CONSERVATIVES now need get behind Rishi Sunak and fight for a win at the General Election, Transport Secretary Mark Harper has said.
He told Camilla Tominey on GB News: “I think all Conservatives now need to get behind the Prime Minister, as the Chairman said…
“We see from the analysis that experts have done that the results show that the position is closer than the polls are suggesting.
“So, everything is to fight for at the next election and we're absolutely up for that fight.”
He added: “In London, I think Susan [Hall] should be very pleased with the campaign she ran. It was much closer than both the polls suggested and lots of commentators thought.
“She was focusing on the issues that mattered on the doorstep, on transport, on focusing on crime, which is a really important issue in London.
“But obviously with the national polling situation as it was, it was a very difficult race but she was chosen by London Conservatives and I think she ran a very good campaign.
“I worked very closely with her on a number of issues, and she was focused on the issues that mattered but with the national situation, the polling as it was, it was difficult but it was a much tighter result than many people thought at the beginning of the campaign, so all credit to her.”
On immigration, he said: “You’ve going to look at it over a reasonable period. Over a year., we've reduced it by a third at a time when across the European Union the number was actually going up. Now I accept, completely accept there is more to do.
“We fought really hard to get the Rwanda legislation on the statute book, opposed at every step of the way by the Labour Party.
“That legislation is on the statute, but we've got to get the flights off and have a steady rhythm of them through the rest of the year to act as a deterrent to stop people coming in.
“The public will judge us on whether that's successful and so there is more work to do.”
