Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski calls for post-Brexit election

Mr Kawczynski said the Government's slim majority following the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election would make it difficult to deliver on its manifesto promises.

The loss of the Brecon and Radnorshire seat to the Liberal Democrats this week saw the Government's majority cut to just one, even when support from the Democratic Unionist Party was taken into consideration.

Dr Philip Lee, MP for Bracknell, has also hinted they he may consider defecting to the Liberal Democrats, which would put the Government in a minority.

Mr Kawczynski said the Government's first priority should be to ensure Britain left the EU by October 31.

But once that had been delivered, he said the Boris Johnson should be prepared to go to the country at the appropriate time to secure a majority.

"I feel that with a majority of one or two we mustn't be frightened of using a general election at the appropriate juncture to ge a fresh mandate from the British people."

He said he believed that if Mr Johnson called an election once Brexit had been delivered, then the Conservatives would win a majority of 20 to 30 seats.

Mr Kawczynski said he hoped the Government would be able to survive until Britain left the EU. He said Remain-supporting MPs would be punished at the ballot box if they brought down the Government to stop Brexit.

Reaction

But he also said the results of the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, which saw Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds win the seat from former Tory MP Chris Davies, showed that the Brexit Party was having the opposite effect of what it intended.

Mr Kawczynski said the Conservatives would have won the seat were it not for the 10.5 per cent share of the vote taken by Brexit Party candidate Des Parkinson.

"I think the Brexit Party is having a counter-intuitive reaction with the political scene," he said.

"As a result of their participation in Brecon and Radnorshire, the area now has a massively pro-EU Member of Parliament who wants us to have another referendum and overturn the result of the previous referendum." Mr Kawczynski said he had been canvassing on an estate in Meole Brace and sensed that the general mood was one of getting Brexit done as quickly as possible.

He said the EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier had demonstrated his antipathy towards the result of the referendum when he said he would work with Britain only if it agreed to Theresa May's withdrawal agreement which had been rejected by Parliament.