British PM Rishi Sunak Faces Election Wipeout, Poll Predicts Tories Losing 200 Seats

A major poll warns that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and the Tories are on the brink of a 1997-style election disaster, facing a potential wipeout by the Labour Party. The survey of 14,000 voters indicates that the Conservative Party is poised to lose nearly 200 seats in this year’s General Election, UK’s Daily Mail reported.

This would grant opposition leader Keir Starmer a substantial 120-seat majority if polls are to be believed. This projected outcome would mark the most significant collapse in support for a governing party since 1906, with an 11.5% swing favouring Labour. At least 11 Cabinet ministers, including Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, face the possibility of losing their seats.

The poll suggests Hunt’s constituency, South West Surrey, may be claimed by the Liberal Democrats, making him the first Chancellor to lose in an election. Other prominent Tories, including Penny Mordaunt, Grant Shapps, and Sir Iain Duncan Smith, are also deemed at risk.

‘We will be destroyed’

Simon Clarke, a cabinet minister who served under Liz Truss, said the result would be a “disaster”. “The time for half measures is over,” he wrote on social media X. “We either deliver on small boats or we will be destroyed.”

The YouGov study indicates potential challenges for the Tories from the Reform Party, which, although not expected to secure seats, could influence Sunak’s standing by 96 MPs. If the poll holds true, the Tories would secure 196 fewer seats than in 2019, raising concerns among Conservative MPs about potential leadership changes to avert a looming disaster.

Commissioned by the Conservative Britain Alliance and conducted by YouGov, this poll prompts reflections on the party’s strategies under Sunak as the election approaches. The British Indian PM earlier this month urged voters and his own party to “stick to the plan” for “long-term change” at an election he has signalled will most probably come in the second half of this year.

With his governing Conservatives heavily trailing in the polls, Sunak is hoping to turn the tide by giving more time to his agenda including cutting taxes, health service waiting lists and the number of migrant arrivals — issues he said he had started to tackle. “Of course there’s more to do, but progress is being made. The country is now pointing in the right direction,” he told the BBC.

(With agency inputs)