WHY WE COULD BE HEADING TO THE POLLS AGAIN THIS AUTUMN...

THERE is no satisfying someTory MPs. Fifteen months on from their general election landslide, a smattering of backbenchers are in favour of Boris Johnson facing the voters again before the end of this year.

The idea seems eccentric in the extreme in a party with an 80-strong Commons majority.

Yet the argument of the poll-hungry few is that the Prime Minister needs a new mandate because the unprecedented Covid crisis has wrecked any hope of the Government delivering on its 2019 manifesto tax and spending promises.

Instead, he needs to draw up an extensive post-Covid recovery plan to put before the electorate. Several factors make an autumn general election attractive, according to advocates of the plan. By that point, the entire adult population is due to have been offered a vaccine and a majority will have had two jabs.

There will be no better time to cash in on the success of the vaccine rollout.

Some also argue that an election needs to be triggered before more of the economic impact of the Covid crisis begins to be felt. An autumn poll would come before tax hikes, a fresh surge in unemployment when theTreasury’s furlough scheme ends and a possible inflation spike bite.

Opinion polls also show Labour struggling under Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership and vulnerable to attack. Finally, an early election would helpfully come before the expected public inquiry into the handling of the Covid pandemic that is likely to be uncomfortable for many ministers.

Supporters of a 2021 general election are few and far between. Other MPs recall howTheresa May’s unnecessary election in 2017 backfired. May 2023 still remains the best bet for the Prime Minister to head to Buckingham Palace to request a dissolution of Parliament.

But the fact that some atWestminster are even speculating about an autumn poll suggests they suspect their current popularity might be as good as it gets for the foreseeable future.