Home Secretary James Cleverly has claimed Labour will “gerrymander” and “distort” the British political system in order to ensure a permanent majority.
With just four days to go until polling day on July 4, each party has ramped up its General Election campaigning with increasingly bitter attacks as the Conservatives warn of Sir Keir Starmer’s party heading for a “supermajority”.
With Labour continuing to dominate opinion polls, Mr Cleverly suggested that the party would use a large majority to make more people eligible to vote including “foreign nationals” and “criminals”.
Meanwhile, Labour are fighting voter complacency as they warn the public could “wake up to five more years of the Tories”.
Mr Cleverly said this election is not about giving the Conservatives “a bit of a telling off”.
He told the BBC: “The reason that this is so important, is because Labour have already said they are going to gerrymander the system, they have said they’re going to pack out the House of Lords, they’ve said they’re going to get votes at 16, they’re going to get votes for foreign nationals, they’re probably going to get votes for criminals.
“They are determined to have a permanent Labour government and they are quite willing to distort the British political system to get that – that is what is at stake.
“This is not an election which is about giving the Conservatives a bit of a telling off, and many people might think that is legitimate.”
He added: “They have said they’re going to distort the political system and I think there’s a real risk, there is a genuine risk that they take a majority if that is what they get to try and lock in their power permanently, because they don’t really feel confident that they’re going to be able to make a credible case to the British people at the next general election.”
The Conservatives have sought to prevent bleeding votes to Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats by warning that a vote for any other party would contribute to Labour’s “supermajority”.
Mr Cleverly rejected the claims by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage that he will be the “voice of opposition” and said there is “no credible analysis” to say that the party will overtake the Conservatives.
He told Sky News: “There is no credible analysis at all that indicates that that is possible. The best case scenario is predicted that Reform might get a small handful of MPs but in doing so, give Labour a huge majority, which they would use to bring in votes at 16, votes for prisoners, votes for foreign nationals.
“They’re determined to gerrymander the system to get a permanent Labour government and I don’t think that’s what Conservative voters or potential Reform voters want.”
Meanwhile, Labour urged voters to move to avoid “waking up on July 5 to five more years of economic chaos” as it accused the Tories of having presided over a “one rule for them and another for everyone else” approach to government.
At the beginning of the final week on the campaign trail, shadow environment secretary Steve Reed handed out pillows to journalists, printed with a mocked-up photo of Rishi Sunak in bed and the words “Don’t wake up to five more years of the Tories”.
“At the heart of the Tory campaign is the view that this is as good as it gets for the UK,” the party said.
“Yet living standards have stagnated since the Tories took office, NHS satisfaction levels are at their lowest levels ever recorded, and the first response of some of those close to the election decision was not to get ready to face the voters, but to call the bookies.”
On Monday, the Prime Minister sounded the alarm over national security, claiming that Russian president Vladimir Putin “does not want us to be re-elected”.
“Putin would like nothing more than for Britain to step back, to appease his aggression rather than face it down and that is what will happen with another party in power,” he told the Telegraph.
Shadow paymaster general Jonathan Ashworth denied that Putin would prefer to see Labour win over the Conservatives.
When asked about comments made by Rishi Sunak on Sunday, Mr Ashworth told Times Radio: “No of course not. This is pretty desperate stuff from the Tories now, really desperate… Labour would always put the defence of our people first.”
