Conservative MP Philip Davies says it would be an “absolute miracle” if the Tories were to hold in either Wellingborough or Kingswood in the by-elections.
The despondent MP told GB News’s Tom Harwood “that ship has sailed” when asked whether the Tories could upset the odds and hold either seat.
“I think that ship has sailed some time ago to be perfectly honest”, he said.
Asked why he thinks that is the case, Davies said the Tories have been getting “hammered” in by-elections since the start of this Parliament and he does not expect the trend to be bucked.
Philip Davies spoke out on Tory woes
PARLIAMENT / GB NEWS
“People are protesting, the Government has to listen to these people”, he said.
“The issue of immigration is one we need to sort out. We’re on the right track on legal immigration.
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“We need to sort out illegal immigration too, we all know that.
“The next general election, if you are unhappy about the state of the economy the question is, who do you trust?
“Do you trust a Labour Party who would be taxing your way to growth?”
In Wellingborough and Kingswood the Government is defending majorities of more than 10,000, while Labour hopes to see its poll lead translate into votes.
Rishi Sunak insists his plan is workingPA
Philip Davies says the Tories will need a miracle
GB NEWS
Wellingborough is the constituency posing the biggest mountain to climb for Labour to pull off a swing with former Tory MP Peter Bone winning a majority of 18,540 in 2019.
Labour needs a much smaller swing to overturn the Conservative majority of 11,220 in Kingswood.
Reform UK could pose a headache for both parties with the party polling strongly.
Pollster Sir John Curtice said the Conservatives “badly need to show they can start to climb the electoral mountain” with the results of Thursday’s by-elections.
Suggesting that the Government seemed to have “almost given up the fight from the beginning” in both Wellingborough and Kingswood, Sir John said: “One has to say one would normally have expected a governing party, what are we now, maybe a little more than nine months away from the general election, to be fighting by-elections like this as hard as they could.
“Because frankly Mr Sunak needs some good news on the electoral front. The opinion polls are suggesting that still the Conservatives are making no more than minimal progress since Mr Sunak first became Prime Minister.”
He added: “The Conservatives badly need to show they can start to climb the electoral mountain that they face. If they were to lose both by-elections, then the truth is, I would suggest, that they are not.”