Tory rebels plan 100-day ‘policy blitz’ if local elections are disaster for party

Rishi Sunak is braced for a bruising week as Tory rebels flaunted plans for a 100-day “policy blitz” to secure quick wins if the local election results prove disastrous for the party.

Conservative rebels say it’s time to put an end to “broken pledges, distant plans for change and bans they never asked for” and instead use 100 days to prove the government is “taking action and cares about what matters to the British people”.

An Ipsos poll on Thursday revealed Sunak’s personal satisfaction rating had fallen to -59, matching a record low for a prime minister set by Sir John Major in 1994.

Sunak appeared irritable in an interview broadcast on Sky News’ Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips, insisting he would not “say anything more than I’ve already said” about the time of an election and his “working assumption” remained it will be in the second half of the year.

Starmer last night said “it’s fantastic” Poulter had joined Labour to help get the NHS back on its feet, and promised his government would overhaul the way mental health is approached.

Starmer said: “I will not sit on my hands while tens of thousands of people have their lives on hold and ambition curtailed while they languish on mental health waiting lists.