The Conservative Party of Great Britain (Tory) and its current leader, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, risk suffering a crushing defeat and losing power in the upcoming elections. This follows from the results of a public opinion poll published by the British sociological center YouGov.

According to the poll, the country's main opposition party, the Labor Party, will receive the majority of votes in the general election.

“If a general election were held in the UK tomorrow, Labor would win 403 seats (based on voting results -

RT

) in the entire country,” says the YouGov study.

Sociologists note that in such a scenario, conservatives would receive only 155 seats in parliament.

“And this suggests that as the election approaches, the electoral situation for Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives is getting worse, not better,” the study emphasizes.

There are 650 seats in the British Parliament. Such a major defeat would mean the removal of the Conservative Party from power and its transition to Labor - traditionally in the British political system, the formation of coalition governments does not occur often.

"Zero seats"

This is not the first opinion poll to predict a defeat for the Conservatives and Rishi Sunak by a double-digit lead over Labour.

Thus, at the end of March, the media published a survey by the Survation agency, according to which the Tories will receive even fewer seats in parliament at the next elections - only 98, while Labor and their leader Keir Starmer will receive a record 468 parliamentary seats.

  • British Parliament meeting

  • Gettyimages.ru

  • © House of Commons/PA Images

The Scottish National Party will gain 41 seats, the Liberal Democrats will gain 22 seats, Nigel Farage's Reform UK party will gain seven seats, and two more seats will go to Welsh nationalists Plaid Cymru.

Such a result would be the biggest defeat for Britain's Conservative Party in the country's recent political history, eclipsing the memorable 1997 election. Then Labor, under the leadership of Tony Blair, received 418 seats in parliament, and the Conservatives - 165.

In addition, such a crushing defeat would mean that many leading Conservative politicians currently holding positions in the country's government would lose their parliamentary mandates. In addition to Rishi Sunak himself, these will be Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt, Leader of the House Penny Mordaunt, Home Secretary James Cleverley and Defense Secretary Grant Shapps.

At the same time, some voters in the UK believe that this result is not catastrophic enough and that the Tories, based on their stay in power since 2015, no longer deserve a single parliamentary mandate. In particular, British publicist Nima Parvini stated this on the GB News TV channel.

“Many people believe that the Conservative Party, while it is in power, fails to use its powers for friends and against enemies, so a considerable number of people say that in the upcoming elections (the Conservatives -

RT

) deserve zero seats,” Parvini said in aired on the show, hosted by Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg.

After this, the hashtag #ZeroSeats (#ZeroSeats) gained popularity on the social network X.

In turn, a parody election video “Help the Conservative Party get ZERO SEATS” was published on YouTube.

  • A still from the parody election video “Help the Conservative Party get ZERO SEATS”

  • © YouTube

In this video, the voice of Rishi Sunak, generated by a neural network, spoke about how the Tories have deceived their voters for years and ignored their aspirations and therefore they do not deserve a single parliamentary mandate.

Inappropriate humor

One of the central reasons for this position of the ruling party is the extreme unpopularity of its current leader, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Recall that Sunak became head of the UK government at the end of October 2022. Moreover, he took this post based on the results of an internal party vote, and not the general parliamentary elections in the country, in which citizens vote.

By the end of 2023, his rating had dropped to a record low of 24%. In January 2024, party sources said that such a defeat could lead to the Tories being effectively excluded from the political process in the country for years to come.

“Even John Major (party leader and prime minister. -

RT

) had 31% in 1997. No Conservative leader can last long with an approval rating

of

20%. If this continues until the elections, the Conservative Party will be buried for 10-15 years,” the newspaper’s source said.

Sunak himself does not intend to relinquish his leadership or hold early elections in the country.

So, during a broadcast on BBC radio, journalist Amy Oakden told Sunak that the vast majority of questions asked by listeners concern the date of the general election. She added that some citizens are asking why the prime minister "doesn't have the courage" to hold a general election now and when the date for it will be announced.

Rishi Sunak laughed in response, which confused the journalist.

“Is this funny? Excuse me, why are you laughing at this? asked Oakden.

Sunak said the election would be officially announced and made a lengthy speech about the state of affairs in the UK.

“A lot has fallen on us: the pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine, electricity bills. But I believe that this year we managed to overcome the crisis and people will begin to see that the measures we have taken are working, they will begin to see changes for the better,” the Prime Minister said.

"There are a lot of mistakes"

As Natalya Eremina, professor of the Department of European Studies at the Faculty of International Relations of St. Petersburg State University, noted in a commentary to RT, the Conservative Party has almost completely lost the trust of voters.

  • Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street

  • AP

  • © Frank Augstein

“Despite everything, the Conservatives have always had a very stable electorate - it’s not for nothing that they are the most stable party of the 20th century: collectively they have been in power in Great Britain for the longest time, they are a political force with strong traditions of government. In certain years they did not cope, but quickly came to their senses and returned to power. However, recently, after all the adventurous decisions and mistakes, their position is no longer as stable as before,” the political scientist said.

Conservatives have not shown themselves in the best light during their last period in power since 2015, Natalya Eremina added.

“In general, a lot of mistakes were made and the actions necessary to stop these mistakes were not taken in a timely manner. Therefore, the Conservative Party will lose a decent number of parliamentary seats. Elections must take place before 2025; given the current situation, they are unlikely to be held before the fall,” the expert said.

In a conversation with RT, Vladimir Bruter, an expert at the International Institute for Humanitarian and Political Studies, noted that in the current situation, Rishi Sunak will delay holding general elections in the UK until the last moment.

“He will delay holding elections until the last moment if he believes that this can somehow improve his results. It is worth noting that Rishi Sunak has already taken over the Conservative Party with severely sagging ratings after the premiership of Boris Johnson and the Liz Truss fiasco. So the blame for the current state of affairs does not lie with him alone,” explained RT’s interlocutor.

According to Vladimir Bruter, the Conservatives have failed to fully implement all the promises they made to their voters during the Brexit referendum in 2016. Now their further political future depends on how Labor shows itself in power, the political scientist added.

“If Labor misses the opportunity (as has happened in the past) and fails to create a new economic model for the UK, then perhaps the Conservatives will recover quickly enough to regain power. If Labor can create a new economic landscape in Great Britain, then the Tories may never recover,” the expert emphasized.

However, one should not count on the fact that due to a change in the ruling party in Great Britain, London’s policy towards Russia will radically change, says Vladimir Bruter.

“We shouldn’t rely on anyone but ourselves. There is no point in counting on the fact that anyone in the Anglo-American political elite - Trump or Biden, conservatives or Labor - will have a better attitude towards Russia,” concluded RT’s interlocutor.