Tories ‘could be finished’, warns group

THE CONSERVATIVE Party will “be finished for at least a generation” if it does not broaden its appeal, a group of Tories has warned.

In a stark assessment, Tory MP Neil O’Brien and former policy adviser Will Tanner said few young people or black and minority-ethnic voters backed the party.

Launching a new think-tank called Onward, Mr O’Brien, who grew up in Huddersfield, said the Conservative party would “forfeit its political relevance” if it failed to act.

And Environment Secretary Michael Gove, who is backing the new group, said: “The Conservative Party is at its best when it appeals beyond its core vote and puts forward a reforming, forward-looking agenda that responds to the concerns of the entire nation.

“At last year’s general election, we proved that our values and policies resonate in places once thought impenetrable Labour strongholds, but we need to go further to convince more people that we understand the need for change.”

Onward director Mr Tanner, former deputy head of the No 10 Policy Unit, said: “The Conservative Party will not win from its ideological fringes.

“It can only regain a serious majority by putting forward a positive agenda in the mainstream of public opinion and appealing to as broad a range of people as possible.”

He added: “We need to be the party of both traditional workingclass voters who are disillusioned with Corbyn’s Labour and the party of younger, metropolitan voters.”