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Nigel Farage has said he is open-minded about working together with Restore Britain and has reached out privately to Rupert Lowe to discuss a possible agreement to unite the political right.
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, the Reform UK leader said he would be willing to “negotiate” with Lowe if the Restore Britain leader if he “genuinely wants to have talks”.
However, Farage stressed that he would not be “ditching” his Reform allies.
On Sunday, Lowe offered to work with Farage to bring about a “patriotic government” at the next general election, but subject to several conditions.
The Great Yarmouth MP said any deal would be conditional on Reform agreeing to five policies, including mass deportations, a ban on the burka, a referendum on the death penalty, and no former Conservative ministers being given a role in a Reform-Restore Cabinet.
Reform MPs Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman are former Conservative ministers, and the party’s senior ranks include former Tory office holders like Nadhim Zahawi and Jake Berry.
Speaking this morning, Farage questioned the sincerity of Lowe’s offer.
“If it was the offer of a deal, it came in a very unusual way. I have responded to it, potentially, with an open mind, as I would, but I’m certainly not going to be ditching people who I view as allies and a great asset,” Farage said.
“We will find out whether he genuinely wants to have talks. If he does, then we’ll start to negotiate.”
He added: “If anything like this were to happen, it would not happen overnight. It would go through a whole series of stages. Whatever’s been said in the past, I’m prepared to put that in the past and have a conversation.
“But I’m not going to commit myself to anything like that right now, and he seems to have given us a shopping list, some of which I have no desire to meet.
“Interestingly, on policy terms, most of the things he talks about are things that I’ve championed for over a quarter of a century. We’ll see.”
Shortly after the press conference, Lowe accused Farage of lying over the offer of a call.
The Restore Britain leader posted on X: “Yesterday’s offer was not one I wanted to make, trust me. I don’t particularly enjoy trying to work with people who attempted to put me in prison on false allegations. My house was raided by armed police because of them. I was willing, and still am, to put that aside to cooperate in order to save the country we all love.”
He went on to say: “The offer remains open to Nigel and Reform. Although outright lying about our private conversations does not help that.”
On Sunday, Farage posted on X that he recognised he needed the support of people from other parties to defeat the left at the next election, but said he would “never turn my back on my team”.
Lowe was elected as a Reform MP at the 2024 general election but left the party 18 months ago after a public falling out with Farage and set up his own party, Restore Britain.
Farage said today it was a “myth” that he personally fell out with Lowe, saying “everyone fell out with Rupert Lowe”.
In more recent months, Restore Britain, seen as further to the right than Reform on issues like immigration, has shown signs of being an electoral headache for Farage by taking votes from Reform.
Lowe’s party came fourth at last week’s Greater Manchester mayoral contest, ahead of the Conservatives.
At the same time, Reform’s ratings and those of Farage have dipped in recent days, with Labour benefiting from an Andy Burnham bounce and Farage continuing to face questions over his financial arrangements.
