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Election 2024: Sunak has only visited five top Tory at-risk seats

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Several candidates allegedly have declined to have Sunak come to their prospective constituencies to campaign.
Several candidates allegedly have declined to have Sunak come to their prospective constituencies to campaign.

Rishi Sunak has only campaigned in five of 45 constituencies where Cabinet members and other prominent Tory politicians are at risk of losing their seats, according to an analysis of his campaign route.

The Prime Minister has visited Central Devon, where a poll commissioned by Best for Britain puts Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride in second place with a margin of 6.94.

Sunak has also visited Melksham and Devizes, where Science Secretary Michelle Donelan is predicted to win with just 7.8 points between her and second place, and Suffolk Coastal, where Tory candidate Therese Coffey is expected to lose with a margin of 5.5, the poll shows.

He also visited Stoke-on-Trent North, where the poll puts Jonathan Gullis as the loser with a margin of 17.79, and his own seat of Richmond and Northallerton, where the Prime Minister is set to retake his seat with a margin of 6.89.

He has not visited the other 40 constituencies identified as of Friday.

Best for Britain pointed to a report from the Daily Mail that several candidates have declined to have Sunak come to their prospective constituencies to campaign.

Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, said: “Sunak’s problem is that even his own party doesn’t want him around, let alone the public.

“We need a clean break from him, his party, and the damage they have caused over the past 14 years, and the best way voters can ensure the Tories are locked out of power for at least a decade is by voting tactically.”

A poll commissioned by the group shows that one-third of the 45 are being won or lost by the Conservative candidate by a margin of less than 5 per cent.

Victoria Prentis is expected to win, but just 0.67 points separate her from second place in her seat of Banbury, while John Glen is predicted to lose in Salisbury with a margin of just 0.4 points, the poll shows.

Best for Britain is behind the GetVoting.org campaign, which makes tactical voting recommendations in a bid to deal the heaviest possible defeat to the Conservative Party.

The group bills itself as “fixing the problems Britain faces after Brexit”.

The data on which seats are at risk is based on polling and analysis of 22,149 people by Survation between May 31 and June 13.

Press Association, Helen Corbett