Conservative poll ratings continued to slide despite budget cuts earlier this month. Photo: SIMON DAWSON/NO 10 DOWNING STREET
The public has “stopped listening” to the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak should call a snap election to shift the focus to Labour, a Cabinet minister has said.
A senior minister admitted that voters were “tired of the Tory glare” and said he feared the public was no longer paying attention to positive government announcements such as tax cuts.
Another minister suggested Rishi Sunak's pledge would remain in place. Last year, an attempt to “stop boats carrying migrants across the English Channel” damaged the party's public image because it was “clearly impossible to do at any meaningful time.”
The comments come as the Conservatives' ratings continued to slide despite a tax-cut budget passed earlier this month that Downing Street had hoped would begin to turn around the party's fortunes.
Mr Sunak's aides are wary that he could face a leadership challenge after council elections on May 2, in which the party is expected to suffer heavy losses.
The Conservatives received 24 percent of the vote last week, compared with 44 percent of respondents, according to a Telegraph-Savanta poll. declaring that they intend to vote Labour. Support for Reform UK, led by Richard Tice, now stands at 11 percent.
James Frain, founder of research agency Public First, said there was “little at all” the Conservatives could do to change public opinion of the party ahead of the election given the level of dissatisfaction among voters. Now ministers have begun to admit this in private.
The Cabinet Office said: “The public have stopped listening. I think the public are a little tired of politics in general, and certainly tired of being peered into the Conservative navel.
“The best prospect for the party now is that Starmer and his policies come under scrutiny.< /p>
“Local elections will not bring the Labor Party any serious attention. The only way to achieve this is through a general election and this is your chance to put forward your manifesto.”
The minister added: “I don't see much benefit in waiting. Summer can be filled with nasty headlines and lots of boats crossing the English Channel. I suspect that this will benefit the reforms.”
Political ploy
A senior Conservative Party MP has warned that one concern ahead of autumn elections is that even if Mr Sunak's Rwandan legislation succeeds in resuming deportation flights to the country, legal appeals by migrants could leave the planes half empty.“If the planes don't take off at full capacity, the public will just think it's a trick, and it will be a trick,” the MP said.
The Second Minister was more positive, saying the tax cuts were just “not felt yet”, but agreed that the best hope for the Conservatives now is to strengthen their control over Labor in the election campaign.
The minister said: “This is a mechanism for transforming things – close attention and contrast [between the parties]. Labor is not looked after properly – people think they will come anyway and it doesn't matter.”
The minister added: “I think the only strategic [mistake] was allowing such virtue.” stopping the boats when it was clearly impossible to do so for any significant period of time.”
Senior Tories believe Red Wall voters in particular have become disillusioned, partly because of the gap between the Conservatives' bold promises and their delivery on limiting migration. The second minister said they preferred to wait until the autumn to call an election, saying: “I think we need to wait and something will emerge.”
In an interview with The Telegraph, Claire Coutinho, The Net Zero Secretary and a close ally of Mr Sunak urged the prime minister to “keep going forward”.
She said: “We are fighting to win. And I think that's very important because what the Labor Party represents is a mixture of bad ideas that will set the country back. He inherited a difficult position. And he brought his usual intelligence and courage to the role to make sure, in my district for example, that we could be smart about our approach to net zero and protecting households.”
A Government source said: “It has been a tough time for the country following the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, but this year we are turning the corner with inflation falling, taxes being cut by £900 for the average worker and the economy forecast to contract.” grow.
“So the plan is working – it's making a difference in people's lives – and we must continue to show voters the choice they have at the next election between our plan to grow the economy, create new opportunities and build a brighter future and Labor who have no plan and will take us back to square one.”
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