Hamed Chapman

A higher proportion of non-white voters reject the Tories even more than those aged between 18-24, the age group most hostile to the governing party, an analysis of the last general election has found.

If the ruling does not change ethnic minority perceptions quickly, seats once thought of as strongholds will become unwinnable and a parliamentary majority will be even more difficult to achieve, according to Onward, a new campaigning thinktank of the centre-right.

“Britain is a melting pot of different ethnicities and cultures, and the Conservative Party simply must do more to keep up,” Onward Director, Will Tanner warned, that the Tories face losing as many as 28 more seats by 2031 unless the party can change its image.

Between 2010 and 2015, the Conservative Party managed to increase its share of the non-white vote from 16 per cent to 23 per cent. But this number fell back to just 19 per cent in 2017, Ipsos Mori found.

Compared to 29 per cent of 18-24-year-olds, just 24 per cent of black and ethnic minority voters think the Tories are on their side. This compared with 53 per cent who think that Labour are.

During the 1980s, the Labour Party regularly polled 90 per cent of black voters, and Conservatives only succeeded in winning a fraction of what was analysed as the British Indian-origin vote as late as 1987.

The continuing challenge to the Government was described as the biggest statistical driver of not voting Conservative is being non-white.