THE Tories will “get it in the neck” with the election only heading in “one direction”, a senior Cabinet minister has conceded.
Welsh Secretary David TC Davies admitted his party “can’t hide” from polls which are “clearly pointing at a large Labour majority”, but warned Sir Keir Starmer would become “very unpopular, very quickly”.
David TC Davies appeared on our Never Mind The Ballots show this morning
ReutersMr Davies conceded the polls were ‘clearly pointing at a large Labour majority’[/caption]
In a candid interview on our Never Mind The Ballots show, Davies said Partygate and the Covid pandemic were still being raised on the doorstep.
He admitted that “a lot of people are very unhappy” with the Conservatives and “politicians in general”.
Asked how his election campaign was going, he admitted: “It could be better to be honest with you.”
He told our show he took his “full share of responsibility for everything that’s happened” and said of a potential Labour majority: “I look at the opinion polls right, can’t hide, can’t run away from these people.
“They don’t always get it right. They never get it 100% right.
“But they’re clearly pointing at a large Labour majority.
“I don’t know how large that will be, but you know, I’m not stupid either.
“At the same time… I don’t detect any great enthusiasm for the Labour Party either.
“So I’m not absolutely certain that that people know exactly what’s going to happen in the election.
“But I do agree it points in one direction only.”
It comes ahead of both PM Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer facing a grilling from Sun readers at 5pm next Monday in a Never Mind The Ballots special.
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Mr Davies also warned that voters in Wales had suffered the consequences of 25 years of Labour – adding he had seen A&E patients transported to hospitals on wooden planks.
He said: “In Wales, people are not overly enthused by Labour in Wales, we’ve had too long, we know what’s going to happen.
“Most of our public services have been run by the Labour government for 25 years.
“So I agree with you if the polls are even half right then yes, I mean, I can’t argue with that – Keir Starmer will walk into Downing Street.
“But I don’t know whether it’s gonna be with any great levels of enthusiasm or whether a lot of people will just be honest, saying he’s the least worst option.”
He continued: “I think if Labour nationally do what they’ve done in Wales, then they’re going to become very unpopular very quickly.
“People are going to realise this. In Wales, we’ve got the longest hospital waiting list in the world.
“Wes Streeting was announcing his great plan for the NHS yesterday but they’ve had 25 years, they could have done all of that in Wales.
“But it’s like, I ring an ambulance for my father-in-law at about 11 o’clock in the morning, it turned up at five o’clock the following morning.
“When he got into the hospital, he then spent six hours waiting in the back of an ambulance before they could take him in.
“There was a gentleman here who was carried off to hospital in the back of a transit and strapped to a plank of wood a year or so ago. It’s extraordinary.
“The health board built industrial fans to waft away the fumes from the ambulances, so they could keep their engines running while they’re waiting 10 hours at a time outside the hospital.”
Responding to Nigel Farage’s claims that third parties like Reform UK could scoop up a record number of votes, the minister went on: “It’s a big question. There’ll be books written about this in years to come.
“I think, over the last five years, people have been battered by the various challenges that have hit this country.
“So I think people are really quite concerned at the moment and not at all happy, there’s no great optimism out there.
“And I feel for everyone and I think we’re gonna get it in the neck, all of us, as a result of that.
“So I don’t say Nigel’s right about everything, but that is a possibility.
“I’ve spoken to loads of people who say, ‘Well I don’t like what you’ve done, I’m not going to vote for Welsh Labour either’, and then saying, ‘I don’t know what I’m going to do’.
“And I think that’s genuine, it’s not people being polite because people just genuinely don’t know where to go.
“So I’m being honest with you. I think this election can be surprising.”
But probed on why Labour are still 20 points ahead in the polls and set to scoop most of the seats in Wales, Davies contested: “It’s not over yet is it?
“I mean, people I talked to on the doorstep, yes, they’ll say they’re not very happy with things that the Conservative government has done, but they’re not very happy with having a blanket 20mph speed limit and a government not building new roads.
“They’re not happy that the Welsh Government are legislating to bring in road tolls and that they just spent £120 million right – well, they’re about to – on extra politicians, while they’re cutting the NHS budget.
“So there’s plenty to be not very happy about.”
GettyHe conceded the polls were ‘clearly pointing at a large Labour majority’[/caption]