By election results live: Tories ‘doomed to lose power’ without change of course, warns Lord Frost
Rishi Sunak should ditch green policies, says Tory peer
Rishi Sunak is “doomed to lose power” if he does not change course ahead of the next general election, a Conservative peer has said.
Lord David Frost, the former Brexit negotiator, pointed to Labour’s defeat in Uxbridge and South Ruislip as evidence green policies are not popular as he called on the prime minister to ditch net zero goals.
In a direct rebuke of Mr Sunak’s five priorities for government, Lord Frost argued that the Tories’ two by-election defeats showed that “sticking to the plan” was not working.
The peer, who supported Liz Truss’s leadership campaign and has announced he will stand as an MP, said Mr Sunak needed to give the public “something to vote for” as he called for tax cuts.
“Getting inflation down is important but won’t be enough,” he wrote in The Daily Telegraph. “There is still time to change course, but it is running out.”
Elsewhere, Keir Starmer is delivering a speech to his party’s national policy forum this morning following, with Ulez and the controversial U-turn on child benefits police are likely to be discussed over the weekend.
Starmer: Tories have given up on government
As we reported earlier, Keir Starmer delivered a speech to Labour staff and activists at the party’s national policy forum in Nottingham.
In the speech, which came after Labour recorded a big by-election win in Selby but narrowly lost in Uxbridge, Mr Starmer said all policies must be fully funded.
He also accused the Conservatives of crashing the economy, saying the have given up on government.
Watch more of his comments below:
Starmer: Labour must ‘learn lesson’ of Uxbridge
Some more remarks now from Keir Starmer‘s speech:
Starmer warned that Labour must "learn the lesson" of seeing a party policy used against it following a narrow defeat in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election.
The Labour leader said there was "something very wrong" when a party policy was on "each and every Tory leaflet" following attacks on London mayor Sadiq Khan’s plan to expand the capital’s ultra low emission zone (Ulez), which applies a charge for the most polluting vehicles.
Sir Keir told the forum on Saturday: "That result in Uxbridge demonstrates there is never any reason to be complacent and never a reason to rest on our laurels.
"It is a reminder that in an election, policy matters.
"We are doing something very wrong if policies put forward by the Labour Party end up on each and every Tory leaflet.
"We’ve got to face up to that and to learn the lesson."
Starmer blames Ulez for Uxbridge defeat
Sir Keir Starmer pinned the blame for Labour’s loss in the Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election on the planned expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez) in London.
Speaking to broadcasters during a visit to Shefford in the Mid Bedfordshire constituency, the Labour leader said: "I don’t think there is any doubt that Ulez was the reason that we lost the election in Uxbridge.
"And I have said we should reflect on this, including the mayor (Sadiq Khan). I have spoken to him as you would expect, and so there will be that reflection.
"But we’re not sitting back, we’re not looking over our shoulder. We’re pressing forward.
"There should be an election, a by-election in Mid Bedfordshire, and so I’m here talking to local residents, to people who are now fed up and want a by-election desperately and want to vote Labour.
"So yes, of course we reflect, but we’re moving forward here because the goal is to get to that general election."
The Conservatives won 13,965 votes, Labour 13,470 and the Liberal Democrats 526 - meaning the Tories’ majority is 495.
Starmer: Labour won’t be changing policy on two-child benefits cap
Labour’s leader said the party would not be changing its policy on keeping the two-child benefits cap in place.
Sir Keir Starmer told broadcasters in Shefford, Bedfordshire: "There is no doubt that we need to deal with child poverty. That is what the last Labour government did.
"But we have to accept that the conditions in which we will come into government, if we are privileged enough to do so, will be conditions for a broken economy, broken public services.
"And that is why I’ve been absolutely clear that we won’t have any unfunded spending commitments, so we proceed on that basis.
"And that is why we’re not going to change our policy on the two-child benefit cap.
"But we have to recognise that that is as a result of the damage that the Tories have done to our economy.
"Secure economics, responsibly economics absolutely come first."
The policy was first introduced by George Osbourne and prevents parents from claiming child tax credit or universal credit for any this or subsequent child born after April 2017.
It is a highly controversial policy and research has shown that it has affected an estimated 1.5 million children.
Starmer says Labour doing something ‘very wrong’ after bruising defeat in Boris’s old seat
Keir Starmer turned his fire on parts of his own party on Saturday as he sought to keep Labour on the path to No 10.
The Labour leader held up Friday’s bruising by-election loss in Boris Johnson’s old seat as a cautionary tale, warning the party it had to “face up to” and to “learn the lesson” of the defeat.
Kate Devlin reports:
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