A government minister has appeared to rule out a May general election because the Conservative Party is not “ready”.
Greg Hands, a former Conservative chairman, was asked whether his party is ready for an election on 2 May to be held in conjunction with local and mayoral elections.
He answered: “No.”
Speaking to Times Radio on Tuesday morning, Hands was first drawn on the Conservative Party’s electoral prospects ahead of the London Mayoral election in May.
He said: “There’s two polls that matter. There’s the one on the 2 May, particularly here in London to get rid of Mayor Sadiq Khan, and then there’s the poll that…”
The Times Radio host interjected, saying: “Your candidate [in London, Susan Hall] is 25 per cent behind against Sadiq Khan. To argue that the Tories are going to win the mayoralship in London is a laughable prospect”.
Hands responded: “No, I disagree with that. I think what you’ll find is that Sadiq Khan is an extremely unpopular politician”.
He added: “You’ll have to see what happens on the second of May. But what I’m saying is that does open up the possibility of a Conservative win in the London mayoralty, and that would build us up quite nicely for the general election later this year, particularly in London”.
Rishi Sunak suggests general election will be in ‘second half of the year’
He was then asked if the Conservative Party was ready for a May election, to which Hands responded: “No”.
Under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, January 2025 is the latest the prime minister could hold an election according to law.
According to the Act, if an election was not called by 17 December 2024, parliament would automatically dissolve and the election would take place 25 working days later.
17 December 2024 is exactly five years since parliament first met after the last general election, held in 2019.
Speaking at the start of January, Sunak said it is his “working assumption” that an election will be held in second half of this year.
“My working assumption is we’ll have a general election in the second half of this year and in the meantime I’ve got lots that I want to get on with”, he insisted.
He added: “I want to keep going, managing the economy well and cutting people’s taxes. But I also want to keep tackling illegal migration”.
“So, I’ve got lots to get on with and I’m determined to keep delivering for the British people.”
When is the next general election? The viable dates Rishi Sunak will be considering
George Osborne has predicted that the next general election will take place on November 14.
The former chancellor has urged voters to “save the date” after he was “told” the date had been worked into No 10’s plans for 2024.
In a recent episode of Political Currency, the podcast he hosts with the former Labour cabinet minister Ed Balls, Osborne said: “We know this is going to be the general election year… Nov 14, save the date.
“A little birdie has told me that the various work programmes required to get ready for a general election have that date singled out. I’m pretty certain that is the date that Downing Street has currently selected”.
An election on 14 November would mean Sunak announcing it at Conservative Party conference in early October.
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