British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak from conservative party leaves 10 Downing Street to attend Prime Minister’s Questions at the Houses of Parliament in London, Britain, October 18, 2023.
Rishi Sunak conservative party under crisis
LONDON – October 20, The Conservatives led by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak suffered a severe blow on Friday when the Labour Party took two safe parliamentary seats. According to party leader Keir Starmer, these victories demonstrated that voters wanted change in the upcoming national election.
The twin defeat indicated a sharp decline in support for the ruling Conservatives, who have won the last four national ballots, and indicates that Labour will likely win the upcoming election and take power for the first time since 2010.
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Even though the ruling party frequently loses so-called by-elections, Sunak, who assumed leadership of the party nearly a year ago after it was rocked by scandals and disarray under previous leaders, is under pressure given the magnitude of the loss in two parliamentary seats the Conservatives had held for years.
The two votes, according to Starmer, demonstrated that “Labour is back in the service of working people and redrawing the political map.” Starmer has shifted his Labour Party closer to the centre.
“Winning in these Tory (Conservative) strongholds shows that people overwhelmingly want change and they’re ready to put their faith in our changed Labour Party to deliver it,” he stated in a press release.
Overcoming a majority of about 25,000 votes, Labour regained the seat of Mid-Bedfordshire, which is located about 50 miles (80 km) north of London. This is the worst deficit the party has overcome in a by-election since 1945.
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In Tamworth, a predominantly rural area in central England that was once a Conservative bastion, Labour also defeated a sizable majority, benefiting from the second-highest swing against the Conservatives since World War II.
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Many Conservatives had already accepted that they would lose the two votes and blamed the turbulent circumstances surrounding the former lawmakers’ resignations for giving Labour the advantage. However, a few stated that Sunak still had time to attempt to overturn the sizable lead Starmer’s party now holds in the opinion polls, but he would need to provide voters with a more audacious proposal.
In the last 12 by-elections held in this parliament, the Conservative party has only triumphed thrice, with half of the races stemming from the resignations of legislators due to wrongdoing.
The head of the Conservative campaign, Greg Hands, drew attention to the low voter participation and stated that the party needed to figure out how to encourage its core supporters to cast ballots.
“I didn’t see any enthusiasm for Labour,” he stated.
SUNAK’S STRUGGLE
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The 43-year-old Sunak, a former investment banker, has made an effort to present himself as a daring reformer rather than the cautious technocrat who helped salvage some of Britain’s reputation after his two predecessors were driven out of power due to scandals and upheaval.
However, Sunak is running out of time and possibilities to catch up to Labour, which has had a double-digit poll advantage over the Conservatives for more than a year. Voters are furious due to rising prices, economic stagnation, and lengthy wait times to utilise the state-run health service.
During this month’s party conference, Sunak attempted to present himself as a tough decision-maker who was committed to bringing the economy back to life while addressing public demands to slow down efforts to meet climate change targets and “stop the boats” in order to address illegal immigration.
Although Sunak’s domestic initiatives haven’t been able to influence the polls, he still hopes to position himself as a statesman in time for the next election. He is currently in the Middle East, urging nations to prevent Israel and Hamas’s crisis from getting worse.
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A Tory MP called for a “radical rethink” and suggested that in order to win over voters, the government could grant tax breaks to Sunak and his finance minister, Jeremy Hunt.
The high-profile resignations of lawmakers linked to former prime minister Boris Johnson precipitated the elections in Tamworth and Mid-Bedfordshire.
After being suspended from parliament for touching men at a London club, Chris Pincher resigned in Tamworth, and former minister Nadine Dorries resigned after controversy over her inability to get a position in the upper house of parliament.
With a majority of more than 1,100, Labour took Dorries’ seat, which the Conservatives had occupied since 1931. Sarah Edwards, the Labour candidate, won Tamworth with a majority of more over 1,300.
Senior Labour member Peter Kyle said that his party had caused a “political earthquake”.
