Rishi Sunak urged not to escalate culture wars in a bid to avoid annihilation of conservatives

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Rishi Sunak is facing calls from his own party not to escalate the culture wars that are dividing the electorate as he considers policies on small boats and crime in a bid to stave off electoral annihilation.

Government sources have made it clear that the Prime Minister intends to have more "crispy" policy arguments around areas such as immigration , where the Tories believe Labor is weak, in the coming months.

But they have indicated he would balk at a fight over trans rights, a move that risks disappointing the right wing in his party.

It comes amid warnings he is 'doomed to lose power' if he does not change course before the next general election.

A senior Tory has told The Independent that he feared a series of "dog whistles" on culture war issues from his own party ahead of the election.

A series of by-elections on Thursday saw the Prime Minister lose two safe seats in a double beating. After Labor overturned a majority of 20,000 to deliver a historic by-election victory, while the Liberal Democrats took another once secure seat, a former Tory cabinet minister told The Independent: 'The party is over.'

The party, however, retained Boris Johnson's former seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip on the outskirts of London, after the Tory campaign focused on the much-hated Ulez plan , from the Labor Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, to blame people for more pollution. cars. Chris Skidmore, the government's net zero czar, said it would be an 'abdication' of responsibility if ministers were to 'play politics' with environmental policies.

The Tory MP said: 'The UK has been an international leader in climate action and cutting our emissions while growing our economy. We have done this by ensuring we phase out the politics of climate change, which affects us all no matter who is in power.

Bim Afol friend, a Tory MP who backed Mr Sunak for...