Rishi Sunak has said he is “entirely confident” the Tories can win the next general election, despite the party lagging in the polls.
The prime minister told reporters he was “fired up” to deliver a fifth Conservative win citing the party’s narrow by-election victory in Uxbridge a couple of months ago.
He said: “I am entirely confident that we can win the next election, you had a sense of that just a couple of months ago in Uxbridge.
“In that by-election, when voters were confronted with an actual choice between us and the Labour Party on an issue of substance, what did they do? They voted for us”
Referencing the recent shake-up of Downing Street staff, he added: “These are very high quality people that are joining the team because they believe that we will win — they are hungry to win, I am hungry to win, and they are fired up to deliver it.”
An embattled prime minister could well suffer defeat in two upcoming by-elections, according to pollsters, with Labour set to seize Mid-Bedfordshire and Tamworth from the Tories in a decisive victory.
Both are due to take place on 19 October following the shock resignations of Nadine Dorries and Chris Pincher as the prime minister desperately tries to revive his flagging fortunes.
Dorries bitterly resigned as an MP in August in protest of not getting a peerage in Boris Johnson’s resignation honours list.
Meanwhile, Pincher announced his decision to quit as an MP after losing his appeal against a Commons suspension for drunkenly groping two men.
The former Tory whip said he has “made arrangements to resign and leave the Commons” as he did not want to put any “further uncertainty” on his constituents in his Staffordshire constituency of Tamworth.
According to Sky News’ poll tracker, Keir Starmer’s Labour Party boasts an average lead of 18 points in the polls.
It comes as a survey commissioned by Redfield and Wilton Strategies found Labour is the most trusted political party in the Red Wall.
The polling revealed the party is more frequently trusted than the Tories on every policy issue listed, with the party leading by more than 20 points in areas such as tackling poverty and supporting the NHS.
Sunak has found himself mired by events once again this week, with a scandal over dangerous concrete in schools and a prison escape by a suspected terrorist increasing pressure on the prime minister to account for the government’s record on infrastructure and crime.
The former chancellor conceded the timing of the RAAC concrete crisis had been “frustrating” but said ministers were right to act quickly when it came to light after a senior civil servant alleged that he had slashed the budget for school rebuilding.
Jonathan Slater, who served as permanent secretary at the department from May 2016 to August 2020, said he was “absolutely amazed” the decision was made by the Treasury to slash the government budget for school repairs by half in 2021.
Meanwhile, a BMG survey for the i newspaper found a number of high-profile Tories, including five cabinet ministers, could lose their seats at the next general election.
Giving the party a 15-point lead over the Tories, the survey put Labour on 44%, the Conservatives on 29% and the Lib Dems on 10%.
Related: Labour set for victory in key by-elections says pollster
