James Cleverly slams Labour’s first 6 months and predicts huge Tory comeback in 2029

Britain is suffering as a direct result of Labour’s “ineptitude, arrogance, and hypocrisy”, has declared.

The former Home and Foreign Secretary says the mood of the nation has markedly changed as families reel from an unfolding “disaster”.

A stuttering economy is flirting with recession and anger is mounting that pensioners had fuel payments snatched away during the coldest winter in 15 years.

And Mr Cleverly said the unprecedented chaos unleashed after the General Election has led to buyer’s regret and will see the party kicked out in four years.

In a forensic assessment of life under Sir he said: “The first six months of this Labour government have been a disaster. The British people can see it and the collapse in Labour’s popularity reflects this.

“The country can’t afford another four and half years of this. People are suffering, businesses struggling, our international reputation being damaged.”

On entering Downing Street after Labour won 411 seats at the July 4 ballot Sir Keir declared Britain was experiencing the “sunlight of hope”.

He promised: “My government will serve you, politics can be a force for good…Our country has voted decisively for change, for national renewal and a return of politics to public service.”

But the reality has been distinctly different with his administration mired in sleaze and scandal with “ideologically-driven” policies bringing misery to millions.

Widely-respected Mr Cleverly, 55, who lost the Tory leadership race to Kemi Badenoch, said Labour’s true intentions became clear just 25 days after entering government when Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced she was snatching £300 Winter Fuel Payments from 10 million OAPs.

A refusal to compensate women born in the 1950s for changes, while striking rail unions were rewarded with inflation-busting pay rises, is partly why one in four now regrets voting for them, according to polling by More in Common.

Labour’s raid has seen it tax aspiration by scrapping the 20% VAT exception on private school fees in a move branded “spiteful”, experts warn April’s National Insurance and wage hikes will see thousands of small businesses go to the wall, especially in the shattered social care sector, while malevolent moves to create closer integration with the EU threatens to fly in the face of the 2016 referendum result.

Royal Artillery reservist Mr Cleverly, MP for Braintree since 2015 and whose mother Evelyn was born in Sierra Leone and worked at Lewisham Hospital in south east London, is known for his calm and measured approach.

But the chaos now affecting almost every family in Britain sparked an unprecedented intervention and the claim it would lead to a Tory victory in 2029 as voters come to realise competency is a value that rests with the .

In an evisceration of Labour and the party’s intentions the dad-of-two, whose wife Susannah was diagnosed and treated for breast cancer, said: “This week’s cold weather is a stark reminder that one of the first things Labour did was to strip millions of pensioners of their Winter Fuel Allowance.

“So keen was Rachel Reeves to implement this spiteful and counterproductive policy that she held an emergency fiscal event to do so. A set piece parliamentary event to parade their nastiness, she couldn’t even wait for the Budget to stick the boot in. And while taking money off of old people she took the opportunity to give a huge pay increase to members of a rail union affiliated to (and therefore donors to) the Labour Party.”

And writing exclusively for the Express he promised: “The will hold this useless government to account, highlight their failings, and at the next election put forward a credible alternative that will see them kicked out. “That moment can’t come too soon.”

The roll call of wretchedness that has sparked disillusionment and anger includes slapping inheritance tax on farmers and failure to tackle small boat migrant arrivals, which continue at pace with 36,816 crossing the English Channel last year.

Sir Keir, a former Director of Public Prosecutions, was been on the receiving end of a week-long barrage of attacks from multi-billionaire and X owner , the world’s most influential man and key ally, who used his platform to deliver a series of damaging interventions on Labour, most notably on the grooming gangs scandal.

Pressure has mounted on the PM to act after safeguarding minister Jess Phillips denied requests for the Home Office to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in Oldham.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of British Industry, which speaks for 200,000 businesses, warned the economy is “headed for the worst of all worlds”, with activity set to fall through the floor.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed the economy contracted by 0.1 per cent in October, attributed by experts to jitters caused by the Chancellor’s financial statement, Labour’s first in 14 years.

To cap the miserable outlook, the pound has slumped to its lowest level in more than a year, with Institute of Economic Affairs fellow Julian Jessop saying: “The first thing Labour has done is knock the economy to the floor. The UK’s long-term government borrowing costs have hit the highest level since 1998.”

Deputy Prime Minister said she understood the mood but the Government had faced “significant challenges” in its first months in office.

Labour would lose its majority and nearly 200 seats if a General Election was held now, a More in Common mega poll suggests.

Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said: “The warning lights for the British economy are flashing ever brighter.

“The highest gilt yields in 27 years [are] yet more evidence Labour have driven our economy into a ditch. They talked it down. They taxed the life out of it. They’ve racked up borrowing. They killed growth. Now we are all paying the price with higher inflation, fewer jobs and lower wages.”