Voters would be “rightly furious” if there is not a general election shortly after the new Tory leader and prime minister is chosen, a Conservative MP has said.
Liz Truss dramatically resigned on Thursday afternoon after weeks of chaos at the top of government.
The outgoing PM’s premiership imploded after her mini-Budget triggered market turmoil and tanked Tory poll ratings.
A new prime minister will be in place by Friday October 28 following a leadership contest.
Labour, the Lib Dems and the SNP have all demanded the Conservative Party call an election.
There is no constitutional requirement for that to happen and the next election does not have to be held until January 2025.
Speaking to the BBC, Garnier accused Truss of having done “an immense amount of damage” to the Conservative Party.
“If we had an election tomorrow there would not be a single Conservative MP left,” he said.
But he said “completely” agreed an election should be held soon. “I agree with the principle we should test the new prime minister in reasonably short order rather than wait potentially until January 2025,” he said.
Garnier, a former trade minister, said it would be “unhealthy” for an election to be held immediately given the mess the Tory party was in.
“What we would probably ask is for a bit of time to get ourselves into general election order and then go to the country,” he said. “I think people would be rightly furious if we delay this unnecessarily.”
The latest polls suggest Labour would win an election held right now, with a Savanta ComRes survey published on Wednesday giving Keir Starmer’s party a 30 point lead.