The Conservatives are “heading for defeat” under Rishi Sunak, Suella Braverman has warned.
The former home secretary called on the prime minister to “change course” before it is too late.
She said that meant cutting taxes, introducing tougher immigration policies and tackling extremism.
Speaking to LBC this morning, Braverman said: “The state of the party is not a good one and I’ve been urging [Rishi Sunak] for some time to change course and to take measures to lower legal migration, to take measures on hate marches and extremism in the UK.
“I’m very concerned about what poll after poll demonstrates. It’s my job to speak honestly, to speak the truth even if it may be uncomfortable.
“The honest truth is that we are heading for a defeat, to put it mildly, at the general election.”
She added: “I very much hope that we change course and that we improve the offer to the British people. Ultimately, measures on tax cuts, measures on migration, measures on national security and social cohesion and extremism are insufficient by this government.
“We need to go further, we need to demonstrate to the British people that we’re on their side, that we’re serious about stopping the boats, that we’re actually serious about curbing unprecedented levels of illegal migration and unfortunately we haven’t been able to do that.”
The former home secretary also cast doubt on Sunak’s claim last week that he would be willing to take the UK out of the European Convention on Human Rights if it meant getting deportation flights to Rwanda off the ground.
She said: “I was calling to leave the ECHR back in 2022. When I was home secretary I was constantly urging the prime minister to take bolder action and go further. He did regularly disagree with me on many of the suggestions that I made to him.
“My view does still stand that to ultimately regain control of our borders properly and faithfully to the British people, we do need to ultimately leave the ECHR.”
She said that would allow the UK to “take back control of our laws, take back control of our borders [and] design a new domestic human rights framework that properly reflects the needs of the British people”.