Young Tories turn to Reform in big numbers on campuses

Last year's freshers' fair was a dismal time for Newcastle University's Conservative society, with just six new students showing any interest in joining at the start of the autumn term.

- Zainab Haji Richard Adams

But at this year's event dozens of students showed up with renewed enthusiasm - after the Tory students merged with the Reform UK students, shrugging off a rebuke from Conservative party headquarters to do so.

"Interest increased tenfold. I think we Conservatives were just becoming a bit irrelevant," said Henry Bateson, a former Tory student who switched to Reform UK and is now president of Newcastle's merged Conservative and Reform UK society.

Recent opinion polls suggest nearly half of Tory members would support a merger with Reform into a single party. While Conservative leaders have dismissed the idea, on campuses those on the right such as Bateson say their societies would struggle to survive on their own.

"If we chose one party then we would lose half of our numbers and probably struggle to survive," said Bateson. "I've now jumped on the Reform bandwagon. Kemi Badenoch is not cutting through at all."

The decision to merge provoked a phone call from the party hierarchy. But the combined Newcastle group continues to attract Conservative MPs to its "pint and policy" debates.