A snap poll of voters suggests that failure to deal with NHS waiting lists was the biggest reason voters kicked the Tories out, while a snap poll revealed a number of Tory mistakes
Rishi Sunak’s failure to settle NHS strikes could have proved fatal for the Tories, pollsters believe.
A top expert said the health service was “the story of the election” as fed-up voters decided enough was enough. A third of voters believe failing to tackle waiting lists was among the biggest mistakes he made, according to a snap poll.
The Conservatives were punished for the state of the NHS, despite it being “underplayed” during the campaign, analysis suggests. Luke Tryl, director of More in Common, said: “The NHS is undeniably the story of this election. And I could have told you that from many, focus groups… everyone had a story about a family member who was struggling on a waiting list.”
He went on: “The most powerful things in politics are things that people can relate to personally, and the NHS is there.” It raises questions about whether Mr Sunak could have prevented the mauling if he’d addressed strikes.
Scroll down to see what voters thought Mr Sunak’s biggest failures were
Mr Tryl said Mr Sunak might have been able to prevent some of the damage by listening to former Boris Johnson aide Dominic Cummings. Mr Cummings claimed he advised Mr Sunak to settle the NHS pay dispute – which led to thousands of medics and staff walking out repeatedly – as a priority.
Mr Tryl said: “There was a lot of discussion about the NHS during the campaign but perhaps it was slightly underplayed during the pre-match analysis as to how much of a driver of votes it was.
“When you ask what Rishi Sunak’s biggest mistake, failing on the NHS comes out top. You have to wonder if Sunak followed Dominic Cummings’ advice and settled the NHS strikes on day one whether we’d be in a slightly different situation or whether the scale of those defeats might have been minimised.”
When asked what Mr Sunak’s top three worst mistakes were in Government, 33% highlighted failure to waiting lists – the top answer. A further 23% said it was failing to stop Channel crossings, while the same number said it was his failure to tackle the cost of living crisis.
People were asked by More in Common to name the former Prime Minister’s three biggest mistakes. They said:
Failing to reduce NHS waiting lists – 33%
Failing to bring down illegal Channel crossings – 23%
Failing to respond to the cost of living crisis – 23%
Leaving D-Day commemorations early – 18%
Taking too long to deal with ministers who had acted badly – 13%
Committing to the policy to send some immigrants to Rwanda – 13%
Appointing Suella Braverman as Home Secretary – 12%
Delaying some of our climate targets – 11%
Getting fined during Partygate for breaking lockdown rules – 10%
Don’t know – 10%
Not achieving economic growth – 10%
Calling the election early – 9%
Backing Boris Johnson for too long – 9%
Management of the Conservative Party – 9%
A crackdown on sickness and disability benefits – 8%
Playing a role in removing Boris Johnson as Prime Minister – 7%
Introducing the Eat Out to Help Out scheme – 7%
Scrapping the extension of High Speed 2 – 7%
Increased Government spending during Covid – 6%
His response to party members gambling on the election – 5%
Cutting national insurance contributions – 4%
Legislation to ban smoking and disposable vapes – 3%
None of these – 3%
The polling found 18% thought leaving D-Day commemorations during the campaign was his biggest error. And more than one in 10 – 12% – said appointing Suella Braverman as Home Secretary was a mistake.
Asked why they thought the Tories had lost, 69% – including 48% of Conservative voters – thought it was because they were incompetent. Mr Tryl said: “Overwhelmingly it’s a feeling that the Conservatives weren’t competent. This was an election that was lost on trust, competence and delivery rather than a particular particular ideological wing of the Conservative Party.”
Of those who voted Labour, 55% said they were attracted by NHS and health policies. Elsewhere analysis of last week’s result showed the Tories were only ahead of Labour among people aged over 62.
