Almost three quarters of voters want Rishi Sunak to call an election by May next year, a new poll has suggested.
A More in Common poll conducted between October 14-16 suggested 73 per cent of people want the next election to be called by the spring.
18 per cent of those surveyed want the election before the end of this year, while 23 per cent in the first few months of next year.
A further 32 per cent want a national poll by around May next year.
The data also showed that 15 per cent were in favour of an election being held at some point next autumn.
Only 12 per cent said they wanted an election in January 2025. That is the absolute latest one could be called by Rishi Sunak.
Meanwhile, nearly four in five Red Wall Voters, or 78 per cent, want an election by next spring.
Luke Tryl, More in Common’s UK director, said: “While it’s understandable that Rishi Sunak will want to wait as long as possible to call an election in the hope that Conservative prospects might improve, our polling suggests that waiting too long may, in fact, have the opposite effect.
“A weary public is not in the mood for a 12-month plus General Election campaign and overwhelmingly would like an election over and done with before next summer.”
Mark Harper, the Transport Secretary, said this morning that voters want ministers to be “focused” on delivering on key issues, when he was challenged with the poll’s findings.
He told Times Radio: “I think people want us to be focused. I go out knocking on doors all the time and what people want us to be focused on are their priorities which are about halving inflation, about growing the economy, making sure they have got good well paying jobs to go to and that their families are well looked after and of course the Prime Minister demonstrating the leadership as he does on these important matters of national security.
“I think that is what people want us to be focused on and he and every member of the Government is focused on those priorities.”
The prime minister said at the start of October that a snap general election was “not what the country wants”.
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