VOTERS have been warned not to give Sir Keir Starmer a “blank cheque” by handing Labour a “super-majority”.
Grant Shapps warned a crushing election victory for Sir Keir would give him “unchecked power” to do whatever he wanted – making the country a “dangerous place”.
GettyA Sir Keir Starmer ‘super majority’ could be ‘dangerous’, Grant Shapps said[/caption]
GettyYouGov’s last MRP poll predicted a 194-seat Labour majority – bigger than Blair’s in 1997[/caption]
The Defence Secretary blasted that the “country doesn’t function well” when either party has a three-figure majority in the House of Commons.
Mr Shapps insisted the Tories were still fighting for “every seat” and “no one’s cast a vote” as the election campaign hits the halfway stage.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “You want to make sure that in this next government, whoever forms it, that there’s a proper system of accountability.
“You don’t want to have somebody receive a super majority.
“And in this case, of course, the concern would be that if Keir Starmer were to go into No.10 and that power was in some way unchecked.
“It would be very bad news for people in this country… A blank cheque approach, allowing (them) to do anything they wanted, particularly when their particular set of plans are so vague.
“They say change, but you’ve no idea what they actually want to change to, other than the fact that they’d outlined plans which would cost £2,094 to every working family in this country.
“If you ended up with a party with a massive majority, unchecked power, able to do anything that they wanted.
“With the instincts of… Keir Starmer’s party on all sorts of things, from raising people’s tax to their lack of support for increased defence spending, we think that would be a dangerous place to put this country.”
The most recent YouGov MRP poll, which predicts seat-by-seat results across the country, predicted Labour would win a mammoth majority of 194 – larger than Blair’s in 1997 and more than double the 2019 Tory majority.
The Tory vote share has also been stung by Nigel Farage’s return to lead Reform and stand for election in Clacton, with the upstarts scoring a four-point poll boost.
A poll released by YouGov last night put Labour on 38 per cent, with the Tories on 18 per cent and Reform only one point behind on 17 per cent.
And in a poll conducted by Lord Ashcroft, the Tories’ vote share fell further from 23 per cent to 21 per cent last week, while Reform were just six points behind on 15 per cent.
There are major fears in Tory circles of a ‘crossover’ point when Reform overtakes the Tories.
Asked if his plea to voters was effectively an admission the Conservatives could not win, Mr Shapps insisted: “No one’s cast a vote. Even postal votes haven’t gone out.
“There is everything to fight for, and we are fighting for every single seat in this country.
“The polls have been wrong before.
ANALYSIS: The Tories’ language is changing
By RYAN SABEY, Deputy Political Editor
Fears are growing within Tory circles that they will receive an almighty hiding from the electorate on July 4.
Look at how the language has changed in recent weeks.
Rishi Sunak told The Sun at the start of the campaign that he was eyeing up an election win and England would win the Euros.
That now seems like a pipedream.
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has been touring the TV and radio stations this morning telling voters not to hand Sir Keir Starmer a “blank cheque”.
He told the public that Labour shouldn’t be given “unchecked” power especially when their plans are vague.
He put on a brave face telling Times Radio saying there was still “everything to fight for”.
The seats both parties have been visiting tell their own story.
On Monday, I visited Horsham in West Sussex on Monday which has a 21,000 Tory majority.
Sir Keir Starmer has visited Monmouthshire which features way down the list of Labour target seats.
For Labour are on the attack and for the Tories it appears to be a damage limitation exercise.
“But I think it’s perfectly legitimate to say the country doesn’t function well when you get majorities the size of Blair’s or even bigger.
“And we would say there are a lot of very good, hardworking MPs who can hold the government of the day to account.
“And we’d say those are Conservative MPs.”
It came as the PM was under fire again for his call to leave D-Day commemorations in Normandy early last week after he said the event “ran over” in his ITV interview filmed on the same day.
Asked if the PM was “tone deaf” on the 80th-anniversary event, Shapps said: “The part that he didn’t attend had no British veterans at it at all and he has rightly, I think, issued his apology for it.
“We can carry on going round and round in circles. I think the more interesting thing is what does he really think about our veterans?
“He is a Prime Minister who has from day one of his administration had a veterans’ minister in his own Cabinet.”
What pledges are in the Tory manifesto?
Mr Sunak’s manifesto includes pledges to:
CUT National Insurance by a further 2p by 2027, taking the main rate to 6 per cent
ABOLISH National Insurance entirely for self-employed workers by 2029
PROTECT pensioners from ever paying income tax with a new Triple Lock Plus
GIVE working parents 30 hours a week of free childcare by September next year
CREATE a mandatory new form of national service for 18-year-olds
IMPOSE a ban on any new green levies that make Brits pay for Net Zero
BAN mobile phones in classrooms as well as clamping down on sex education
BOOSTING defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2030
SLAP an annual cap on legal migration while pledging immediate Rwanda flights
AFPGrant Shapps warned voters a ‘super majority’ for Labour would stop Sir Keir from being held to account in No.10[/caption]
GettyBoth PM Rishi Sunak and Mr Shapps have repeatedly insisted that not a single vote has been cast[/caption]