RICHARD Tice says there is no difference between Labour and the Tories.
The leader of Reform UK hit out at the two main political parties during an interview on GB News.
Speaking to Tory MP’s Philip Davies and Esther McVey, he said: “The reality is we’ve got two forms of socialism. We’ve got the blue collar socialism, high tax, wasteful government spending, and we’ve got the red socialism of the Labour Party. There’s no difference between the two. We’re putting forward bold solutions, low tax, high growth, to cut government spending, and having zero waiting lists and cheap energy.
Commenting on using the pandemic as an excuse for the current problems we face, he added: “You know, the state of the NHS was happening before lockdowns. The state of our energy prices is because of a decade of failure to use our energy treasure under our feet. We’re the only party that is now approving the use of shale gas, of using coal. We shouldn’t be importing this stuff from around the world when we’ve got it ourselves.”
Mr Tice’s comments come as a GB News poll revealed the public are skeptical of both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer’s abilities.
The People Polling survey found more than half of British adults have “no confidence at all” that the Prime Minister can solve the crisis in the Channel.
Asked about how confident they are that the government can solve the small boats crisis, only 4% of people say they are ‘completely’ or ‘fairly’ confident. And 57% of the public said they were not confident at all.
Among Conservative voters, 52% say they are not confident at all, whereas the number is 72% among Labour voters. Only 3% of Conservative voters are completely confident the government can solve the small boats crisis.
However, in what could be seen as a boost to Mr Sunak, the poll also found the public were still far from convinced Keir Starmer is the man to lead the country.
When asked about whether people have a favourable or unfavourable view of Keir Starmer, 30% of the public have a favourable view and 39% have an unfavourable view. There is a substantial regional divide in the views on Starmer too, with a +18 net rating in London compared to a -10 net rating in the North.
Among Leavers, the net rating is -41 and among Remainers it is +20. Since the previous favourability poll from October 12, Starmer’s net rating has only decreased marginally from -8 to -9.
In terms of voting intentions, the Tories remain at a historic low of 22%. When asked how they would vote 46% opted for Labour ( down 1 percent on last week), the Conservative Party was at 22% (+3), the Liberal Democrats on 7% (-1). The Greens are on 7% (-2) and Reform is on 8% (no change). This represents a 3-point increase in support for the Conservatives, lowering the gap between Labour and the Conservatives to 24 points, but the party remains well behind.
