Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has ruled out calling a general election in May, dashing the hopes of opposition MPs who believed there could be a new UK government by the summer.
Sunak told ITV News “there won’t be an election” on May 2, the same day as local and mayoral elections, drawing a line under months of speculation that the prime minister had a spring poll in his sights.
Some Tory MPs argued Sunak would be better off going to the polls in May, fearing that he could face a Conservative leadership challenge if the party does badly in the local elections.
But the prime minister’s allies said Sunak stood by his earlier assertion that his “working assumption” was that a general election would be held in the second half of the year. October or November are seen as the most likely months.
The decision to formally rule out a May election has allowed Sunak to finally schedule a meeting of a European summit that he was supposed to be hosting in the first half of this year.
Diplomatic sources confirmed the meeting of the European Political Community, a broad grouping that is the brainchild of Emmanuel Macron, president of France, would take place somewhere in the UK in July.
Sunak wants the meeting, which will bring together EU countries along with other nations such as Britain and Turkey, to focus on migration.
Other items on the agenda are expected to include support for Ukraine and tackling climate change. The hunt is on for a venue outside London, although the UK capital is not ruled out.
Other countries were becoming frustrated with Sunak’s delay in scheduling the meeting. “By July some of the Nordic countries will already be on their summer holidays,” said one European diplomat.
The developments came after Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer accused Sunak of “failing” the country by “clinging on” to donations from Frank Hester following reports the Tories had received £5mn more than previously declared from the businessman.
Tortoise Media on Thursday reported the Conservatives received a further £5mn from Hester, the donor at the centre of a race dispute which has roiled the party this week. Downing Street did not deny the money had been given.
A Conservative spokesperson said: “Declarable donations will be published by the Electoral Commission in the usual way.”
The party has been under pressure to return money from Hester after reports that he said Labour MP Diane Abbott “should be shot” and made him “want to hate all Black women” during a meeting in 2019.
Sunak’s spokesperson initially refused to describe the comments as “racist” until business secretary Kemi Badenoch weighed in to say that is how she would characterise them. The prime minister subsequently told parliament the comments were “wrong” and “racist”.
Speaking on LBC radio, Starmer said Sunak should return Hester’s donations. “It’s a test for Rishi Sunak. He’s failing that test,” Starmer said, adding that it “raises serious questions about what his real motivation is in clinging on to that money”.
Starmer has himself come under scrutiny this week over failing to come to a decision about whether Abbott, who was a Labour MP for more than 20 years, would have the whip restored. It was removed last year after she suggested Jewish people experience prejudice rather than racism.
Abbott stood up more than 30 times to speak during prime minister’s questions in the House of Commons on Wednesday, as MPs traded barbs about Hester’s reported comments. But she was not given the opportunity to ask a question by the Speaker Lindsay Hoyle.
Remarks by Dale Vince, the businessman and Labour donor who is expected to give Starmer’s party an additional £5mn before polling day, have also come under fire.
Last year, Vince told Times Radio that “one man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter” in a discussion about Hamas, though he added that he did not support the Palestinian militant group’s recent actions.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, on Thursday condemned his comments as “appalling” and said he should “reflect” on them, after Tories urged the opposition party to return his existing donations.
This article was written by Lucy Fisher, George Parker, Anna Gross and Andy Bounds from The Financial Times and was legally licensed through the DiveMarketplace by Industry Dive. Please direct all licensing questions to legal@industrydive.com.