Should Rishi Sunak fear a by-election disaster?
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 19 July 2023
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It’s a by-election triple whammy tomorrow - and seats up for grabs include Boris Johnson's former constituency of Uxbridge. The votes were triggered after three Conservative MPs resigned - and the Tories are already saying they’re expecting to lose all three. The Times has been finding out how voters feel - and they’re not happy. So what could tomorrow’s results mean for Rishi Sunak’s and Keir Starmer’s chances at the next general election?
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's being built as B.D. tomorrow. It's the big by-elections triple whammy. Three parliamentary |
| 0:18.6 | seats are up for grabs after a series of Tory MPs quit, including one former Prime Minister. |
| 0:27.4 | Boris Johnson is going to stand down as an MP. |
| 0:32.4 | Nigel Adams, the MP for Selby and H.D., has resigned as an MP. |
| 0:38.4 | Conservative MP David Warbutton has resigned. |
| 0:45.4 | These by-elections have come about after months of scandals and party infighting, |
| 0:51.4 | and all of that during a cost of living crisis. |
| 0:55.4 | So what are the voters thinking in the run up to polling day? The Times has been finding out. |
| 1:02.4 | There's such a bridge between politicians and the general people at the moment, |
| 1:07.4 | and there's just a lot of them just cannot be trusted. There's no trust there whatsoever. |
| 1:12.4 | We need to change, not totally sure Labour is the one, but I think we need to get away from the Conservatives now. |
| 1:22.4 | I think it would be fair to say the voters are pretty fed up. |
| 1:28.4 | If I ask you to describe Britain in 2023, in one word, what would that word be? |
| 1:35.4 | A shambles. |
| 1:36.4 | A miserable, crumpled, feral. |
| 1:39.4 | On the first impression, it's fucked. |
| 1:43.4 | The government are already trying to manage expectations of what could be a triple defeat. |
| 1:54.4 | It is very hard for governments to win by-elections, we've been in office for about 13 years, |
| 2:00.4 | so it's understandable if we're not necessarily winning by-elections. |
| 2:04.4 | Most Tories would see it as a victory if they managed to salvage one seat tomorrow, |
| 2:10.4 | but with a general election predicted next year, could these bar elections be an indicator |
| 2:15.4 | of how voters across the country are judging the government? |
... |
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