Rishi Sunak has been urged to urgently “change course” as fresh divisions within the Conservative Party have emerged following two disastrous by-election defeats for the Prime Minister.
Labour managed to overturn two significant Conservative majorities in Kingswood and Wellingborough, signalling a potential path to Downing Street for Keir Starmer. Despite these losses and the general election on the horizon, the Prime Minister has insisted that his plan is “working”.
In a joint statement this afternoon, Tory MPs Danny Kruger and Miriam Cates of the New Conservatives group criticized Sunak’s strategy and demanded a shift in approach. They called for a tougher stance on immigration, withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights, and tax cuts.
“There is still time – but our party must change course. We are calling on the government to adapt to the reality revealed by the by-elections. Our target voters are seeking a different and better offer,” they stated.
“In 2019, the British people voted for change, and they have yet to see it. While Brexit, Covid, and the Ukraine war have caused disruptions and distractions, we have not delivered on the promises made during the last election.”
The Labour Party managed to overturn a Conservative majority of 11,220 in Kingswood. It achieved a massive 28.5% swing from the Tories in Wellingborough – the second-largest swing since the Second World War.
Kruger and Cates emphasized, “The results in yesterday’s by-elections are clear: Labour is winning because many of the people who supported us in 2019 are either abstaining or voting for Reform.”
They continued, “Voters are not flocking to Labour. They seek a genuine alternative to the consensus politics of the past two decades, characterized by high taxes, low security, and managed decline.”
Rishi Sunak now faces a pincer movement in the upcoming general election, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats on the left and the Reform Party on the right. The Reform Party, which succeeded Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party, secured 10% of the vote in Kingswood and 13% in Wellingborough.
These by-election results mark the Conservatives’ loss of 11 seats during this parliamentary term, making it the highest number of losses by any government since the 1960s.
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