Conservatives prepare to defend Nottinghamshire ‘red wall’ seats as Reform UK eyes them

Tory party chair Richard Holden MP spoke to local members in Mansfield on March 15 ahead of this year’s East Midlands mayoral and general elections.

Meanwhile, Reform UK chair Richard Tice toured Ashfield on a bus, joined by the party’s first MP, Lee Anderson.

Mr Anderson joined Reform UK after being suspended from the Conservative party after saying Islamists ‘had control’ of London mayor Sadiq Khan.

All parties are paying close attention to which way Ashfield, Mansfield and other ‘red wall’ seats, which were traditionally Labour until 2019, will swing in the general election, due to be held later this year.

Mr Holden said: “I wish Lee had apologised for his comments but that’s up to him.

“We’ve got a fighting chance to retake Ashfield.

"Each candidate likes to think it’s about them personally, but really it’s about the local party’s ideas.

“Ashfield could well be a four-way race (between the Tories, Reform UK, Labour and the Ashfield Independents).

"Any vote against a Conservative makes it more likely of returning a Labour MP.”

However, Mr Tice predicted more red wall MPs would defect to his party before the election.

Speaking in Selston, he said: “I would be surprised if we get to the autumn and more MPs haven’t recognised Reform stands for what people want to vote for.

“Nottinghamshire is a key part of our target area and I believe after the election, we will be the main alternative party in the county.”

Mr Anderson added that it would be ‘up to MPs to wrestle with their own conscience’ about which party they stood for.

The Conservatives currently trail Labour in the polls by a significant margin, with some forecasts predicting the party could lose many of its Nottinghamshire seats.

But Mr Holden was upbeat about overturning the deficit before the election, which needs to be called by December at the latest, and the party’s chances in the upcoming East Midlands mayoral election on May 2.

He said: “I’ve spoken to members of the Australian Liberal party who were 16 points behind six months before an election and they came within a whisker of winning – nothing is written.

“I think we can take East Midlands.

"It will be a tough fight, but Conservative candidate Ben Bradley can do it.”

Reform UK responded to calls from Nottinghamshire councils across the political spectrum for more Government funding.

Mr Tice said: “The money is there, but we’ve got to spend it properly.

"There’s far too much waste, with billions being spent dealing with the small boats that are arriving.

“The potholes around Ashfield are a symbol of broken Britain.”

Mr Anderson said councils were welcome to raise their taxes, but it ‘shouldn’t be the place of the Government to redistribute taxpayers’ money’.

Ashfield Council leader Coun Jason Zadrozny (Ash Ind) and Rhea Keehn (Lab) also plan to stand for the Ashfield constituency at the general election.

Coun Bradley, Claire Ward (Lab), Coun Matt Relf (Ind), Alan Graves (Reform) and Frank Adlington-Stringer (Green) are standing in the East Midlands mayoral election.