How 10m ‘don’t knows’ hold key to the elections
THE outcome of the next election is still in the balance with more than 10million voters undecided, the Conservatives’ election chief has claimed.
In a talk to Tory MPs, Isaac Levido said that despite Labour’s commanding poll lead there was still evidence of ‘a lot of volatility’ among the electorate, with millions unenthused by either main party.
He suggested Labour’s advantage would be squeezed as the party and its policies come under greater scrutiny in the coming months. But Mr Levido
‘We are in control of our own destiny’
warned that the Tories can only capitalise if they recover their discipline and put on a united front.
Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak used the event, held at the Londoner Hotel on Thursday night, to tell MPs ‘we are in control of our own destiny’. Urging MPs to stop infighting, the Prime Minister said: ‘The biggest thing holding us back right now is us attacking ourselves.
‘Our own divisions over how best to implement the Rwanda scheme have obscured the fact that Keir Starmer is totally opposed to it and, if he ever took power, would – in his own words – scrap a scheme that was working and deterring people from attempting to cross the Channel and enter our country illegally.’
Mr Sunak warned his party was in danger of throwing away the chance of victory to a Labour Party that has failed to fire the public imagination. He also mocked shadow cabinet members, saying: ‘Do we want David Cameron helping us to navigate this increasingly dangerous word or David, Mastermind, Lammy?
‘Do we want it to be Kemi [Badenoch] determining who can enter female- only spaces or Anneliese Dodds, who isn’t even sure what a woman is?’
Mr Levido warned that the party faces a major battle to energise voters who have abandoned them since their 2019 landslide, which he also helped mastermind.
A Tory source said: ‘We are still in the game because there are a lot of “Don’t Knows” out there. We have to show them we are on their side and try and motivate them to go out and vote. We are not just fighting the Labour Party, we are also fighting the sofa.’
Insiders believe the next flashpoint in the fight against Tory plotters will be the double byelection in the previously safe seats of Wellingborough and Kingswood, on February 15. The party is expected to lose both.
One critic pointed out that yesterday marked 800 days since the Conservatives were last ahead of Labour in the polls.
Some surveys now give Sir Keir a lead of more than 20 points. ‘There is no point calling for unity when you are leading us over a cliff,’ the source said.