The danger with that (from a Reform perspective) is that the public could start to see the merged party as some sort of reverse takeover/rebrand by the Tories. Just about the only thing they have going for them at the moment is that they don't (yet) have a miserable record in government that they can be held to account for.
They may well get in next time. And it will likely take the electorate a couple of weeks to realise they've been had. But it will be too late by then.
I suspect as much as anything Reforms biggest risk is Reform, the way they are losing Councillors left right and centre for various reasons hardly cries stable plus they now have several tears to run local authorities which will be considerably harder than they think it will be and at a local level once things deteriorate that's when the electorate turn.
Add into the equation the splitting and infighting which has affected them already, Lowe's BNP+ spin off, the fact that Musk thinks Farage is a prick now and the changes in the Twitter algorithm giving them less promotion whilst Musk cosy's up with Tommy Two Names.
Honestly along with winning the election last year being a poison chalice for Labour as it meant they would be lumbered with, and then blamed for, the medicine that is needed to treat 14 years of asset stripping and social decline, I wonder whether winning Councils may have come too soon before the next election and end up damaging Reform when they inevitably make a shit show of it.
