Politicians to get it in the neck at general election

All politicians are going to “get it in the neck” from disgruntled voters at the general election, according to the Welsh secretary.

David TC Davies admitted opinion polls are “clearly pointing at a large Labour majority”, but said he believes there is “no great optimism” from voters.

“I think people are really quite concerned,” the Conservative minister told the Sun newspaper’s online politics programme Never Mind the Ballots.

Labour has retained a lead of around 20 points over the Tories in the polls over the course of the election campaign.

In the interview, Mr Davies said people had been “battered” by “various challenges” over the past five years, including the pandemic and the war in Ukraine’s impact on prices.

There was also a “sense of instability” because of “what’s going on in the Middle East and, potentially, we could get dragged into that in some way.”

“So I think people are really quite concerned at the moment, and not at all happy, there’s no great optimism out there,” he said.

“And I feel for everyone and I think we’re going to get it in the neck, all of us, as a result of that.”

Mr Davies said there was also a “lot of disgruntlement in Wales”, under a Labour Welsh government, “and people are not happy with the things that they’ve done either”.

“So I really don’t know exactly what is going to happen, where people are going to go” when they come to vote, he said.

But he admitted the opinion polls make grim reading for Conservatives.

“They never get it 100% right, but they’re clearly pointing at a large Labour majority,” he said.

“I don’t know how large that will be, but I’m not stupid either. You cannot dismiss every single opinion poll.”

The Welsh secretary agreed that “if the polls are even half right” then “Keir Starmer will walk into Downing Street”.

“I don’t know whether it’s going to be with any great levels of enthusiasm, or whether a lot of people will just be almost saying ‘the least worst option’.

“I’m sorry about that, because we’ve got to do more to get our message across.”

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