The Home Secretary took a dig at Reform UK’s new leader Nigel Farage during a visit to Kent on the campaign trail.

James Cleverly accused the former UKIP politician of taking on yet another political party as the “marketing arm for his media appearances”, while also suggesting a vote for any party other than the Tories was a vote for “hard-left” Labour.

Mr Cleverly was speaking during a visit to Strood on a general election campaign stop.

He joined Tory candidates for the three Medway constituencies, Kelly Tolhurst, Rehman Chishti, and Nathan Gamester, at the head office of R Swain and Sons in Strood.

He spoke with employees about the Conservative’s plans to invest in apprenticeships and ensure education equipped young people with the skills needed for the world of work.

During the visit, he claimed a Labour government would only mean increased taxes, crime, and immigration and would reverse the improvements he said the Tories had made over the past 14 years.

He said: “What we’ve seen over the last 14 years is the Prime Minister help people keep roofs over their heads with the furlough scheme, inflation that was driven by Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine going from over 11% to just over 2%, there are more police officers now in Kent than there ever was under a Labour government.

“All those things will be put at risk by a Labour government and vote not for one of our excellent Conservative candidates in the Medway towns, whether it be the Lib Dems or Greens or Reform or an independent candidate, will increase the chance of a Labour government, which will increase taxes, increase crime, increase immigration.

”I do not believe for one minute that is what the people of Kent want to change to.

He also took aim at Nigel Farage’s announcement he would be standing for Reform UK, saying it was just the latest instance of self-promotion for the controversial poltician.

Mr Cleverly added: “The simple fact is that this is now the third political party Nigel Farage has used as the marketing arm for his media appearances, and you would have thought at this point the members of those parties would have realised what he’s doing.

“But the fact is, this is not about him, this is about the British people here in Kent and in my county of Essex and across the UK who need a sound economy.

“They need a government committed to defending them through more police officers, through our commitment to defence expenditure, growing the economy, cutting their taxes.

“This is what we are putting forward to the British people - bold choices for a better future - and the only alternative is a Labour government under a hard-left leadership which will put all of that at risk and take us right back to square one.”

Mr Cleverly was joined by the Tories’ three Medway candidates who are each predicted to lose their seats by the latest YouGov and Electoral Calculus polling.

However they said the only poll they trusted was on July 4.

Sir Keir Starmer launched the Labour party’s general election campaign from the neighbouring constituency Gillingham and Rainham last month, saying the country needed change from chaos and division under the Tories.

The Home Secretary also hinted the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, may soon be visiting the Medway Towns as the campaign rolls on.

The full candidate lists are:

For Rochester and Strood: Kelly Tolhurst (Con), Lauren Edwards (Lab), Graham Colley (Lib Dem), Cat Jamieson (Greens), Daniel Dabin (Reform), and John Innes (Workers Party).

For Chatham and Aylesford: Nathan Gamester (Con), Tristan Osborne (Lab), Nicholas Chan (Lib Dem), Kim Winterbottom (Greens), Thomas Mallon (Reform), and Steve Tanner (Social Democratic Party).

For Gillingham and Rainham: Rehman Chishti (Con), Naushabah Khan (Lab), Stuart Bourne (Lib Dem), Kate Belmonte (Greens), Rizvi Rawoof (Reform), Peter Wheeler (Social Democratic Party), and Laid Ghellab (Workers Party).