Exclusive:Senior Yorkshire Tory says pact with Reform is vital otherwise 'Labour will keep winning'

Mr Fletcher described Ms Jones’ victory as “hollow”, saying that around two-thirds of the vote went to right-wing parties.

The former Don Valley MP questioned his party leader Kemi Badenoch’s decision to rule out any sort of pact with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick backed Ms Badenoch yesterday, saying: “Kemi has been clear, no pacts, no coalitions.

“I have been clear. I want to put Reform out of business, I want to send Farage back to retirement.”

However, Mr Fletcher told The Yorkshire Post: “It’s easy to say these things before elections [ruling out a pact] but when you have elections and you see the result - something needs to be done.

“I said back in July that Doncaster was turning blue, it’s just we’ve got two different shades.

“I knew it was going to be hard if the right’s vote was going to split, you just can’t win - it’s as simple as that.”

Speaking about Ms Badenoch’s reluctance for a pact with Reform, he added: “Maybe we will look in a year's time and see what needs to be done.

“That’s her call, the party put her in and that’s her decision to make.

“I know one thing for certain, if we continually keep going down the road of us against Reform then Labour will keep on winning.”

Despite this, Mr Fletcher ruled out joining Mr Farage, as his former colleague, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, did to become the first mayor of Greater Lincolnshire.

“I’ve got no intention of joining Reform. We’ve got some excellent councillors round here.

“My thoughts were that if I did win, we’ve got 120 MPs down in Westminster fighting my corner against this abysmal government, compared with just four.”

Ms Jenkyns was one of a number of former Conservatives to defect to Reform UK and win.

In the Runcorn and Helmsby by-election, former Tory Sarah Pochin took the seat, which Labour won with a majority of almost 14,700 less than a year ago, by just six votes.