After suffering significant losses at Thursday’s local elections against Keir Starmer’s Labour party, Boris Johnson’s Conservatives could also face an uphill battle in the next general election. Though the Conservative party could still be the largest party, Andrew Neil predicts Labour stands a better chance of forming a coalition that could put them back in power.
Speaking to LBC, Andrew Neil said: “I think at the moment the likely result could still be the Tories as the largest party but here’s the rub.”
Andrew Neil said: “They are the largest party, but they have nobody with whom to form a coalition. They are the no-makes Tories.
“The Lib-Dems are not going to do it again. I don’t think the DUP is going to get involved again.
“There, Labour, even if it wasn’t the largest party, has a much better chance of putting together some form of coalition.
“It would be unstable. It would be messy. It probably wouldn’t be great for the country, but they have a better chance of doing that than Johnson’s Tories.”
The last coalition in place was formed by former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and former Lib-Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. The coalition stayed in place between 2010 and 2015 and was the very first occurrence since 1945. Conservatives have since remained in power.
But the latest scandals involving the Conservative party and Prime Minister Boris Johnson throw into doubt the Tories’ chances of gaining a majority in the next general election.
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While the Conservative party still stands a chance of holding a majority, Mr Andrew predicts, Labour doesn’t.
“A thumping majority for Mr Starmer and the Labour party is totally out of the question.
“Even to have a majority of one, they need as big a swing as Tony Blair had in 1997. That ain’t gonna happen, I’m afraid. It’s not going to happen.
“So, if anybody wins, it would be a small majority either way.”
