Former Tory MP Marco Longhi defects to Reform

A former Conservative MP has defected to Reform UK.

During the Reform UK East Midlands Conference in Leicester, party leader Nigel Farage introduced Marco Longhi to the stage as "a loyal member of the Conservative Party for the last goodness knows how many years".

Longhi, MP for Dudley North between 2019 and 2024, told Reform UK supporters: "I am a patriot and I finally feel at home."

The former Tory listed a series of reasons for his move including that the Conservative Party had changed.

He also said the country was suffering from "totally unchecked immigration", a housing crisis, the highest levels of tax and spend and what he described as "a lawless society".

Longhi lost to Labour's Sonia Kumar in last year's general election.

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