Vodafone and Deliveroo look to patch up Reform ties after Yusuf prison threats

Vodafone and Deliveroo will dispatch senior representatives to the Reform UK conference this week despite the party publicly threatening to send their bosses to prison.

Telecoms giant Vodafone, operating under its UK banner Vodafonethree, will host a fringe event at the Reform’s annual jamboree even after home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf warned chief executive Margherita Della Valle she would be put in prison if the company did not sever its ties with a refugee charity.

In a letter to boss Della Valle last month, the Reform heavyweight accused the FTSE 100 group of “helping to facilitate the invasion of Britain” by donating over 2,000 sim cards to Care4calais. He warned that a Reform UK government would hold Vodafone directors “criminally liable” for issuing the pay-as-you-go cards once elected and review all the company’s public sector contracts.

Yusuf launched the unusual broadside despite Vodafonethree already having agreed to become one of the most prominent partners at the party’s conference this week, two people familiar with the matter said.

Along with social cohesion think tank Moreincommon, the firm is putting on an event at Reform’s inaugural business day, where panellists will discuss unlocking investment in Britain’s digital infrastructure. London mayoral candidate Laila Cunningham and head of local government Ben Bradley will speak at the panel alongside Vodafone’s head of government affairs and the chief executive of Mobile UK.

Companies find themselves in Reform sights

Vodafone is one of several blue-chip firms aiming to patch up relations with Reform after receiving a public rebuke from Yusuf as part of his immigration crackdown. In June, the party threatened to strip outsourcing giant Serco of all its government contracts after the company said it would not take part in an Ice-style deportation campaign.

And two months later it also announced plans for what it called a ‘Deliveroo Law’, aimed at companies who turn a blind eye to illegal migrants working within their businesses.

Under the push, which formed part of a wider crackdown on illegal working, executives and directors at companies found to employ asylum seekers and illegal migrants would face up to five years in prison.

“In our major cities, it’s common knowledge that illegal migrants housed and fed in hotels and HMOs, at immense expense to the British taxpayer, are moonlighting for gig-economy platforms,” Yusuf said at the policy’s launch, adding that “corporations turn a blind eye while harvesting huge financial returns.”

To smooth over tensions, Deliveroo is sending several public policy execs to Reform’s new-look conference in Birmingham, where the party is seeking to attract more mainstream firms, a person close to the company said.

The party has signed up a record number of corporate partners and sold “unprecedented numbers” of business tickets, a spokesman said. Boutique investment bank Cavendish has sponsored a room for fringe events, while Cadent Gas and engineer Amentum are hosting panel sessions similar to Vodafonethree’s.

A Reform spokesman said: “Over the last year, we have been building connections and having conversations with business and industry about how we can deliver critical infrastructure, boost investment, bring down energy costs and grow the economy.”

Deliveroo and Vodafonethree declined to comment. Serco did not respond to multiple requests for comment.