TEN Red Wall MPs will go public tomorrow to warn Rishi Sunak must pull his finger out by the summer or risk annihilation at the Election.
The worried Tories warn that without a big-spending Levelling Up Bill passed by July it will be too late for them to save their Midlands seats next year.
Led by Nottingham City Council boss and Mansfield MP Ben Bradley, the MPs beg the PM to help them “demonstrate clearly on the doorstep what Conservative policies mean in the real world for jobs, families”.
They warn: “This must happen urgently, before the summer.”
There is growing concern within Tory ranks that the party is heading for a hammering at the ballot box next year after heavy defeats at last week’s local elections.
MPs are concerned Mr Sunak is too wedded to his core five pledges to stop the boats and fix the economy and NHS waiting lists – and want the PM to offer a more positive vision to voters.
In a stark letter to No10, the MPs write: “If the government fails to pass this law, our opportunity to size this chance and deliver tangible, real world benefits to our constituents ahead of the next General Election will be lost.”
Signatories to the warning letter include ex-Minister Brendan Clarke-Smith and other 2019 winners like Bolsover’s Mark Fletcher and Tom Randall who’s Gedling seat is one of the most marginal in the country Gedling.
They added: “Brexit was a once in a generation opportunity for our country to take back control and govern its own destiny. We know that your government understands that this was only the first chapter of our conservative and national renewal.
“Now, with the Levelling Up Bill, we will be able to give that control back to the people and the local businesses who know better than any government how to generate jobs and prosperity.”
The government’s Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill contains swathes of planning reform and improvements to rundown areas and forgotten High Streets.
But it is currently stuck in the Lords having been amended hundreds of times.
A No10 spokesman said: “We remain committed to driving forward investment to the areas that need it most, delivering the Levelling Up and Regeneration Bill in Parliament, and working with local leaders through devolution deals in the East Midlands and to agree deals with other areas that want them.”
Allies of Michael Gove say the Levelling Up Secretary is “keen to crack on as quickly as possible with the legislation.”
He is pushing for the Bill to return to the House of Commons before the summer recess, however sources warned that may not be possible due to a hectic Parliamentary calendar.
Rishi Sunak was heavily mocked by Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer over his party’s loss of more than 1000 councillors last Thursday.
At PMQs, Sir Keir joked: “This time last week the Prime Minister had to correct the record on misleading claims he made about employment numbers. Can he provide a further update now he’s cost a thousand Tory councillors their jobs?”
But the PM hit back: “Maybe I can just offer the honourable gentleman a tiny bit of advice from one of his predecessors… Tony Blair… he said the right honourable gentleman can be as cocky as he likes about the local elections, come a general election, policy counts. And we know… the problem for him is, he doesn’t have any.”
