Suella Braverman says no time to oust Sunak so he must ‘own this and fix it’

Suella Braverman has said the Conservatives have run out of time to oust Rishi Sunak but he needs to “own this and fix it”, after local election results indicated the UK is heading for a Labour government.

The former home secretary said Sunak’s “plan is not working” and the prime minister needed to change course, as “at this rate we will be lucky to have any Conservative MPs at the next election”.

Street has called for the Conservatives to move to the centre to address voters’ concerns, while others have warned the party is facing more of a challenge on their left flank than the right.

Braverman said Tory voters were “on strike” as Sunak is not Conservative enough, with his ban on smoking and legislation against pedicabs, and instead called for action on the European court of human rights, a cap on legal migration and more tax cuts.

Writing in the Observer, he said: “Whichever political party you belong to or support, what is unforgivable is leaving your country after a period in government in a worse state than when you found it.

Pat McFadden, Labour’s elections chief, said there were “tremendous results” overall but acknowledged the party’s approach to Gaza had been a factor in losing councillors in some areas.