©UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor

Labour could be in power for 20 years if voters get election ‘wrong’, says minister

Labour could be in power for 20 years if voters get the election “wrong”, a Conservative minister has warned.

Sir Mark Spencer, the farming minister and Conservative candidate in Sherwood Forest, said Labour would “change the voting system” if it wins power in order to boost its chances of remaining in office at future elections.

“That is why we are out there fighting for every single vote right up to polling day”, he said.

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Spencer told Times Radio: “There are people out there who have serious concerns about what a Labour government will do, about how they will tax working people up and down the country and, of course, how if we get a Labour government they could be there for a very long time.

“Because of course they will change the voting system, they will make sure that they give votes to 16 year-olds, they have talked about giving votes to foreign nationals, to EU nationals.” 

He added: “We could end up with a Labour government for 20 years if we get this wrong at this general election.”

Labour has pledged in its election manifesto to give 16 and 17 year-olds the right to vote in all elections.

The comments echo those of the prime minister today as he warns that Labour leader Keir Starmer would change the voting system to “entrench his power”.

Rishi Sunak has attacked Starmer for vowing in his manifesto to lower the voting age from 18 to 16 — saying it was designed to be “electorally helpful to him”.

He told the Daily Mail: “I think that tells you [Keir Starmer] thinks that it is electorally helpful to him. We talked about the risks of Labour in power and what they would do. This is an example of it… just kind of entrenching his power. And I think that tells you a lot about him and the Labour Party.”

On Monday, after Nigel Farage’s Reform UK launched its manifesto, the Conservatives warned that a vote for Reform risked putting Labour in power for a “generation”.

A spokesperson said: “If you’re thinking about voting for Reform, and a generation under Labour scares you, there’s only one way to prevent it: vote Conservative.”

Last week, defence secretary Grant Shapps urged voters not to hand Labour a “super majority” at the general election.

Asked about the Conservatives’ social media adverts which suggest the party could be reduced to just 57 seats in the next parliament, the defence secretary warned that Keir Starmer could possess “unchecked” power in government as he made the case for a “proper system of accountability”.

He said: “I think the simple point is that if you want to make sure that in this next government, whoever forms it, that there is a proper system of accountability, then we would argue that you don’t want to have somebody receive a super majority.”

He added: “And in this case, of course, the concern would be that if Keir Starmer were to go into No 10 — it will either be Rishi Sunak or Keir Starmer, there is no other outcome to this election — and if that power was in some way unchecked it would be very bad news for people in this country.”

Shapps said this would amount to “a blank cheque approach, allowing someone to do anything they wanted, particularly when their particular set of plans are so vague.”

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