‘Labour will suffer if May calls early election’
DEPUTY Leader and Black Country MP Tom Watson has suggested Labour could get a thumping at the next general election under leader Jeremy Corbyn.
Mr Watson, Labour MP for West Bromwich East, predicted new Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May would be tempted to call an early election – and “in all likelihood” she would “come back with a bigger majority”.
In theory, a new election is not needed until May 2020 but there has been speculation Mrs May could attempt to go to the polls early to capitalise on chaos in the Labour Party.
In the May 2015 election, Conservatives won 330 seats and Labour won 232. Tories currently have a majority of 12.
Mr Watson said: “I think it’s highly likely there’ll be an early election.
“I mean, if you’re Theresa May, with a majority of 12, with your Brexit fanatics already saying you’re not going quickly enough to get us out of the European Union... and with a double-digit lead in the polls, then even though on day one you might not think you’re going to have an early election, I think it’s almost inevitable you’ll get to a point where you have to.
“If you were Theresa May, why wouldn’t you?
“You’d get your own mandate, you’d have the easiest run at the election you could imagine, and in all likelihood you’d come back with a bigger majority. “Why wouldn’t you do that?” Labour is holding a leadership contest in which the candidates are current leader Jeremy Corbyn and former shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith.
Unison General Secretary Dave Prentis said that the Tories were once known as the “nasty party” and warned: “Now it’s Labour, in a different way, that’s looking like the ‘nasty party’ – and it needs to stop.
“Or Labour will also face more wasted years in the wilderness.”