WATCH: Labour may table no confidence motion in PM “next week”, Rayner says

Angela Rayner has said Labour could put forward a motion of no confidence in Boris Johnson “as early as next week” if the Conservative Party fails to select a new leader quickly enough.

Labour’s deputy leader told Sky News this morning: “Boris Johnson can’t stay another minute in Downing Street. It’s been proven that he’s not fit to govern.

“And therefore the Conservative Party need to elect somebody to lead their party pretty quickly or get some interim leader in that is not somebody who has been disgraced, who’s lost the confidence of their own party, let alone the British public.

“And if they don’t do that, we’re very clear that we will put a motion of no confidence forward before the summer recess to ensure that that exchange happens and that the Conservative party do the right thing by the British public.”

On the timescale for the vote, Rayner said: “We’ll be working with our whips to make sure that that happens… as quickly as possible if the Conservative Party are showing no signs of doing the right thing by the British people.”

“The frustration is, time and time again, the opposition have had to really push to get what we consider to be the basic standards that you’d expect in public life,” Rayner told viewers.

Asked whether she was hesitating about the vote because she did not think Labour could win it, Rayner said: “No, I think we can win it.”

She declared that if Labour does not win a vote because Conservative MPs “prop up” the Prime Minister, the Tories are “going to find that very devastating for them, not just for the next general election, but I think that will keep them out of power for a very long time”.

“They need to get their house in order. If they don’t, then we will step forward as we have done. Whether that’s with our solutions to the cost-of-living crisis – we’ll step forward again to make sure that Boris Johnson doesn’t remain in No 10,” she added.

Pressed on whether Labour can do anything to prevent Johnson staying on in Downing Street, Rayner said: “We will, we’ll put the vote of no confidence forward.” She added: “It could be as early as next week, because we haven’t got long left before the summer recess.”