General election result is not a foregone conclusion, Sunak says

The prime minister said he was “absolutely determined to fight” in the run-up to polling day to show the government was making a difference to people’s lives on issues including the economy and migration.

Yet many of Sunak’s MPs are despondent about the party’s chances of retaining power at the general election, expected this autumn, despite the government’s attempts to spin the local results as showing a hung parliament is likely.

During a visit to a community centre in north London on Sunday, Sunak doubled down on his theory that no individual party would hold a majority after the election – the first time he has admitted the Tories may not win outright.

“The independent analysis shows that whilst of course this was a disappointing weekend for us, the result of the next general election isn’t a foregone conclusion and indeed actually … the situation is closer than many people are saying or indeed some of the opinion polls are predicting.”

Sunak ducked questions about Tory MPs urging him to move rightwards to win back voters, after his former home secretary Suella Braverman said his “plan is not working” and he had to change course or the party would face wipeout at the election.

Sunak will this week attempt to get back on the front foot, highlighting a series of economic announcements including that the UK is expected to emerge from recession, which he hopes will show that the economy is finally turning a corner.