A KEIR Starmer super-majority would be like Tony Blair “on steroids” with unchecked borders and out-of-control wokery, a top Tory warns
A crushing victory for Labour would lead to more “constitutional vandalism” and chaos on migration and gender policies according to leading right-winger Miriam Cates.
AlamyTory rising star Miriam Cates warned Sir Keir could push through more constitutional reform like Blair but ‘on steroids’[/caption]
She said Conservatives had only just started to wake up to the damage caused by the ex-PM’s ‘vandalism’
The warning comes after Defence Sec Grant Shapps said giving Sir Keir “unchecked power” would be “very dangerous” for the country, but insisted the Tories were still fighting for every seat.
In an explosive interview on our Never Mind The Ballots election show the former Penistone MP, whose 7,000 majority is at risk, insisted sje had not “conceded anything yet”.
She also warned Nigel Farage that if his booming Reform Party takes millions of votes from the Tories it could lead to right-wing MPs like her being ousted.
She told our show, which is available to watch above, that “the prospect of a Labour government doing these things again… is an alarming one.
Ms Cates warned: “Very, very large majorities are not necessarily good for democracy.”
“People can vote how they want to vote, and they should do – it’s completely up to them.
“They shouldn’t be frightened by the prospect of one party having a particular majority when they go to the polls.
“I do think it’s a fair warning, particularly to Nigel Farage, actually, that if we had an enormous Labour majority, they would embed all sorts of things in our political system, in our constitution like Blair did.
“Things that we have not yet managed to repeal – which is why the judges have had so much power and we haven’t been able to sort out illegal immigration.
“The idea that a left-wing government wouldn’t do that on steroids, with an enormous majority… It’s for the birds.”
She also claimed that many of the problems faced by the Tories “stemmed from the legislation that Blair, Labour PM from 1997 to 2007, pushed through.
Blair introduced the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly and removed most hereditary peers from the House of Lords in 1999.
The rising star cited the Equality Act, the Human Rights Act and the Gender Recognition Act as examples of other Blair-era laws which should have been “overturned”.
Ms Cates continued: “In the last year, the government, the Conservatives have started to wake up to the consequences of what Blair did.
“Look at the row about biological sex.
“That is a direct result of the Equality Act, the Gender Recognition Act.
“These are the things that have allowed women’s rights to be squashed, allowed children to be put in danger.
“Yes, of course, we should have reformed it but at least we’re waking up now.
“The prospect of a Labour government doing these things again, bending these things further and further into our system, taking power out of the hands of Parliament, therefore the people, and putting it with technocrats and civil service is an alarming one.
“And politicians and commentators should be sounding the alarm on that.”
Asked how the Conservatives had plummeted from an 80-seat majority in 2019 to being 20 points behind in the polls, Ms Cates said: “I suppose a very quick answer is that COVID and Ukraine.
“And some bad decisions by the government – let’s be honest, no government is perfect and they make mistakes – have left people pretty disappointed.”
The young Tory star, 41, added the Government’s failure to drive down immigration had been a “big mistake.”
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, 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.
She told Sun Political Editor Harry Cole: “In hindsight, we promised to reduce it but unfortunately, post-Brexit, it went up for all sorts of reasons.
“So I think that is a reason why people are so frustrated.
“There’s no particular love for Keir Starmer on the doorstep but there is frustration with the Government.”
She added that in her own South Yorkshire constituency, which is a top Labour target, she was telling voters that “sympathise” with Farage’s Reform UK to vote for her and stop another win for Starmer.
Ms Cates added: “Nationally, the question has to be, ‘Which candidate represents your views?’
“People have to vote both for the candidate and also for the policies of the national party and for some people, that’s going to be a very difficult decision.
“I think this is highlighting some of the problems with our democratic system.
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“For the last 25 years, MPs in Parliament have not represented the views of the majority of people.
“And certainly that is why there’s been this mismatch between what the country wants – lower immigration, voted for that election after election after election – and what Parliament has delivered.
“And at some point, we have a kind of release of that in 2016, but the Brexit vote kind of realised.
“But then the realignment was not carried through.
“And if you look around the rest of the Western world, actually the centre-right is gaining momentum, particularly with young people.
“We’ve just seen that this week in the EU elections.
“But that isn’t happening here. It’s not that the demand isn’t there.
“It’s just that at the moment, our political system is unable to supply it.
“That’s why Reform are getting traction – because the mainstream parties have not delivered on the demands of people in the ballot box over the last 20 years.”
Our interview comes as Grant Shapps blasted that the “country doesn’t function well” when either party has a three-figure majority in the House of Commons.
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.
“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.”
AFPGrant Shapps warned voters a ‘super majority’ for Labour would stop Sir Keir from being held to account in No.10[/caption]
Darren FletcherMs Cates joined our Never Mind The Ballots show with Harry Cole[/caption]