Welsh secretary David TC Davies said: “If the polls are even half right, Keir Starmer will walk into Downing Street.”
His remarks, in an interview with The Sun’s ‘Never Mind The Ballots’ show, are the furthest any senior Conservative has gone in admitting the party is heading for a crushing defeat.
They also contradict Rishi Sunak, who has repeatedly insisted that he could be re-elected prime minister, despite all of the polling evidence to the contrary.
Labour has enjoyed a lead of around 20 points for months, and that has not narrowed at all during the first month of the election campaign.
An Ipsos UK poll last night said Starmer’s party are on course for a thumping 256-seat majority.
Davies said: “I look at the opinion polls right, can’t hide, can’t run away.
“They don’t always get it right. They never get it 100% right. But they’re clearly pointing at a large Labour majority. I don’t know how large that will be. But you know, I’m not stupid either. You cannot dismiss every single opinion poll.”
The ministers remarks are also a tacit admission that the Conservatives’ attempts to scare voters into not voting Labour are likely to fail.
Senior party figures have spent recent days begging voters not to hand Labour “super-majority” by making sure there is a strong enough Tory opposition in the next parliament.
However, it appears that with just two weeks to go until polling day, those pleas are falling on deaf ears.