Tory collapse is now a national emergency

For months this newspaper has warned that the Tories are headed for an electoral reckoning, thanks to their appalling failure to deliver a meaningful Brexit. Every week, the reply has been the same from the leadership: no one cares, people just want Brexit to go away and when it does the Government can return to the tired old certainties of, say, bailing out the NHS or banning things. But it turns out that voters really do mind that Brexit has been dangerously compromised and delayed, and many core supporters do really resent the Prime Minister’s talks with Labour.

Over the past few days, especially since March 29, the penny has dropped. There has been a precipitous and catastrophic collapse in Tory support. The result: the last five polls show Labour ahead, with a far greater fall in Conservative support among Leavers than Remainers, and the pro-Brexit parties coming up fast. Sir John Curtice writes that if these figures were extrapolated across a general election, the Conservatives would be reduced to 260 seats. Labour has lost ground in the past year, too, but not as much and it can probably count on an unholy alliance with the SNP. This could result in the triple whammy of a Jeremy Corbyn government cancelling Brexit and threatening the Union.

This is a national emergency and there is only one imaginable escape. The paralysis in the Tory parliamentary party must end – Cabinet members and MPs need to remove Mrs May now and replace her fast. They should pay attention to the advice of Lord Spicer and Lord Hamilton of Epsom, two previous chairmen of the 1922 committee, who insist it is possible to change the rules to do so. Britain needs a new prime minister who is 100 per cent committed to Brexit. They need to recapture both the trust and the imagination of the British people by pushing through a radical programme of economic reform, including tax cuts and a sea change on issues such as crime, housing and HS2.

It’s this or certain disaster. Crucially, as Sir John says, their first task has to be to win back the pro-Brexit support that Mrs May has so needlessly squandered and without which no Conservative government is possible.