First Minister reveals Welsh Labour is geared up for snap general election

First Minister Mark Drakeford says he believes the UK Government could collapse at any time and has told the Labour party in Wales to be prepared for a general election in the new year.

Speaking to the Guardian, Mr Drakeford said the UK is at a very low ebb and suggested the Conservative government could be “overwhelmed” to the point of calling a snap election.

Arguing that the UK is in need of a fresh start, he added: “We do not need 18 months of an exhausted government that has lost credibility and cannot command even the support of its own MPs, staggering on.”

Claiming a “general election could come at any time”, Mr Drakeford also highlighted Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s vulnerability and his need to rely on the backing of his backbench MPs over two “relatively modest” domestic policies: compulsory housebuilding targets and the moratorium on new onshore wind projects, in recent weeks.

Overwhelm

“A bigger issue could come at any moment and completely overwhelm the government,” Drakeford added.

“We are pressing ahead, making sure we have candidates in the field. We are working on the policies we would promote in a general election and looking forward to Wales making the maximum contribution we can to having a Labour UK government.”

Reflecting on the wave of industrial disputes involving public service workers, he said: “It is no surprise to me we have strikes in our public services when people have experienced a decade of austerity when their wages were held down on the promise that if they lived through that, the sunny uplands were in front of them.

“Here we are 12 years later with people not only finding their wages held down, but the ravages of inflation mean that people are having to manage on a lot less money than they’ve had for a very long time.

“Taxes are at a 70-year high and the United Kingdom’s reputation around the world is damaged by the political events of the last 12 months.”