The PM draws his last-ditch dividing lines with Labour

Rishi Sunak has finally achieved one of his goals – to make this year’s general election “a real choice”.

- ANDREW GRICE

Until now, Labour has been adept at man-for-man marking the Conservatives on policy, to reassure voters it is safe to support Keir Starmer’s party. Shadow ministers take their titles literally.

This has helped Sunak’s right-wing critics make the ludicrous claim he is not a “real Conservative”.

But in the past week, Sunak has drawn genuine dividing lines with Labour by announcing higher defence spending; seeing his Safety of Rwanda Bill become law; and vowing to end the UK’s “sick-note culture”, partly through a controversial squeeze on disability benefits.

All three moves are designed to appeal to 2019 Tory voters who have abandoned the party. Their timing is deliberate, ahead of Thursday’s local elections – and in part explains why ministers didn’t force the Rwanda legislation through before Christmas.

But the prime minister also had another target audience: the right-wing Tory critics threatening to force a vote of confidence in him as party leader if the council results are bad. They probably will be – not least because the Tories did well when the same seats were last fought in 2021, amid Boris Johnson’s “vaccine bounce”.