Many people have contacted me in the last few days calling for a general election.

Our country faces a crisis. Many people in Leeds are struggling with bills and mortgages, and are desperately worried about what lies ahead.

At moments like this we really need competent leadership which has a plan to meet the challenges that confront us. Instead, we have an utter shambles. A Tory party that thinks only of itself and not about the future of the country. A Tory party that has wrecked the economy with its failed experiment. And a Tory party that appears to believe that it’s perfectly acceptable to impose yet another Prime Minister on the nation without us having a say. And all of this is doing huge damage to our international reputation. Let’s be frank; we have now become a laughing stock.

I want a general election now. Labour’s Keir Starmer has called for one and we will do everything we can to bring this about, but ultimately it is only the current government which has the power to call one.

And whenever it comes, I hope that we will seize the opportunity for a fresh start with a Labour Government that is ready to serve.

Hilary Benn
MP for Leeds Central