Miriam Cates and Danny Kruger, co-chairs of the New Conservatives group of backbench MPs, have urged the government to “change course” following their by-election defeats in Wellingborough and Kingswood.
They encouraged Rishi Sunak to “cut taxes that hit working families, including lowering the rate of income tax and raising punitive thresholds”.
Additionally, the co-chairs have requested that the government “declare its willingness to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights and repeal the Human Rights Act if courts in Strasbourg or Britain invoke European rights laws to stop the removal of illegal migrants”.
They said: “The results in yesterday’s by-elections are unequivocal: Labour are winning because many of the people who backed us in 2019 are staying at home or voting Reform. Voters are not flocking to Labour.
“They want a genuine alternative to the consensus politics of the last two decades – high taxes, low security, and managed decline.
“The government has made some positive steps to win back our lost voters.
“But all of this is plainly not enough. In 2019 the British people voted for change, and they haven’t seen it yet.
“We have many good excuses – the disruptions and distractions of Brexit, COVID and the Ukraine war – but so far, we have not delivered on the promises we made at the last election.
“There is still time – but our party must change course.”
