Tories Heading For Wipeout At General Election, New Poll Reveals

Eleven cabinet ministers are among those on course to lose their seats.
Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure to turn round his party's fortunes.
Rishi Sunak is under increasing pressure to turn round his party's fortunes.
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The Conservatives are heading for a 1997-style wipeout at the general election, according to a major new poll.

The YouGov survey of 14,000 people across the UK shows Labour is set to secure a 120-seat majority.

It says the Tories would be left with just 169 MPs - 196 fewer than were elected in 2019.

That would be an even worse performance than when John Major lost 178 seats in 1997, when Tony Blair secured a majority of 179.

Labour would end up with 385 MPs - nearly 200 more than in 2019 - with the Lib Dems on 48 and the SNP falling to 25.

Chancellor Jeremy Hunt is one of 11 cabinet ministers who would lose their seats if the poll is correct.

The findings pile even more pressure on Rishi Sunak ahead of a crucial week in which MPs will vote on his flagship Rwanda bill.

Right-wing Tories says the legislation currently does not go far enough because it does not allow the government to ignore European court rulings.

Reacting to the poll, former cabinet minister Simon Clarke said: “This would represent a disaster for the Conservatives and our country.

“The time for half measures is over. We either deliver on small boats or we will be destroyed.”

But defence secretary Grant Shapps today insisted the Tories can turn it around.

He told Times Radio: “We have a plan which we’re working to. There isn’t an election tomorrow. People know that.

“But when they are faced with the choice, they’ll be looking at whether to elect Keir Starmer and Labour and we’d be right back to square one again.

“The long and the short of it is we’re not in an election. People aren’t being asked in the context of an actual election and as is often said, the actual poll on polling day is the only one that really matters.”

Sunak announced earlier this month that the election will probably be in “the second half” of this year.

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