Andrew Griffith: No it wasn’t a good night for us but there’s plenty of reasons to stay calm, focussed and determined

Andrew Griffith is the Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade.

There’s no getting away from it – Thursday night was a bitter disappointment. As well as seeing the conservatives receding from the high watermark of the 2021 local elections, witnessing so many hardworking conservative councillors lose their seats was painful to see.

The general election last year was a complete drubbing – a savage, historic defeat. So it’s no surprise that, not even a year later, we have much more to do to prove to voters that our party is changing under new leadership. We are in the early foothills of a long-term plan to renew our party and win back trust. Clearly, there is a long way to go and the electorate were never going to rush to reverse their verdict of last year.

Throughout the campaign, I joined activists and councillors across the country completely dedicated to the party. Friends, colleagues and countrymen, committed to the cause were dealt a cruel and indiscriminate hand.

If there is one thing I want to say to those who lost their seats, or put their heart into campaigning for friends and colleagues only for them to lose theirs: I am sorry. I know how hard you worked, but it was not in vain. We all know most Conservative councils deliver better services for lower taxes, and we will be back working hard for local residents up and down the country.

Despite the difficult results, there are some signs for optimism. Firstly, the engagement of committed Conservatives who are hungry to get Keir Starmer out and win once more was a sight to behold. I cannot remember when there was last such a strong and motivated turn out of our activists. It’s certainly been many years.

The CCHQ stats stand it up. Millions of conversations were had during the campaign, the highest volume of data we’ve collected in any local election campaign in the last decade.

It was a disappointing night, but it is not the end of the road for hardworking Conservatives who lost their seats. We are on a long journey of rebuilding, rewiring and renewing the party fit for the next general election. And our committed councillors are still key to transforming the party to be the world class campaigning machine we need it to be so we can get back into power, delivering for the country.

Secondly, it was a brutal referendum on the leadership of Keir Starmer. Just eight months into his premiership, the shine has long since come off. He’s turned the loveless landslide into a ceiling of labour support. The electorate aren’t stupid and recall the countless scandals they have been engulfed in and every disastrous policy attempt: the winter fuel payment, the jobs tax, the Chagos islands, the union payouts and so much more.

Taxes are at record highs, and so is the discontent with Keir Starmer. It is clearer than ever why we must get him out, and it’s not just ConHome readers who think that. It’s the whole country. A conservative win for my friend Paul Bristow against a Labour incumbent in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough on a difficult night was a glimmer of hope and shows that we can be a credible alternative to Labour. Just eight months ago we lost two MPs there, but now we are taking back control in their back yard.

Thursday’s results show that Keir Starmer is on course to be a one term prime minister. Britain just can’t afford two terms of Starmer. I’ve met businesses around the country who are all saying the same thing – this is the most anti-business government many can remember. He and the chancellor started off by trash talking the economy so they could raise taxes to record highs and it has only been downhill from there. Growth, inflation and living standards all moving in the wrong direction because of his war on business and private enterprise.

One of Starmer’s freshly minted mayors wasted no time in criticising his leadership. Her very first move upon re-election was to publicly criticise his failing government, particularly his cruel decision to snatch the winter fuel payment from 10 million pensioners which Conservatives have opposed in Parliament every step of the way.

Because we are the ones doing the hard yards in Parliament, holding this dreadful Labour government to account and forcing them into concessions. In debates on veterans, two tier justice, the jobs tax, the (un)employment bill and other important issues – Reform MPs are not the ones making the running.

Having a parliamentary party the same size as the number of digits on one hand does not make you the real opposition.

Only we are the Conservative party, the heirs of Thatcher and Churchill and the deliverers of Brexit.  Some parties will say anything to get elected but time has a funny habit of finding out such inconsistency or lack of clear principle.

It is a long journey back into power, and part of that is recognising the mistakes we made in government. Already the Conservative party under new management has started to amend its policy positions from net zero to football governance, getting back to our philosophical heritage of the state as servant not master.

But above all, the country has shown clearly it does not want two terms of Keir Starmer in Downing street. Kemi Badenoch and we Conservatives are in the process of rebuilding and renewing so that we will be ready to rise to that challenge in 2029.

We are the only credible opposition and serving our constitutional apprenticeship of getting ready to be a government in waiting.

I want all of you on that journey with us.