GUARDIAN EUROPE: Successor to the Brexit party is gaining support in red wall seats, senior Conservatives warn as they demand more radical policies
Conservative MPs are warning that their party risks being wiped out in the red wall by an emerging threat on its right flank, amid alarm after two disastrous byelection losses.
The right of the party is seizing on the dire results in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth – two supposedly safe Tory seats – to demand a harder line on immigration and tax cuts designed to nullify the threat posed by Reform UK, the successor to the Brexit party.
With senior Tories stating a “battle for the soul of the party” is now under way, the right is also targeting chancellor Jeremy Hunt this weekend. They accuse him of being “captured by the Treasury” in his opposition to tax cuts which they blame for loss of loyalty among core supporters. » | Michael Savage, Policy editor | Saturday, October 21, 2023
