Rishi Sunak will urge his fractured party colleagues to “pull together” as he prepares to appear before them at a meeting of backbench MPs.
Mr Sunak is preparing to call on Tory MPs to unite behind him as rumours swirl of a plot to depose him ahead of the local elections.
He is likely to use the financial trouble of Labour-run Birmingham council as a rallying cry for the May 2 elections, where residents in 107 local authorities across England go to the polls.
Asked what the prime minister’s message would be to backbench Tories, the Prime Minister’s press secretary told reporters: “He will be talking about the local elections and [will say] we have got to pull together to make sure Labour don’t do what they have done to Britain, what they have done to Birmingham.”
Birmingham City Council declared effective bankruptcy last year and faces an outstanding bill of £1bn as well as the requirement to find £300m of savings over the next two years.
The Labour council have been forced to raise taxes by 21 per cent, and residents will see cuts to their bin collections and dimmed streetlights.
Mr Sunak’s spokesperson said the prime minister plans to use Birmingham as a means of rallying the troops, calling on them to unite to keep Labour out: “As the PM said, (there have been) eye-watering tax rises, bins uncollected, massive cuts to the arts in Birmingham — it is truly… worse than in the 1970s under Labour leadership there.
“So he will be talking about that” at the meeting of the 1922 Committee, which is a meeting point for all Tory MPs who are not ministers.
Asked whether Mr Sunak was concerned that the Tories had not been working well together, his spokeswoman replied: “He wants everyone going into these local elections taking about the Labour Party’s poor record in Birmingham, Wales and London, and that will be the focus of the Conservatives as we go into these important local elections.”
Leader of the House of Commons Penny Mordaunt has been rumoured as a potential Conservative leadership contender
Downing Street refused to say whether Mr Sunak had held talks with Commons Leader Penny Mordaunt following reports she is being lined up by Tory rebels as his potential successor if he faces a no-confidence vote.
Sources close to her have denied the suggestion that the Commons leader is plotting a takeover, but Ms Mordaunt has yet to issue a public denial.
Rishi Sunak’s press secretary refused to “get into private discussions between colleagues” when asked whether Mr Sunak had spoken to Ms Mordaunt or those calling for him to be deposed.
Asked whether the prime minister was disappointed that Ms Mordaunt had not firmly denied being part of a plot to replace him, his political spokeswoman said: “What the prime minister wants is all of his cabinet ministers and the wider conservative team to focus on delivering for the country.”
Despite Mr Sunak’s supposed optimism, his spokesperson would not say whether the party expected to make gains at the local elections as the party continues to trail Labour in the polls.
The Labour-run council declared itself effectively bankrupt in September last year
When reporters asked if Sir Keir Starmer had had any response to Rishi Sunak’s proposed attack line, the Labour leader’s spokesperson said:
“I could equally give you a list of conservative councils where they’ve had to introduce double-digit council tax rises, whether it’s Thurrock, whether it’s Woking.
“We saw the failure a few years ago at Northampton County Council. We saw double-digit rises in Croydon when it was under control of the Tories.
He added: “I think the idea that this is unique to one party is clearly not the case.
“What we are seeing is the result of the government having massively underfunded local government as a whole and the responsibilities that local authorities have been left with to try and make the best of a very difficult situation”.
