Ex-leader admits voters ‘fed up’ with Tories

Sir Iain Duncan Smith says cost of living adding to ‘anger’ as poll puts party at winning under 100 seats

THE public feels a “real anger” towards the Government, Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said as a poll showed the Conservatives are on track to win fewer than 100 seats at the election.

Sir Iain, a former Tory leader, said voters had good reasons to be “angry, annoyed and fed up” with his party over legal and illegal immigration and a record post-war tax burden.

His comments came after a Survation poll of 15,029 people suggested the Tories will win 98 seats to Labour’s 468, giving Sir Keir Starmer’s party a majority of 286 seats and raising fresh questions about the future of Rishi Sunak’s leadership.

Asked about its findings by Times Radio, Sir Iain said: “This is mostly concern and anger about cost of living, the problems post-covid, the money we had to spend for higher levels of taxation, and the economy, which had been in difficulty.

“Migration has [also] become a very big issue. All good reasons why the public is angry, annoyed and fed up. This is all about a real anger with the Government. I can fully understand that. There are things the Government has got to get straight.

“Bring inflation down, interest rates down, taxation down. Get [Rwanda] flights off the ground. Getting pressure off people’s backs financially is absolutely critical. We have a few months to make sure people are better off.”

Sir Iain warned the “general view” of the public was that his party “have no strength”, adding: “The most important thing is to deliver.”

In the poll, Labour led by 19 percentage points – up three from the end of last year – with the Opposition commanding 45 per cent of support and the Tories 26 per cent.

Cabinet ministers projected to lose their seats include James Cleverly, the Home Secretary, Grant Shapps, the Defence Secretary and Penny Mordaunt, the Commons Leader.

The poll also found the Tory seat haul would increase by more than 50 per cent if Reform UK, Richard Tice’s insurgent Right-wing party, stood aside.

The Conservatives would win 150 seats if Reform did not stand candidates across the UK, although Mr Tice has insisted that, unlike the Brexit Party in 2019, he will contest every seat.

The Survation poll, which was commissioned by the campaign group Best for Britain, used a multilevel regression and post-stratification (MRP) method, which successfully forecasted the 2017 and 2019 UK elections.

MRP gives an indication of the actual election result by predicting which seats will go to which party. An MRP poll by Yougov for The Telegraph in January predicted the Tories will win 169 seats, while Labour will take 385.

The poll fuelled speculation in Westminster about Mr Sunak’s future amid a polling deficit of around 20 percentage points and members of the Tory Right holding talks about bringing the Prime Minister down.

A Right-wing Tory MP told The Telegraph: “Downing Street keeps assuring us that there is a plan ... Colleagues deserve to be able to see the plan to turn this around, and evaluate whether the current administration really is up to fixing the mess.”

Another Tory MP said: “We 100 per cent need a new leader. The country’s lost without it, literally.

“I think anybody but Rishi would poll at least 50 to 100 seats more. We need somebody who’s able to speak to the country and set out an actual conservative vision for the future.”

Mr Sunak has referred to an election in the second half of the year as his “working assumption”. He remains upbeat about his party’s prospects and has declared he will win the election.