Calls for a general election from voices ranging from Labor to Boris Johnson ultra-loyalists such as Nadine Dorries are growing louder after Rishi Sunak won the Tory leadership race.
Sunak was accused by Labor deputy leader Angela Rayner of “dodging scrutiny” when she called on voters to have a say after the former chancellor was officially declared the new Tory leader on Monday.
“The Conservatives have crowned Rishi Sunak as prime minister without him saying a word about how he would run the country and without anyone having a chance to vote,” he said in a statement.
“This is the same Rishi Sunak who as chancellor failed to grow the economy, failed to get inflation under control and failed to help families with the Tory cost of living crisis.”
Nicola Sturgeon, the First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party, congratulated Sunak but added: “I would suggest an immediate decision that he should make and one that he certainly should not make.”
“He should call an early general election. And he should not – must not – unleash another round of austerity. Our public services will not stand for this.”
Ed Davey, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, added his voice to the new election calls after Sunak became leader following Penny Mordaunt’s withdrawal from the race.
“The Tories have wrecked our economy, pushed health services to the limit and added hundreds of pounds to people’s mortgage payments,” Davey said. “Now Tory MPs have installed another out-of-touch prime minister without giving you a voice. We need a general election now.”
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Election calls also came from the right, with UK Reform Party leader Richard Tice looking to capitalize on discontent among Tory members aggrieved at losing the chance to vote for their leader.
“We have a prime minister appointed by acclamation. Members of his party rejected him. Democracy is in danger,” he said.
Dorries, culture secretary during Johnson’s government, had called a general election on Sunday after he decided not to take part in the leadership race. He tweeted that the former prime minister would have won the votes of Tory members and “already had a mandate from the people” in the form of his 2019 election victory.
“Rishi and Penny, despite Boris’ pleas, refused to join, which would have made governing all but impossible. Penny asked him to step aside for her. Now it will be impossible to avoid a GE” , he said.