Rishi Sunak 'responsible' for local election 'meltdown', ex-Tory MEP insists
8 May 2023, 09:33 | Updated: 8 May 2023, 09:36
Ex-Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman blames local election 'meltdown' on Rishi Sunak
Chairman of the Conservative Democratic Organisation campaign group, David Campbell Bannerman, has said the Prime Minister needs to take the blame for the Tories losing over a thousand seats in Thursday's local elections.
Speaking to Andrew Castle, Ex-Tory MEP David Campbell Bannerman said the recent local elections were "a meltdown on top of a disaster four years ago".
"It was a terrible result, what is not terribly understood is that we should have been making gains not loses," he began, "because four years ago it was even worse, it was 1269 councillors were lost".
"So actually this time we should have been making gains, you know picking up seats not losing another thousand."
Mr Campbell Bannerman declared a lack of direction in Conservative attitudes and called for a "big policy reset".
"We need to get back to Conservative values and what we stand for, you know free enterprise, free trade, free speech, free expression and low taxes," he told Andrew.
James O'Brien reacts to local election results
Scuitinising Jeremy Hunt and Rishi Sunak's economic policies he said: "I think these are the wrong policies, people are saying, 'What on earth are you doing you've got the highest taxes for seventy years?'"
Mr Campbell Bannerman went on: "I'm afraid Rishi Sunak has to take the blame for this, he has to take this on board that it was down to him. He brought down Boris, it was like a sort of Tory Macbeth plot, got rid of Boris and we crashed in the polls,
"Why has he done this to us? He should take responsibility and be held [to] account for it."
READ MORE: Lib Dems hint at coalition with Labour - and may demand Brexit rerun as the price
Andrew challenged his stance by pointing to Labour's attack ads, which he said suggest Keir Starmer is afraid of Rishi Sunak because he is a "sensible" figure.
The former MEP said this was more a "reflection on the weakness of Starmer" and not confidence in the Prime Minister.
Concluding that to win over the electorate the Conservatives need to return to traditionally Tory policies he said: "I would personally like to see Boris Johnson return because he is a great campaigner."
