Rishi Sunak on Friday accused Labour of taking election victory for granted as he urged voters to demand a clear plan for government from Sir Keir Starmer.
The Prime Minister’s message, launching the Conservatives’ campaign for local elections on May 2, appeared to acknowledge that the Tories face a mountain to climb in a later general election given Labour’s huge poll lead.
Mr Sunak told supporters in Derbyshire that the Labour leader was “arrogantly taking the British people for granted” and “assuming that he can just stroll into Number 10 without saying what he would do”.
Voters should instead “send a message to Keir Starmer”, the PM said as he talked up the achievements of Conservative mayors such as Ben Houchen and Andy Street and attacked the financial record of Labour-run councils.
“They tax you more and deliver less,” he said, noting the effective bankruptcies declared after Labour rule in Birmingham and Nottingham.
Eight councils, run by both Labour and the Conservatives, have declared effective bankruptcy since 2018. Others including in London warn they could be next as they contend with soaring bills for social care and sharp cuts in the funding they get from central government.
Mr Sunak also attacked Sadiq Khan’s record in London, although a new Savanta poll for the Standard suggested the Labour Mayor is beating Tory candidate Susan Hall by 24 points ahead of the elections in six weeks.
The PM alleged that Mr Khan was “more interested in virtue signalling than delivering”, that he was “failing on crime, failing on housing”, and wanted to “tax motorists off the road”.
A spokesperson for the Mayor responded: “This election is a close two-horse race between Sadiq and the hard-right Conservative candidate who couldn’t be more out of touch with London’s values.”
One of Ms Hall’s signature promises is to roll back the Mayor’s expansion to Ulez. A new law that would scrap the widened zone is set to be debated in the Commons, in a move slammed by Mr Khan’s camp as a pre-election stunt.
Nationally, last year’s local elections saw the Conservatives lose more than 1,000 councillors, and the party is braced for another difficult night on May 2.
The day before Mr Sunak launched the local election campaign, the Tories saw their candidate for Mayor of Greater Manchester, Dan Barker, defect to Reform UK, following in the steps of Lee Anderson MP.
A Tory source said the party had to be “realistic” about its prospects and “allocate resources accordingly” after securing just 21% of the vote in the last Manchester mayoral election.
