'Worst thing the Tories could do now is try to ape the Reform Party'

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen says voters are rightly appalled by Sir Keir Starmer's first year in power, so now is the time for Tories to offer a clear right-wing alternative to Labour and Nigel Farage

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And he warns the “worst thing the Conservative can do would be to try to ape the Reform Party”.

Instead, he urges Kemi Badenoch’s party to put forward a “solid right-wing offering” on issues such as immigration and the future of benefits.

In his three mayoral elections, he says, he has been careful not to “overpromise”. “You don’t have to promise the Earth,” he explains. “You should under-promise and over-deliver, but make sure when you say you are going to do something you deliver it.”

The issue of immigration, he argues, has become a “lightning rod for all of the disaffection this country has about how the system isn’t working for them” - and he favours radical action.

“We need to leave the ECHR,” he insists. “We need to be able to deport people who come here illegally and we need to be able to do it very, very quickly.”

He adds: “The one thing I am most confident about saying is migration will continue to be the biggest issue in this country for some time to come.”