Rishi Sunak addresses Conservative members and supporters after winning by-elections in Uxbridge and South Ruislip. the state of the post-Brexit economy if it wants to avoid further losses in a by-election, said a former cabinet minister.
Liam Fox, who served in the cabinet as international trade and defense secretary, said the Conservatives needed to get the “true facts” out about the economy in order to rise in the polls.
The Tories recently suffered a landslide defeat in the by-elections in Selby and Ainsty in North Yorkshire, and in Somerton and Frome in Somerset, both areas where majorities voted to leave the EU in the 2016 referendum.
The result in Selby was seen as particularly significant as Labor experienced its biggest departure from the Tories in a by-election since 1994 .
Dr. Fox says that in every area of the economy, the Brexit warnings have failed to materialize. Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/AFP
While Selby is not part of the Red Wall of the traditional Labor voting districts that Tories won in 2019, Selby is adjacent to those seats that are expected to again prove to be a decisive battlefield in the next election.
Dr Fox said that in order to recover from defeat, the Tories should have begun to tell a more positive story about Britain after Brexit.
He said: “In the run-up to the Brexit referendum, the British people have received a flurry of dire warnings about the economic consequences of the vote to leave – the economy will plunge into recession, unemployment will rise, investment will collapse and British exports to Europe will face a bleak future.
“Voters, especially in the Red Wall area in the Labor heartland of northern England, chose to ignore these intimidation tactics and put Britain's freedom to make its own laws and determine its own destiny first.
<" p>“Since then, the remnants of the left of the capital have been lenient on them, trying to imply that Brexit was a disaster and that they were stupid, ignoring their mostly London warnings.”
“Poisoning our discourse”
Dr. Fox said that in every area of the economy the warnings had not materialized. “There is legitimate criticism of the government for its failure to communicate the true facts about the post-referendum economy at a time when the relentless negativity of the hardliners continues to poison our political discourse,” he said.
“This needs to change if our position in the polls is to recover and we need to avoid repeating recent losses on resorts.”
former Conservative leader Sir Ian Duncan Smith said the party's ability to hold on to Uxbridge and South Ruislip is due to being a staunch he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said he said. “clearly conservative” choice. “One that reduces the burden on families and businesses. Someone who speaks openly about the true cost of this pursuit of Net Zero. One that recognizes the need to achieve this without an ideology that places a huge burden on taxpayers.”
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