PM ‘should go long’ with autumn general election

RISHI Sunak “should go long” and call an autumn general election, members of the 1922 Committee executive have urged.

Eighteen Conservative MPS on the ruling body of the backbench group held their termly meeting with the Prime Minister on Monday night when some reportedly warned him against a snap May poll.

Senior Labour figures are insisting the Tories are planning to hold the election in the spring despite trailing Sir Keir Starmer’s party by about 20 points.

Mr Sunak has said an autumn election is “the working assumption” but refused to rule out May, prompting renewed speculation.

One member of the executive said: “He should go long. The economy will pick up, Labour will be challenged more and they could come unstuck. There is nothing to lose going later.”

A second member insisted there was a “wide difference of views on what is the right time for anything”, adding: “The election is obviously a decision for the Prime Minister.”

Martin Vickers, Tory MP for Cleethorpes who also sits on the executive, signalled at the start of this year he believed Mr Sunak would need as much time as possible before going to the polls.

“There is a path to victory, but it is a very narrow one,” he told The Observer in January.

Inflation is now forecast to fall below the Bank of England’s two per cent target within months, while a later election would also allow National Insurance cuts to have more of an impact.

Downing Street sources have signalled Labour is deliberately predicting a May election so it can claim that Mr Sunak had “bottled it” if he were to wait until the autumn.

An autumn election is most likely to be held in October or November.