Furious Tory MPs tell May: we’ll block snap Brexit election

Cabinet ministers join warning on poll as Amber Rudd leads bid to halt shift to the right

Michael Savage and Toby Helm
Sat 30 Mar 2019 20.59 GMT

Conservative MPs from across the party are threatening to vote down any attempt by Theresa May to lead them into a snap election, warning it would split the Tories and exacerbate the Brexit crisis.

In a sign of the collapse in authority suffered by the prime minister, cabinet ministers are among those warning that there will be a serious campaign by Conservative MPs to vote against an election headed by May, a move she hinted at last week to break the Brexit deadlock.

The threat of an election immediately angered both pro-Brexit and pro-Remain MPs. May would need a two-thirds majority in the Commons to secure one, meaning a serious rebellion by Tories could block it. May would then be forced to secure an election by backing a no-confidence vote in her own government, which only requires a simple majority of MPs.

Foreign Office minister Alan Duncan said: “If we have a general election before Brexit is resolved, it will only make things worse.”

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