Young Conservatives on a Deal with Reform UK at Party Conference

The BBC has asked young Conservatives whether the party should do a deal with Reform UK.

The video is titled 'Young Tories on if their party should do a deal with Reform UK'. The BBC said it was published on 6 October and linked to coverage of the Conservative Party's annual conference, the party's yearly meeting, in Birmingham BBC.

The BBC said the item is hosted at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/videos/c670p4n98d4no for a UK audience and at https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/c670p4n98d4no for international users. Both pages carry the same title. The BBC presented it as a conference video, not as a news report with a named reporter.

On the same day, the Telegraph published an article on the Young Tories at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/10/06/young-tories-once-a-liability-now-they-are-centre-stage/. The Telegraph said membership of the Young Conservatives is for people under 25. The Telegraph said membership was up by 50 per cent Telegraph.

A day earlier, on 5 October, the Guardian published an article on the mood at conference. The Guardian said Tories were united behind Badenoch but MPs wanted a focus on the economy rather than culture wars, arguments over social issues, to win back voters. The piece set out the choice as economic credibility or cultural positioning.

UnHerd published an article on 18 September titled 'A Tory-Reform pact is further away than ever'. UnHerd said a YouGov poll put Labour at 23%, Reform UK at 23% and the Conservatives at 20% UnHerd.

The pact question has appeared in several conference videos. The Telegraph published a Daily T on the road video on 5 October titled 'Who wants a pact with Reform?!'. The BBC also hosts a video titled 'How would Tories vote if the Conservative Party didn't exist?' published on 5 October, and a video titled 'Are these young Tories tempted to join Reform UK?' first published on 6 October 2025.

The broader context here is familiar at Westminster. Vox pops, short interviews to camera, do not set election strategy. They give whips, candidates and journalists a sense of activist mood. Conference is where that mood is heard in public.

Looking at what this means for the pact argument, the youth group has a practical role. Under-25 members knock on doors, stand for council seats and apply to stand for Parliament. A 50 per cent rise in that group, as reported, changes who is in the hall. It does not on its own settle whether the party should work with, compete with or absorb Reform UK.

In my view, the pattern of the questions is the point of interest. A year-old question about leaving for Reform has become a conference-week question about a deal, while MPs are reported to want an economy-first message. For party managers, that points to three talks at once: how to handle Reform UK, what message will win back voters, and how to keep new young members.