THE BRITISH Prime Minister, Mr Major, has told cabinet colleagues that he intends to hold the British general election on May 1st. Conservative Party sources yesterday confirmed that the government will move the writ for the Wirral South by election within the next week.
The Prime Minister made his intentions known to ministers at the start of a day long summit at Chequers to complete preparations for the Conservative election manifesto. The public disclosure was last night being regarded as a semi official announcement which appeared to close off other options.
Confirmation of Mr Major's determination to soldier on also suggested confidence that he can in fact count on the support of most of the nine Ulster Unionist MPs in crucial House of Commons' votes.
The UUP will hold the whip hand if as expected, the Conservatives lose the Wirral contest and the government falls into a minority. Mr David Trimble, the UUP, leader, has insisted he has no: "understanding" with Mr Major about forthcoming votes, and that he would judge each issue on its merits.
However, as ministers convened at Chequers yesterday, another Ulster Unionist MP told the Irish Times he expected Mr Major to stay the course while announcing his intentions early. Last night's confirmation of those intentions appeared to signal the start of the protracted campaign favoured by Mr Major.
The Prime Minister is understood to have warned colleagues" that "events" and the lack of a Commons majority could yet force an early contest. But the very public signal of his intent, suggests that any alternative date will now only come about on the back of a government reverse.
The Prime Minister clearly needs to retain the ultimate power of decision, and it is accepted at Westminster that it would be deeply damaging for the Conservatives to be forced to go to the country in the aftermath of a Commons defeat.
Opposition strategists insisted that Mr Major might yet intend to cut and run in March or April. And the guessing game continued with a seemingly ambiguous comment from the Health Secretary, Mr Stephen Dorrell, suggesting it would be "absurd" to build an election strategy around just one date.
Meanwhile, the government's presentational difficulties were underlined yesterday as Tory grandees rounded on the Defence, Secretary, Mr Michael Portillo, in the continuing row over the replacement of the royal yacht, Britannia.
Sir Edward Heath, the former prime minister, accused Mr Portillo of "trickery", and said he did not believe ministers conduct of the issue had been honourable. It emerged last night that Labour had not been consulted about, the decision.
In the House of Lords last night, the Lord Chief Justice made a powerful attack on proposals by the Home Secretary, Mr Michael Howard, for tougher sentencing, warning they represented a "blanket or scatter gun approach".
Lord Bingham condemned, "vices" in the Crime (Sentences) Bill and said they would lead to injustice.
He told the Lords in the second reading debate on the Bill, which has already cleared the Commons, that the Bill was taking a "radically unsound" approach.
. The government was defeated by one vote in the House of Commons last night over an amendment to the Education Bill.