Former Tory MP: ‘Undeniably, Kier is making a mess’ of this government

Amanda Solloway, former Conservative minister, said constituents tell her they regret voting for Labour at the last general election.

The former Minister for Affordability and Skills spoke with GB News’ Nana Akua on the Sunday Interview. She said: “Undeniably, Kier is making a mess out of this. At the minute, this country is not behind a Labour government. I do not think he’s doing a good job.”

“I’m not making excuses for the kind of mess that we made. I’ve acknowledged that publicly. But Labour had a massive majority and an opportunity to do all these brilliant things. But and look at how many U turns we’ve had. Some of the things just don’t make sense.”

On Net Zero policy first introduced by the Conservatives, she said: “There was a cost of living crisis but we’d already made the commitment to Net Zero. It just wasn’t achievable the way we were heading. We were not able to hit those targets.”

“It’s still great to aspire to those things. But actually, we need to be realistic. We need to think about affordability, we need to think about the economy, and we just think about how we just really put the whole of this country first.”

The former Minister for Science said: “I think it’s a balance. I think it’s about being realistic, acknowledging that as human beings, we need to use the energy, we need to be doing all these things, we need to be surviving, we need to be working, but also having an aspiration. Maybe it could be reached in 500 years time. Who knows.”

On the Chagos deal which began under Conservative rule, she said: “I certainly have no idea why they did it. I wasn’t in the room at the time. Maybe I would have said it was madness.”

In the wake of Tory defections to Reform, Mrs Solloway said: “I am Tory through and through. I’m a die-hard. Cut me to the core, and I’m a conservative.”

Mrs Solloway revealed that her father inspired her love of politics. She said: “We used to have lots of political conversations. We used to chat about how various governments could impact our day to day lives.”

“I actually came from quite a chaotic family background, and it wasn’t particularly conventional. But getting into politics gave me an opportunity to really be able to help people and encourage them to think about education and opportunities. That’s the kind of thing that got me really involved in politics- trying to make a difference.”

She first started out knocking on doors, before taking up a role at the local parish council: “It’s the most political thing I’ve ever done! So that was a really interesting. I encourage people across all parties to get involved in politics, because it’s really important that we do have an interest in politics.”

The former MP for Derby North is now working on many community-focused initiatives. Inspired by her own mother’s addiction to prescription drugs, she works on mental health projects. Mrs Solloway also uses her passion for instilling aspiration amongst young people as CEO of a children’s charity.