Shadow minister worried about Liberal Democrat pacts after local elections

Shadow business secretary Andrew Griffith has said he is worried about potential Liberal Democrat pacts resulting after the local elections.

He was asked on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips on Sky News if the Conservatives have no in principle objection to councils being run by Conservative-Reform UK coalitions, if that is what seems necessary locally and the numbers stack up.

He told the programme: “Following elections individual local councilors decide, in the light of the election results, how they comport themselves.

“So if you want a Conservative-led council vote Conservative in these local elections, but I’m as worried, for example, about Liberal Democrat pacts.

“Liberal Democrats have all sorts of extreme foreign policies.

“They typically promote veganism when they take control of the council, they’ve supported four-day weeks which have damaged the interests of local residents.”

On whether Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch would bar a Reform UK-Conservative tie-up after the election so they could rule a council, he said that “history is always that these decisions are taken by the elected local councillors in the light of those election results.”