Last night, the Conservative Party suffered the largest-ever vote collapse of a governing party in a by-election – 37.8% in former MP Peter Bone’s constituency, Wellingborough. On top of that, the Tories lost Kingswood, seeing their vote share drop by more than 20%.
Cashing in on Tory chaos, Labour claimed both seats and Reform UK stole votes from the Right – 13% in Wellingborough and 10.4% in Kingswood.
The Conservatives’ twin by-election drubbings have led commentators and pollsters alike to question what next for the governing party as it stumbles towards the general election.
Tory pundit Tim Montgomerie said bluntly: “It’s over” for the Tories in office and that the party does not have a “divine right to exist forever”.
Meanwhile, polling guru Professor Sir John Curtice wrote for the BBC that Rishi Sunak’s only hope was getting his Rwanda policy off the ground.
Sir John wrote: “…Tory MPs will now be even more concerned that the determination of Reform’s leader, Richard Tice, that his party should contest all Tory-held seats could cost them dearly.
“To fend off this threat, MPs on the right of the party are likely to increase the pressure on Rishi Sunak to ensure that some asylum seekers are flown to Rwanda sooner rather than later.”
According to the latest YouGov/Times polling, the Conservatives are 20 points behind Labour, who are on 44% of the vote. Meanwhile, Reform UK sit third on 11% and the Lib Dems sit fourth on 9%.
But can Rishi Sunak turn the ship around and manage an election victory later this year? Vote below!
