Jim Allister could give a financial boost to Nigel Farage's Reform UK - but will he?

The pair were sat together in their first appearances in the House of Commons on Tuesday.

However, the TUV are remaining tight-lipped about whether their leader will formally join Nigel Farage’s five MPs on the green benches.

The North Antrim MP could also ensure that Reform receives much more public money than the DUP, who have fallen below the six MPs needed to avoid a cap on available funding.

It all hinges on Westminster’s funding model for political parties – known as Short Money.

Parties with five or fewer MPs have their funding capped – which means that Reform’s five MPs wouldn’t be enough to benefit from a financial boost based on the size of their vote.

However, if Jim Allister takes his seat as a Reform UK MP – the party would benefit from £44.53 for every 200 votes gained by the party.

Mr Farage’s party won around four million votes at the general election, making the cap it faces with just five MPs particularly relevant to it.

The News Letter has asked the TUV whether or not Mr Allister will take the Reform whip, but the party has not responded.

TUV and Reform UK have an electoral arrangement whereby they have agreed to operate a common whip on issues such as the Irish Sea border, taxation and immigration.

During the election campaign, Nigel Farage gave a “personal” endorsement to the DUP candidates Sammy Wilson and Ian Paisley – who Mr Allister defeated.

The TUV leader said that the only endorsement he sought was that of the voters, which he received in a historic victory in a seat held by the Paisley dynasty for 54 years.

Jim Allister and Nigel Farage share political outlooks on many issues – particularly on Brexit and immigration – but there are also starkly different views on certain issues.

During the election campaign the TUV leader made clear he does not agree with Mr Farage on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – saying that the pact does not extend to issues such as Foreign Policy.

Asked if he agreed with the Reform leader that NATO “poked the bear, provoked Russia into its invasion of Ukraine”- Mr Allister said: “No I do not.

“My agreement with Reform is on a limited number of issues. It does not include foreign affairs. And certainly if that is Nigel’s view – it is not my view.

“I think that the aggressor is Putin. I think he deliberately and consciously decided to supress and subjugate a free people in Ukraine. And that the free world should be standing with those people who he is trying to supress”.

Mr Farage told GB News in 2022 “Yes we know the Russian can be paranoid, but why poke the Russian bear with a stick? If Vladimir Putin's one demand is that we state clearly that Ukraine is not going to join Nato, why don't we do it?”.

During the general election campaign he was attacked by all the main UK party leaders for saying “It was obvious to me that the ever-eastward expansion of Nato and the European Union was giving this man a reason … to say: ‘They’re coming for us again,’ and to go to war.”

He added: “We provoked this war. Of course it’s his fault, he’s used what we’ve done as an excuse.”

Nigel Farage and his Reform UK MPs arrived at Parliament for his first day in the Commons on Tuesday morning.The group of five men, include party chairman Richard Tice and former Tory MP Lee Anderson.The other new arrivals were Rupert Lowe, former chairman of Southampton FC and now MP for Great Yarmouth, and James McMurdock, a 38-year-old former banker who unexpectedly edged the contest in South Basildon and East Thurrock by 98 votes.The men paused for photographs by Parliament’s St Stephen’s Entrance, but made no statement to the press. Responding to a shout of “Have fun” from a photographer, Mr Tice replied: “We will.”The group then entered Parliament, a member of Commons staff placing a green-and-white MP’s lanyard around Mr Farage’s neck.