'Early election could kill Brexit', says health secretary Matt Hancock

An early general election could mean "killing Brexit altogether", according to health secretary Matt Hancock.

The cabinet minister, speaking amid uncertainty surrounding Theresa May's future in Number 10, said such a vote should not be called until Britain has left the EU.

Mr Hancock, a Remainer during the 2016 campaign, said the Tories need to "take responsibility for delivering on the referendum result".

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, he said: "I think a general election before we've delivered Brexit would be a disaster. People don't want it. I'm with Brenda from Bristol. We need to take responsibility for delivering on the referendum result.."

Mr Hancock, who a new poll said is backed by one per cent of the Tory grassroots to become the next party leader, said the outcome of a public vote would be uncertain "under these circumstances".

He added: "Who knows what the outcome of a general election would be under these circumstances? A general election before that not only risks Jeremy Corbyn, but it risks killing Brexit altogether.

"We've got to deliver Brexit in this parliament, then we can move forward."

His comments come as a poll of grassroots Conservatives made Brexiteer Boris Johnson the clear front runner to succeed Mrs May, following her agreement putting forward a timetable at the start of next month to elect a new leader.

A YouGov survey for The Times of party members, who will have the final say in the contest, put the former foreign secretary as the favourite on 39 per cent, three times the 13 per cent for former Brexit secretary Dominic Raab.

Of the others, Home Secretary Sajid Javid and Environment Secretary Michael Gove, were both on nine per cent, with Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt on eight per cent and Mr Hancock on one.

Mrs May is set to make a fourth, and likely final, attempt to get her Brexit deal through Parliament when she introduces the Withdrawal Agreement Bill in the Commons in the first full week of June.

However, following the final collapse of cross-party talks with Labour on Friday few at Westminster expect it to pass.

Whatever the result, Mrs May has agreed to meet the chairman of the backbench 1922 Committee Sir Graham Brady after the second reading vote to agree a timetable for the election of her successor.

Defeat will almost certainly heavy pressure from Conservative MPs for her early swift departure from No 10.

Meanwhile Mr Corbyn is set to issue a rallying call to Labour supporters in the European elections.

He insists only his party can halt the rise of the "far right".

Addressing a rally in Bootle, Mr Corbyn will seek to set aside such differences with a return to more-traditional Labour ground.

"Years of neglect of our communities has opened the door to the far right. It's up to Labour to stand up to that threat," he will say.

"Politics as usual won't defeat them. We need Labour's radical programme to transform our country and turn the tide of inequality by ending austerity and investing in our communities and people."

It follows criticism from Labour MPs that the party has been trying to face both ways on Brexit, due to a confused message over the circumstances in which it would back a second referendum.

Amid discussion of a general election, the major parties are rallying for support for a closer run of votes with the European elections on May 23.

A survey released on Friday showed the Liberal Democrats have overtaken Labour in the European election race but Nigel Farage's Brexit Party is the clear frontrunner, a poll has suggested.

The YouGov study put Sir Vince Cable's party, which is campaigning with a Stop Brexit message, on 16 per cent, one point ahead of Labour, while the Tories dropped to single-digit levels of support on nine per cent.

The Brexit Party was on 35 per cent according to the survey of more than 7,000 people.