Central Devon MP Sir Mel Stride has responded to attacks levelled at him by defecting Conservative Robert Jenrick.

Jenrick, an outspoken critic of the Tory policy on immigration and welfare, was sacked by Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch after it emerged he was plotting to defect to Reform.

This he duly did and went on to publicly criticise the previous Conservative administration under Rishi Sunak, including Sir Mel’s approach as then Secretary of State for Work and Pensions.

Jenrick, a former minister, said: “The Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride has rightly attacked Labour for hiking taxes to fund more scrounging. But there is just one problem. He was the cabinet minister who oversaw the explosion of the welfare bill. And it was him who blocked the reforms that are needed."

Stride told the Okehampton Times: “Kemi dismissed Robert Jenrick after clear and irrefutable evidence showed he was secretly planning a defection to Reform, designed to inflict maximum damage on the Conservative Party.

"Kemi acted decisively. The public are rightly fed up with the plotting and psychodrama. Kemi will not stand for it – our party is changing.

“Reform is the party of higher welfare and fantasy economics; we are focused on responsibility, discipline and the issues that actually matter.”

Writing on the Conservative Home website after Jenrick’s defection, Stride criticised both Reform and Labour, saying: “Whatever the noise over the last couple of days the challenges we face as a country and the vital importance of a Conservative approach to meeting them has not changed a jot.”

He said Conservatives had a plan to build a stronger economy, stating: “Labour and Reform are different parties, but they have a similar destination - economic ruin.”

Sir Mel Stride has been MP of Central Devon continuously since 2010. He held on to his seat by just 61 votes at the last general election.