Sunak focuses on tax and welfare as No10 dismisses snap election speculation
Rishi Sunak will push his plans for welfare reforms and tax cuts in a bid to keep his leadership afloat as he faces threats of challenges from his own party.
The PM goes into a tough week of local election battles reeling from the defection of former Tory minister Dan Poulter, who joined Labour in protest of the Government’s NHS management.
No10 sources played down the impact of Dr Poulter’s defection on the PM and he is said to be focusing on promoting recent policy announcements – denying suggestions Mr Sunak is planning to call a snap election to defy the rebels.
But the PM is facing threats from multiple wings of his party with rebels poised to challenge his leadership in the event of bad local election results.
He will be out campaigning on Monday highlighting his long-term plan to overhaul the benefit system as well as promoting the recently-announced cuts to National Insurance.
Mr Sunak will be hoping these, and other, significant policy interventions in recent weeks will be enough to convince voters not to abandon his party in droves both in Thursday’s elections and the national poll later in the year.
He will also be reaching out to MPs to shore up support and urging them to focus on Government progress in certain policy areas.
But Westminster will be watching the results of the mayoral battles in the West Midlands and Tees Valley closely, where Andy Street and Lord Ben Houchen are fighting to survive.
One Tory insider said that even a loss in one of these contests could be enough to trigger a rebellion against the PM.
Both races are said to be close but the latest polling has indicated Mr Street could be at risk of being ousted. The insider said losing Mr Street could leave Mr Sunak’s premiership on shaky ground.
Rebels are understood to be preparing for a challenge against the PM following the results, with insiders believing it would be the final chance to oust Mr Sunak before the general election to install a more favourable leader.
There is also a push for Mr Sunak to bring back Boris Johnson in the national election campaign in a bid to appeal to 2019 Tory voters who are moving away from the party.
The two are said to be in talks about the prospect but it is not clear what role Mr Johnson would take.
On Sunday Mr Sunak refused, again, to rule out holding a snap election in July when pressed repeatedly by Sky News.
But No10 dismissed reports he would call a vote on Monday to derail looming rebellions.
A Downing Street source said: “The PM has made clear that his working assumption is that the election will be held in the second half of the year.
“In the meantime we’re focused on delivering for people right across the country, and in the last two weeks alone we’ve introduced transformational welfare reform, passed the toughest bit of legislation to crack down on illegal migration and have provided the biggest strengthening to our defence in a generation.”
Mr Sunak signalled he could wait for economic improvements to come through which would suggest an election later in the year.
“I’m determined to make sure that people feel when the election comes that the future is better, that we have turned the corner,” he said.
