Rishi Sunak has conceded the Conservatives may not win the next general election, as Tory rebels warned him to change his political course after defeats in the local polls.
The prime minister is braced for a continued fallout after the weekend’s local election results, which saw his party unexpectedly lose the West Midlands mayoral race to Labour.
Mr Sunak suggested the UK was on course for a hung Parliament but claimed voters would not want to see Sir Keir Starmer “propped up in Downing Street” by the SNP or smaller parties, speaking to The Times.
Sunak pointed to Sky News analysis of the local election results which suggested Labour would be the largest party in a hung Parliament, though voters in national polls tend to to behave differently, with fewer of them opting for smaller parties.
“These results suggest we are heading for a hung Parliament with Labour as the largest party,” Mr Sunak told The Times.
“Keir Starmer propped up in Downing Street by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and the Greens would be a disaster for Britain.
“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.”
One minister claimed that Tory voters who had stayed at home for last week’s elections would back the current government at the general election.
Health minister Maria Caulfield repeated Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s assertion that the UK is on course for a hung Parliament, but pointed out that people don’t vote the same way in local and nationwide elections.
“If you look at 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,” she told Sky News.
Former home secretary Suella Braverman meanwhile urged the prime minister to change course rightwards to win back voters.
But she said a change of leadership was not a “feasible prospect”, adding: “There is no superman or superwoman out there who can do it.”