Kemi Badenoch has said she would rather have another general election than do a deal with Reform UK to secure power, if no party wins the next election.

The Conservative Party leader told the BBC that Nigel Farage’s Reform are “neck deep in scandal” and joining forces with them would “just be one problem after another”.

Polling suggests there would be a hung parliament at the next election, with Labour currently expected to be the largest party followed by Reform and the Tories.

As the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham nears its end, Badenoch has also pledged to cut the cost of hiring 21 to 24-year-olds by halving the rate of employer national insurance (NI) contributions.

Badenoch has been trying to position the Conservatives as a party that is different to the one that suffered an historic defeat in the 2024 general election.

She told BBC Political Editor Chris Mason “we are going back to the authentic Conservative Party, that people knew and loved” after she published a 100-page document, called The Right Way, setting out the party’s principles, external.

Badenoch added “politics is volatile”, as she tried to talk up the party’s chances despite the polls suggesting only one-in-five voters would back them.

She said: “We’re in a different political world, and it is within that context that we know that we can win. I’m not saying that we would win.

“The current polling shows a hung parliament, no party getting an overall majority.

“My prediction is that there would be another election immediately after. But we’re the only credible alternative to Labour, the only ones with a plan.”

A scenario was put to Badenoch in which the Conservatives would be the largest party and Reform have a significant presence in a hung parliament after the next election.

Asked if she would work with Reform in government, Badenoch replied: “If you want Conservative, you have to vote Conservative. I have said we’d have another election if there was no overall majority.”

Badenoch added she wants Reform voters to “come back” to the Conservatives, saying people in Farage’s party are “neck deep in scandal, it’d just be one problem after another”.

She pointed to the arrest of Dan Thomas, who quit last month as Reform’s leader in Wales after he was arrested on suspicion of assault and controlling or coercive behaviour. Thomas said he had “done nothing wrong”.

Badenoch also highlighted the case of Nathan Gill, the former leader of Reform in Wales who was sentenced to 10-and-a-half years in prison after admitting taking bribes for pro-Russia interviews and speeches.

Farage has faced intense scrutiny over financial support he has received, including a £5m gift he received from a billionaire Reform donor before he became an MP. He has insisted he has done nothing wrong.

Badenoch added: “I want to get this economy growing, I want to make the country richer, I want to stop the boats, we’ve got a plan on borders, we’ve got a plan on welfare, we’ve got a plan on defence and bringing energy costs down.

“That’s what we’re about.”

Privately, senior Conservatives talk of what they see as the importance of a potential ‘tipping point’ in support for the Conservatives and support for Reform UK.

Tories hope that if they can draw level and then establish a small lead over Reform in opinion polls, they can begin to make the case that they are the only viable alternative to Labour winning the next general election, potentially then attracting more support.

Badenoch has long said she wouldn’t do a deal with Reform before the election, as it was a party trying to destroy the Conservatives.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said last month he was not tempted to call an early general election, arguing it would throw “the country into a backward-looking process”. The next one must be held by August 2029.

Farage has previously said Reform have “replaced the old fuddy-duddy existing Conservative Party”.

Elsewhere in her BBC interview, Badenoch said she was making changes to a policy for young people and was now proposing cutting the rate of employer National Insurance (NI) on earnings from 15% to 7.5% for those aged 21 to 24.

The Tories announced last year that young people would see the first £5,000 of NI they would have paid in their first job redirected into a nominated savings account of their choice.

The party said the policy, dubbed the “First Job Bonus”, would have cost £2.8bn a year.

On Tuesday, Badenoch said youth unemployed has “skyrocketed” and “you can’t give people a first jobs bonus if they’re not getting a first job”.

She added: “We’re adapting and updating our policy so that it works for the problems they have today.”

The Conservatives said the new policy is targeted at starter jobs and the standard rate would apply to earnings above £50,270.

They added it “smooths the cliff edge” which exists as employer NI goes from 0% to the full rate when a worker turns 21.

The government has faced calls to reduce employer NI contributions for younger workers to help boost job opportunities. Around one million young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training.

Asked why the Conservatives were not proposing to cut NI for everyone, Badenoch said: “We have to find the money first.

“So we have a golden economic rule. We are being fiscally credible. We find savings and then we spend it.

“If I could afford to cut it for everybody, I promise you that I would. But young people have a much worse problem than everybody else.”

A Labour Party spokesperson said the NI announcement was “more fantasy economics from the Tories”, adding the party had “allowed nearly one million of the next generation to be locked out of work or training”.

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