London(UK)- Britain’s main opposition Labour Party will put forward a motion for a no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s government on Tuesday, with the vote expected to take place on Wednesday, a source in the party says.
A no-confidence motion means that lawmakers from all the parties represented in parliament can vote on whether the government, under Johnson, for the time being, should continue in office.
If the government loses the vote, it could trigger a national election.
The vote is unlikely to be successful, however.
With the Conservative Party behind Labour in opinion polls and a leadership election underway, lawmakers from the governing party are not expected to decide to back a motion that could send voters back to the ballot box.
Johnson said last week he would step down after more than 50 government ministers and aides resigned in protest at his leadership, but he will stay on as leader until his replacement is elected in early September.
There are 11 Conservative contenders for the party leadership, the winner automatically becoming prime minister.
Labour had said they would put forward a vote if the Conservative Party did not act to remove Johnson earlier.
Eleven Tory MPs have entered the race to succeed Mr Johnson as leader of the Tory party and prime minister.
Yet now that the 1922 committee of backbench Tories have confirmed its timetable for the leadership election, with a new prime minister to be named on 5 September, dissenting voices have grown quieter, meaning Labour is unlikely to win a vote.
James Murray, the shadow financial secretary to the Treasury, said Labour felt “forced” to call the vote after the 1922 committee did not act to remove the prime minister and that it was “the last opportunity” before Parliament goes on its summer break next week.