Rishi Sunak has wasted tens of millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money by chickening out of a May election. The PM still refuses to say when he will go to the polls - but has ruled out holding a general
election on May 2, the same day as local elections, as
Labour did for every election when they were last in power. Doing so would save the country around £33.2m, according to the Mirror’s analysis of previous election costs. Meanwhile it was revealed by-elections to replace the Tory MPs who quit since 2019 had cost the nation more than £4 million. It comes as the beleaguered PM faced fresh moves to oust him after another disastrous week. “ Rishi Sunak has chickened out of a general election this May and it’ll cost taxpayers dearly,” Angela Rayner , Labour’s Deputy Leader, said. “After 14 years of Tory failure, the
British public has the right to expect an election in May. The longer this Tory chaos goes on, the more it will cost working people and our public services. While the NHS , schools, and transport crumble on the Conservatives’ watch, Rishi Sunak’s weakness means we are locked in a never ending spiral of chaos, waste and higher taxes. Nothing will change without a change of government.” General
elections held on the same day as local elections enable the government to combine admin tasks, use the same polling stations and reduce duplication of work. The last time local and general elections were held on the same day was 2015, with the general election elements costing £114.7million to run. The following election, held in June, just a month after the local elections, cost the nation £140.8million. Adjusted for inflation, the difference between the two would amount to £33.2million today. That’s enough to pay the average annual salary for 100 nurses or 880 qualified teachers. It would more than cover the cost of extending the Government’s National School Breakfast programme for another year to 2025. Alternatively it could pay the salary of every sitting Tory MP for a year. Meanwhile, Mr Sunak faces another challenge to his authority from his own MPs, who fear the party face oblivion if he leads them into the next election. Moderate Tories reportedly met in secret with right-wingers to plot replacing him with Penny Mordaunt if the party suffer heavy losses in the local elections. Tories are said to be rallying around Penny Mordaunt ( Image: Getty Images) It’s thought the Tories could lose as many as half of their council seats in the local poll - dramatically reducing their grassroots campaigning capacity for the general election. Meanwhile, Tory sources said Mr Sunak ruling out a May 2 election had been a catalyst, re-igniting plots to remove him. One Tory source said Mr Sunak dithered on the timing for so long because he wanted to go in May, but was talked out of it. "They've given up," they said. "He wants it to be over." A former minister said: "Everything was lined up for May 2, but he bottled it at the last minute. The moment he said there would be no election on May 2, that's when the plotting started." Tory MPs still question whether Mr Sunak will make it to an election later in the year without being ousted - but don't see a clear successor or way to remove him. Moderate Tories reportedly met in secret with right-wingers to plot replacing him with Penny Mordaunt if the party suffer heavy losses in the local elections. And the string of disasters for the PM in last fortnight - a lacklustre budget, a
racism row and the defection of former deputy chair Lee Anderson to Reform
UK - are said to have sharpened opinion among Tory MPs. More are said to have rowed in behind Simon Clarke, who warned in January that the party was heading towards an "iceberg". The cost of chickening out of the May election could be as high as £33.2million ( Image: AFP via Getty Images) A source said: "More MPs have put letters of no confidence in. But critically, many more are now open to the idea of replacing him than they were." Ms Rayner added: “The public is desperate for change and Labour stands ready to deliver it. The Prime Minister needs to name the date of the election now." An unprecedented nine Tory MPs have quit or been forced out of their seats in the 18 months since Mr Sunak became Prime Minister - costing the nation more than £4million. Government figures suggest that between 2021 and 2023 the average cost to the taxpayer of running a by-election was £450,000. So the unprecedented 9 Tory by-elections seen since 2019 - not including those triggered when an MP died - would have cost around £4.05million. The 9 by-elections includes the recall that ousted Peter Bone and the resignation of disgraced Chris Pincher. And it includes
Boris Johnson and Nadine Dorries vacating their seats. Helen Morgan, the Liberal Democrat Communities spokesperson branded the Tories’ management of local government funding a “shambles.” She said: “Conservative MPs are adding millions to DLUHC’s costs thanks to their inability to stay out of scandal. This sleaze ridden party has proven itself totally unfit for office.” It comes as analysis of the small print of Jeremy Hunt ’s Budget by the Lib Dems , who hold their Spring Conference in York, reveals the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ (DLUHC) funding is set to be cut almost in half in real terms. The party are set to pass a motion calling on the government to close the £4bn funding shortfall currently estimated for Councils by the DLUHC Committee.