Sir Ed Davey has said he will table a motion of no confidence in the Government in an attempt to force an early general election, after Rishi Sunak abandoned plans for a Summer poll.
Sir Ed will table the motion as soon as Parliament returns tomorrow in a bid to capitalise on the party’s significant local election gains.
With the LibDems beating the Tories into third place over the weekend, Sir Ed is confident of electoral victory in the so-called Blue Wall at the election whenever Rishi Sunak calls it.
Sir Ed said: “These local elections showed the country has had enough of Rishi Sunak and his out-of-touch Conservative Government.
“The Conservatives were pushed into third place for the first time in a generation as Liberal Democrats swept the board in former true blue heartlands.
“Yet Sunak continues to desperately cling on to power, holed up in Downing Street until the bitter end.
“Conservative MPs need to wake up and smell the coffee, and back giving the country the election it so desperately wants and needs. The longer this appalling government stumbles on, the worse it is for the NHS, people’s living standards and our environment.”
The move comes as Downing Street reportedly abandons any thought of holding a poll this Summer after the Tories’ local election wipeout.
This morning the Telegraph says Downing Street has nailed down an Autumn vote rather than any sooner, after the Prime Minister repeatedly failed to rule out a summer election.
No. 10 sources suggested that had a plot to oust Mr Sunak emerged following the local election results, it could have forced Mr Sunak into dissolving parliament earlier.
However Tory rebels now seem to have abandoned plans for a leadership change, with both Suella Braverman and Dame Andrea Jenkyns saying it is too late.
Mr Sunak will also be banking on improvements to interest rates and the economy before allowing the public their say, meaning he is incentivised to ‘go long’.
A PM hasn’t lost a vote of confidence since Jim Callaghan in 1979, whose minority government lost the support of the SNP and ushered in 18 years of Tory rule under Margaret Thatcher and John Major.
While Tory MPs are unhappy with their party’s leadership, it’s highly unlikely any would refuse to back Mr Sunak in a vote of confidence.
