Marco Longhi MP: We can win next election by being 'more Conservative'

Marco Longhi, Conservative MP for Dudley North, was reacting to a new poll which suggests the Conservatives could lose almost all of their seats in the region at the next general election.

The poll from Savanta suggests that Labour could be on course for an historic 314-seat Commons majority. Nine seats would be lost in the Black Country, meaning Labour would control all but one of the area’s constituencies.

However, Mr Longhi believes the current picture could be changed. He acknowledged that a failure to deliver on manifesto promises, “combined with the self-harm of this summer’s leadership multiple tugs-of-war, has unsurprisingly pushed the Conservative Party into a precarious position”.

But he said he believed that tackling the key issues facing the country head-on could help restore confidence in the Tory Party.

"A new year focuses minds on the future. It is no different for me," he said.

"Advocating for local people, law-making and government scrutiny is what MPs do. Scrutiny is something I have become much more vocal about especially when my own reputation is, naturally, impacted by the actions of government.

"I make no secret of my long-standing argument with No 10, policy boffins and the Home Office civil service over illegal immigration being an utter stain on our nation, and how net migration has been appallingly too high.

"Failure to deliver on these manifesto promises, combined with the self-harm of this summer’s leadership multiple tugs-of-war, has unsurprisingly pushed the Conservative Party into a precarious position.

"Why? Because many voters will start thinking about competence in government and they may not necessarily relate that competence to delivery of specific policies."

Mr Longhi added: "Some will relate lack of competence as the reason the Government has not delivered on what matters to them: in the ‘Red Wall’ it is illegal immigration.

"Showing delivery on the Brexit sovereignty dividend – the taking back control of borders and laws – is totally trashed every time a video appears of illegal immigrants arriving on dinghies or, worse still, collected by our own naval forces.

"Three years in and we still need to ‘legislate’ more to sort it. Oh dear. As if that hasn’t been tried already. Leaving the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) will make our own existing laws work, but more laws, with the ECHR still overhanging them, does not fill me with confidence."

He continued: "Competence in government will mean different things to different people.

"How about returning to being the party of law and order? Why accept a police that doesn’t turn up for burglaries or armed robberies, but will turn up to arrest people for allegedly hurting peoples’ feelings on Twitter or to arrest a woman praying alone in silence?

"How about commanding economic respect through higher growth and lower taxes for all and delivering on the economic benefits of Brexit?

"How about getting a grip of the pervading wokeness in public services, such as the NHS that never has enough money but can find six figure salaries for ‘Directors of lived Experience’ or ‘Diversity Directors’, or the Police employing ‘Directors of Fairness and Belonging’ on huge salaries too?

"How about building more houses in the right places, making our country energy resilient, not energy reliant, renewing our town centres, providing opportunities through skills and investment in the right places?

"How about just being more Conservative? Because that should do it."