To be, or not to be: that is the question
Next week could be very exciting
With a vote of confidence set for both Humza Yousaf and the SNP government at Holyrood if the rumours at Westminster are true then next week could be the antithesis of boring.
I suspect the rumours will prove to be inaccurate given they were started by Nadine Dorries yesterday and as the Guardian observes
Yet the likelihood of Sunak firing the starting gun on a general election campaign on Monday, which would mean voters going to the ballot box in early June, has been met with bemusement in Tory circles.
David Davis, a former cabinet minister, said the government would be “off its head” to call an election now when it was firmly 20 points behind Labour in the polls.
“It’s going to go distant, sometime in November, maybe even December, to allow some of the economic improvements to come through,” he said. “So no, it would be a suicidal thing to do in political terms.”
Downing Street insiders laughed off the rumour, while Sunak spent the day visiting apprentices in a factory in Stevenage before heading to Chequers, his grace-and-favour country residence, for the weekend.
I still think we will have a UK general election in October/November time but I suspect the prospect of a June election might focus some minds at Holyrood and keep Humza Yousaf and the SNP from the votes of no confidence but this Scottish play has a few more chapters to be written.
I am starting to wonder if there’s value in a December or January election but I hope you all followed my tip last month when I tipped a June election at 22 and July election at 20.
TSE