Michael Gove has suggested there is still time for the Conservatives to stage a late comeback and win the election, claiming: “We’re not in ‘Fergie time’ yet.” Opinion polls overnight suggested the Conservatives were heading for a historic defeat on 4 July. Speaking to Sky News on Thursday morning, the levelling up secretary said: “There are opinion polls, as I’ve acknowledged and as we both know, that are not great, but it’s not the 90th minute, we’re not in ‘Fergie time’ yet.” The reference is to the reputation of Manchester United under its former manager Alex Ferguson for staging dramatic wins deep into injury time. During the team’s success in the 1990s and early 2000s, rival fans became convinced that referees were allowing United more stoppage time to score unlikely winners or equalisers.
Gove said: “There is still an opportunity for us to make these arguments and as we make these arguments … my experience is that when you do talk to voters, outline some of the tax dangers, outline some of Labour’s plans for the future, then people do think twice and people do recognise that by voting Conservative you are both ensuring that there is a strong Conservative voice in parliament, but also you are doing everything you can to prevent a series of tax increases that won’t just hit pensioners and first-time buyers, but also will hit the economy in the guts.” He added: “I’m a Scotland fan, so you wait until the final whistle. Sometimes it looks as though the odds are against you, but you keep on fighting.” Speaking later on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Gove attempted to stoke fears about tax rises under Labour. He said: “One of the concerns that I have is that Labour will increase council tax. I do think that they will introduce additional council tax bands. And I think that’s one other tax change that they will make, alongside the retirement tax that they have in mind, and alongside changes to business taxation, will choke off investment.”
The polling expert Prof John Curtice told Today: “In terms of vote share, the Conservatives are at the moment heading for their worst performance since the first world war.” He pointed out that the Conservatives may not even quite reach “their lowest ever number of seats in the House of Commons, which was 156 all the way back in 1906”.