Tory MPs reeling from last night’s double by-election defeat have urged Chancellor Jeremy Hunt to save them by delivering on his pledge to revive the nation’s flagging economy.
Labour was celebrating after picking up wins in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire, with pollster Professor Sir John Curtice telling the BBC the results were “extremely bad news” for the Conservatives and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, currently visiting the Middle East after Hamas’s terror attack on Israel.
With a general election scheduled for next year and Sir Keir Starmer’s party achieving swings of more than 20 percent in both constituencies, Mr Sunak is facing an uphill struggle if he wants to keep his job.
Bookmakers Betfair responded to the result by slashing the odds of a Labour victory to 4/11 from 2/5.
Voters in Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire are not “enamoured” of Labour, just fed-up with the Tories, a Conservative backbencher said.
Seeking to explain the reasons for the heavy losses, the senior Tory told Express.co.uk: “They are frustrated that, having voted Conservative in vast numbers in 2019, they see un-Conservative policies being pursued.
“The tax burden is massively too high. It’s having a detrimental impact on growth and hitting public morale.”
He added: “They are not enamoured of Starmer and Labour. They are just unhappy with us.
“We need to get back to our Conservative values and show that we understand their unhappiness.
“I think the answer lies with Jeremy Hunt.”
Prominent Brexiteer Sir John Redwood, the Tory MP for Wokingham, tweeted that thousands of people who voted Tory in 2019 had “stayed at home”.
He added: “The Labour vote was similar to 2019. Many people want the government to stop the boats, improve the quality and efficiency of services and cut taxes to get some growth.”
He continued: “Low by-election turnouts can produce big swings.
“They show people want something better than all the main parties are offering.”
Sir John also pointed out: “UK ten year interest rates are higher than at the time of the Truss budget.
“The Bank keeps selling bonds at big losses to help drive these interest rates up. They could stop the selling to limit the squeeze.”
Andrea Jenkyns, Tory MP for Morley and Outwood and deputy chairwoman of the European Research Group (ERG) said: “Voter apathy is evident yet again in both the by-elections, low turnout – 20,000 failed to turnout in Tamworth, 24,000 failed to turnout in Mid Beds since the last election.
“We need to make far-reaching major changes now to instil confidence in the Conservative voters.”
Speaking during his visit to the International Monetary Fund last week, Mr Hunt struck a gloomy note.
He said: “The fiscal position has worsened since the spring and I will have to take difficult decisions in the autumn statement.
“The main reason things are more challenging is because interest rate projections for all economies have gone up.
“The UK is not immune to those changes.
“We are likely to see an increase in debt interest payments of £20bn-30bn and that’s a huge challenge.”
