Rishi Sunak has admitted the Tories may not win the general election after grim defeats in the local polls.

The prime minister suggested the UK was on course for a hung parliament and claimed voters would not want to see Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer “propped up in Downing Street” by the SNP or smaller parties.

In an interview with The Times, Mr Sunak pointed to Sky News analysis of the local election results by election expert Professor Michael Thrasher which suggested Labour would be the largest party in a hung parliament.

Politics live: PM told to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ after elections

“These results suggest we are heading for a hung parliament with Labour as the largest party,” Mr Sunak told the paper.

“Keir Starmer propped up in Downing Street by the SNP, Liberal Democrats and the Greens would be a disaster for Britain.

“The country doesn’t need more political horse-trading, but action. We are the only party that has a plan to deliver on the priorities of the people.”

Meanwhile, Tory rebels have warned the prime minister to change his political course after the weekend’s local election results.

Read more:
The local election winners and losers
Charts tell story of Conservative collapse
Analysis: Labour’s future success is less clear-cut

Sunak urged to take party towards right

Former home secretary Suella Braverman urged him to mould the party towards the right in order to win back voters.

But she told the BBC a change of leadership was not a “feasible prospect,” adding: “There is no superman or superwoman out there who can do it.”

Ms Braverman urged the prime minister to adopt several measures to win back voters, including further tax cuts and a cap on legal migration.

Tories ‘up for the fight,’ minister insists

But Transport Secretary Mark Harper insisted Mr Sunak and the Tories are “up for the fight” of a general election despite their terrible results in the local contests.

Talking to Sky News’ Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, the minister said: “I think the key thing that people need to do now is get behind the prime minister, focus on the things the government is focused on delivering – the British people’s priorities around the economy, dealing with migration – and get out there and take that fight to the country ahead of the general election.”

Labour won 1,158 seats in the 107 councils in England that held elections on 2 May, an increase of more than 232.

The Liberal Democrats won 552 seats, up nearly 100, while the Tories came in third place on 515 seats, down nearly 400.

Rishi Sunak’s internal critics have abandoned their attempt to unseat him because they have run out of time and do not believe Penny Mordaunt would do what is necessary to save the party.

The Politics at Jack and Sam’s podcast this week discusses how the PM is unlikely to face a challenge but will be confronted by an exhausted, sceptical and in parts broken Tory party when Parliament returns on Tuesday.

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He faces legislative challenges in the coming weeks, with revolts on the criminal justice bill and sentencing bill, that could be aggravated by the party’s poor performance.

However, efforts by plotters – a loose band co-ordinating to bring down Sunak dominated by ex advisors rather than Tory MPs – have been abandoned.

Read more:
West Midlands loss fires starting gun on future of Tory party
Labour taking ‘Tory crown jewel’ feels like a momentum shift

They are understood to believe the local elections show the Tories still on course for annihilation but they have run out of time, and the window for a challenge was back in December or January.

They had hoped a suitable candidate would emerge and the closest they came to believing someone was interested was with Penny Mordaunt, though she has denied plotting. In the end, rebels concluded she would not do what it takes. They also said the political cost of changing leader increased sharply in recent months.

Sunak is now hoping Britain coming out of recession this Friday will help turn his fortunes around.

The government at one point considered using Iraq to process asylum seekers – like the Rwanda scheme – according to documents seen by Sky News.

This could have seen people sent from the UK to a country the government advises against all travel to.

The two countries already have a returns agreement – but only for people that are from Iraq.

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According to leaked correspondence between high-ranking officials, the Iraqi returns commitments were made with a “request for discretion” and no publicity.

The country was willing to move forward but did not want a formal or public agreement.

The current travel advice to Iraq on the Foreign Office website simply advises against “all travel to parts of Iraq”. However, according to the document, negotiations were fairly advanced and described in one table as “good recent progress with Iraq”.

Other government aims included enhancing cooperation with the Iranian Embassy in order to enhance returns arrangements for migrants and potential asylum seekers.

Returns agreements are also in the works for Eritrea and Ethiopia, according to documents about work undertaken by the Home Office and Foreign Office that relates to countries with the highest number of nationals arriving to the UK by small boats.

In a tranche of internal government documents seen by Sky News, even from the earliest stage of the Rwanda policy, Downing Street advisers knew there were serious problems with their proposals.

There are even private admissions that many people arriving here on small boats did so without the assistance of criminal gangs – despite their communications strategy.

Comparisons were also made to Australia’s response – to what Downing Street officials understood to be a comparable “smaller problem” than in the UK and admitted it had cost billions of Australian dollars in order for their returns processes to be fully operational.

Read more:
Man, 38, arrested in connection with small boat crossings
Sunak says migrants going to Ireland shows Rwanda scheme is working

In one document submitted to the Home Office, some of the highest-ranking officials at the time wrote that their guidance was to be “prepared to pay over the odds” to get the policy up and running. And that the initial offer from Rwanda was a “modest sum”.

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Whitehall’s official spending watchdog has priced the cost of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda at £1.8m per person for the first 300 people the government deports to Kigali.

It also disclosed that since April 2022 the Home Office has paid £220m into Rwanda’s economic transformation and integration fund, which is designed to support economic growth in Rwanda, and will continue to make payments to cover asylum processing and operational costs for individuals relocated to Rwanda.

It will also pay further amounts of £50m over the next year and an additional £50m the following year.

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A government source said: “The Home Office is spending millions every day accommodating migrants in hotels – that’s not right or fair. We’re taking action to put an end to this costly and dangerous cycle. Doing nothing is not a free option – we must act if we want to stop the boats and save lives.

“The UK is continuing to work with a range of international partners to tackle global illegal migration challenges. Our Rwanda partnership is a pioneering response to the global challenge of illegal migration, and we will get flights off the ground to Rwanda in the next nine to eleven weeks.”