After the Conservatives lost 474 council seats during Thursday’s local elections, Rishi Sunak has accepted the Tories might lose the general election.
Rishi Sunak has for the first time admitted the Conservatives may not win the next general election but has suggested Labour will not gain a majority, leading to a hung Parliament.
His comments come after the Tories lost 474 council seats in Thursday’s local elections and failed to keep hold of the West Midlands mayoralty, which passed from Andy Street to Labour’s Richard Parker.
Interviewed in The Times, Mr. Sunak suggested Britain was on course for a hung Parliament, like in 2020 and suggested voters did not want to see Labour’s leader Sir Keir Starmer “propped up in Downing Street” by the SNP or other smaller parties.
The prime minister referred to analysis by Professor Michael Thrasher, published by Sky News, which predicted Labour would be the largest party after the general election later this year but would fall 32 seats short of a majority in Parliament.
Mr. Sunak said: “These results suggest we are heading for a hung Parliament with Labour as the largest party. Keir Starmer propped up in Downing Street by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and the Greens would be a disaster for Britain.”
Britain ‘Doesn’t Need More Horse Trading’
“The country doesn’t need more political horse trading, but action. We are the only party that has a plan to deliver on the priorities of the people,” added the prime minister.
In May 2010 when there was last a hung parliament the-then Labour prime minister, Gordon Brown, sought to hold on to power despite the Tories becoming the largest party.
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Eventually, he handed over power to Lord David Cameron after the Tories hammered out a coalition deal with the Liberal Democrats, which led to Sir Nick Clegg becoming deputy prime minister.
In return, the Tories agreed to one of the Liberal Democrats’ key demands, a referendum on proportional representation, which they lost.
At the 2015 election, Lord Cameron claimed Labour’s leader Ed Miliband would go into coalition with the SNP’s Nicola Sturgeon in the event of a hung parliament, and would offer major concessions to the Scottish nationalists.
In the event the Tories won a majority at the 2015 election.
On Monday Pat McFadden, Labour’s national campaign coordinator, rejected Mr. Sunak’s claims and said, “Our aim is to win a majority, to govern, to meet the mood for change, and we’re not planning any alliances or pacts with anyone.”
The former home secretary, Suella Braverman, has become one of Mr. Sunak’s harshest critics since she was sacked last year and on Sunday she urged him to change course.
She called on Mr. Sunak to pull Britain out of the European Court of Human Rights, reduce taxes and introduce a cap on legal migration.
Mr. Braverman said a change of leadership at this point was not “feasible” so close to an election and added, “There is no superman or superwoman out there who can do it.”
The defeated Conservative candidate Andy Street leaves the West Midlands mayoral election count in Birmingham, England on May 4, 2024. (PA Wire)Mr. Street, who lost the mayoral race in the West Midlands, urged Mr. Sunak not to take the Conservative Party further to the right and claimed his successes in 2017 and 2021 had been built on, “winning from that centre ground.”
Health Minister Maria Caulfield appeared on Sky News on Monday and backed Mr. Sunak’s prediction of a hung parliament.
She said: “It’s always difficult when you’ve been in government and voters can send a message to a party in government that they’re unhappy about certain things with the safe knowledge that they still have a Conservative government in control.
“It’s very different come a general election where they really do have to make a choice,” added Ms. Caulfield.
Mr. Thrasher predicted Labour’s share of the vote at this year’s election would only rise marginally, from 33 percent to 35 percent pointed out people vote very differently in general elections than in local elections or by-elections.
Tory Voters in Blackpool Switched to Reform, Not Labour
Ms. Caulfield said she agreed and said, “If you look at (the by-election in) Blackpool South, for example, the vast majority of our voters that voted for us in 2019 stayed at home, they didn’t switch to Labour. They didn’t switch to Reform. They stayed at home and that shows that they haven’t really been tempted by other parties.”
England local elections 2024 after all 107 councils declared. (PA Graphics)PA Media contributed to this report.
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