TORY PM SUNAK has insisted the Conservatives can still win the next general election, despite suffering two damaging by-election defeats.
Labour and the Lib Dems overturned big Tory majorities in Somerton and Frome, and Selby and Ainsty constituencies.
But the Tories held the London seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, despite predictions they could lose there too.
The result showed the next election was not a ‘done deal’ for Labour, the prime minister said.
He added that the results demonstrated that his government needed to ‘double down’ on his signature pledges on the economy and illegal migration.
But Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said its ‘historic’ victory in Selby showed ‘just how powerful the demand for change is’ ahead of the next general election, expected to take place next year.
The Tories’ narrow victory in the suburban seat of Uxbridge, which they won by 495 votes, spared Sunak the humiliation of being the first PM for 55 years to lose three by-elections in one night, in fact he lost two.
The Tories managed to capitalise on local anger over the planned expansion of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (Ulez), a tax on polluting vehicles, to outer London boroughs by the capital’s Labour mayor.
Visiting a cafe in the constituency, Sunak said it showed that people would vote Conservative when confronted with the ‘reality’ of Labour in power.
The other two results suggest the opposite, that the Tories face a difficult path to possible victory at the next election, with the party trailing Labour in the polls nationally by significant margins.
Asked to explain the defeats, Sunak replied: ‘The message I take away is that we’ve got to double down, stick to our plan and deliver for people.’
He vowed to renew his focus on his government’s five flagship priorities of halving inflation, growing the economy, reducing debt and NHS waiting times, and stopping small boat crossings.
Former cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg warned Tory MPs to ‘row in behind the prime minister,’ adding that ‘divided parties don’t win elections’.
However, a former cabinet minister on the right of the Conservative Party told the BBC the ‘eye-watering swings’ in Selby and Somerton showed the party needs a ‘complete change of direction.’
Uxbridge provides no get-out-of-jail-free card for Rishi,’ they added.
‘It is becoming increasingly clear that a failure by the party leadership to act now and change course risks electoral armageddon.’
Conservative chairman Greg Hands conceded there was a ‘lot of work still to be done’ to meet the promises, adding they ‘weren’t designed to be an easy thing to meet’.
• See editorial
