The Liberal Democrats will try to force Rishi Sunak into calling a June general election by tabling a motion of no confidence in the government on Tuesday.
Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey will table the motion as soon as parliament returns after a brutal set of local elections for the Conservatives.
The motion is unlikely to pass, as it would need the backing of Conservative MPs to bring down Mr Sunak’s government, but Sir Ed said the PM should not be allowed to “desperately cling on to power”.
The prime minister has repeatedly come under pressure to name the date of the general election, with Labour the the Lib Dems accusing him of “squatting” in Downing Street until he is finally forced to go to the polls.
He has said there will be a general election in the “second half” of 2024, but refused to offer details about when.
The PM is said to have ruled out a summer contest after last week’s local election drubbing, with a vote now likely to take place in October or November.
But Sir Ed said: “These local elections showed the country has had enough of Rishi Sunak and his out-of-touch Conservative Government.
“The Conservatives were pushed into third place for the first time in a generation as Liberal Democrats swept the board in former true blue heartlands.
“Yet Sunak continues to desperately cling on to power, holed up in Downing Street until the bitter end.
“Conservative MPs need to wake up and smell the coffee, and back giving the country the election it so desperately wants and needs. The longer this appalling government stumbles on, the worse it is for the NHS, people’s living standards and our environment.”
Mr Sunak on Sunday admitted the Conservatives will not win the general election, but suggested it was possible Labour would fall short of an outright majority and force a hung parliament.
Mr Sunak pointed to Sky News analysis of the local election results which suggested Labour would be the largest party in a hung parliament. Elections expert Michael Thrasher said that if Labour’s seven point local election lead over the Conservatives was repeated at a general election there would be a hung parliament.
A Tory MP told The Independent it was “wishful thinking”, while Chris Hopkins, political research director at pollster Savanta, said it was “completely disingenuous”.
He told The Independent: “Any suggestion that the country is headed for a hung parliament after this most recent set of local election results is either wilful ignorance and a tactic to show Conservative MPs and supporters that there’s still something to play for, or a genuine misunderstanding of what has just played out across the country.”
Lib Dem environment spokesman Tim Farron hit back at criticism of Tuesday’s no confidence motion as a “waste of time”, joking that it would be the party’s latest campaign stunt opportunity.
He said: “We’re all going to go through the aye lobby painted up like the blue man group , apart from Ed [Davey] who is going to dress up as a big orange bowling ball and skittle us all down. The journalists will love it.”
People wearing inflatable dinosaur costumes with blue Conservative rosettes were at the forefront of the Liberal Democrats’ last election stunt.
Sir Ed could be seen standing alongside the three “Tory” dinosaurs as he made a speech in Winchester.
The costumed individuals held up a banner reading “Make this Conservative Government history”.
