’s team.
Reform is currently poised to smash through the Garden of England, which is currently overseen by the likes of top Tories Tom Tugendhat, Laura Trott, Katie Lam and Helen Whately – with Claire Coutinho next door in Surrey.
When asked whether Reform could go the distance beyond this year’s round of Local Elections, founder and CEO of Electoral Calculus Martin Baxter told GB News: “British politics is in a very unusual state of flux at the moment, with three parties (Labour, Conservatives and Reform) all about as (un)popular as each other.
“That is probably not a stable state and one or two of those parties will fall behind the others. But it’s impossible to say definitely which it will be.
“The pollster theorised that Reform could “peak” and then slide back into being the third largest party.
However, he added that “it could also be that the Conservatives begin to dwindle leaving Labour and Reform as the big two parties”.
“The truth is that nobody knows exactly what will happen and we will all have to wait and see,” he concluded.
But with Reform on the precipice of a major breakthrough, Farage will finally receive the long-awaited verdict on his capability to deliver.
From fixing potholes to sorting bin collections, Reform will need to prove its plan to “fix broken Britain” is more than bluster.
Doing so could provide Farage with the track record he needs to switch bums on seats in county halls for the keys to No10.
