Tory MP quits warning that party has ‘lost its way’

A FORMER minister has announced he will quit as an MP at the next election, saying that the Tory party has “lost its way” and must win back younger voters.

Paul Scully said the Chancellor must use tomorrow’s Budget to try to reunite the divided party with “a vision beyond crisis management”.

He warned that the Conservatives were heading down “an ideological cul-de-sac” by focusing solely on a core vote that would “eventually shrink to nothing”.

In a withering assessment of his party’s record, the MP for Sutton and Cheam warned that many voters were coming to the conclusion that the Government were “b---ends”.

Mr Scully announced he was stepping down days after he was forced to apologise for claiming there were “nogo areas” in London and Birmingham.

He admitted to a “poor choice of words” but said the furore showed “people will take the easy option to report division [rather] than to understand”.

The former minister for London said he had already told people he had decided to step down before the row but that the backlash “confirmed I’d made the right choice”.

He is the 59th Tory MP to announce they will quit at the next election, with Conservative strategists fearing a “stench of death” around the party.

Mr Scully said the party must “talk more about housing” and offer bolder reform for renters “because home ownership has drifted too far from so many”. His remarks will be seen as veiled criticism of the Government over repeated delays to the Renters Reform Bill and the banning of no-fault evictions.

He said the Tories must “show a real connection and empathy with other generations otherwise we risk pushing ourselves into an ideological cul-de-sac”.