Tory minister talks of ‘when’ not ‘if’ Labour wins next election

A Conservative government minister has appeared to concede that Labour will win the next election during an appearance on TV news.

Maria Caulfield was accused of a "poor choice of words" after seemingly painting a Labour victory at the next election as an inevitability.

Speaking on Sky News, the health minister said people would be afraid of what Labour would do "when they get into government".

It comes as the opposition party retains a consistent 20-point lead in the polls over Rishi Sunak's outfit, with an election looming next year.

Ms Caulfield appeared to hint at a Labour victory while discussing changes to a London clean air charge announced by Sadiq Khan overnight.

"I think he's reacting to why Labour didn't win the Uxbridge by-election. You know, £2,000 is nothing if you're having to replace your car, and I think he's waking up to the fact that this tax on ordinary working people in London is not going down very well," she said.

"We don't take that approach. We want to phase out petrol and diesel cars rather than tax people out of it. And I think the worry that people have is if that's what Labour do in London, where they're in power, what would they do to the rest of the country when they get into government? I think that's been a wake-up call for labour, and that the Ulez charge is so unpopular."

Rob Powell, political correspondent at the broadcaster, highlighted the clip, commenting: "Eeek – poor choice of words from government minister Maria Caulfield."

Polling released last month by YouGov found that one in three Tory MPs expect Labour to win the next general election, with a majority expecting their own party to come out on top.

But by contrast, just 21 per cent of the British public expect the Tories to win the contest, with 55 per cent expecting a Labour victory.