A landslide Labour victory could allow Sir Keir Starmer to ‘rig the system’ and create a ‘forever government’, Michael Gove warned.
The Levelling Up Secretary said securing a supermajority could embolden the Labour leader to revive his pledge to give EU citizens the vote, alongside his controversial plan to lower the voting age to 16.
The Tories have been rocked by a series of polls in recent days pointing to a Conservative wipeout.
One suggested the Tories would be reduced to just 53 seats, while the most favourable predicted they would win 155, fewer than half their current total.
Tory strategists have quietly begun withdrawing resources from what were once considered safe seats to focus on the very safest.
Some candidates defending majorities of more than 10,000 have been warned they will be left to fend for themselves.
Rishi Sunak has also been focusing his visits on increasingly safe seats.
On a trip to Devon this week he campaigned for the former attorney general Sir Geoffrey Cox, who secured more than 60 per cent of the vote in 2019.
A Tory source said: ‘Everyone can see the polls and obviously you adjust resources accordingly.’
Mr Gove said the Tories were the clear underdogs and a Tory win looked to be ‘a stretch’.
But he urged voters not to hand Sir Keir unchecked power, telling Sky News: ‘What’s to stop them giving votes to EU citizens, 16-year-olds, prisoners, and making sure they could be a forever government?’
‘All of these are things we know Labour have entertained in the past. My concern is they would use their power to entrench themselves.
He added: ‘As a general rule, democracy is better when you have a vigorous opposition and a strong, independent media.
‘I don’t believe that Keir Starmer, on the basis of his past, would welcome a vigorous, independent media holding Labour to account.’
Mr Gove blamed Liz Truss’s brief reign for the party’s woes, saying: ‘The reputation for sound economic management, which is essential to Conservative success, took a bit of a knock in the period between Boris and Rishi.’
But he insisted there was still a ‘small chance’ of a late resurgence.
‘There are still a significant number of people who are undecided,’ he said. ‘Will they all break for us? Experience would suggest not but you’ve got to believe that it is possible.’