Labour's parliamentary candidate for Carlisle, Julie Minns, has joined calls for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to call a general election.

Her call comes after a tumultuous weekend for the Prime Minister following the high-profile resignation of three Conservative MPs, including former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Johnson resigned on Friday evening just hours after his resignation honours list was published.

The list - which includes Johnson's hairdresser and several No.10 staff and aides - was approved by the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak but has been widely criticised across the political spectrum.

Commenting on events Julie Minns said: "I talk to people every week across Carlisle who feel massively let down and betrayed by the Conservative Party.

“Let down because they were promised the Tories would level-up cities like ours, and betrayed because, unlike Boris Johnson, they followed the rules during lockdown. They stayed home. They did not visit elderly isolated relatives. They sat alone while their loved ones were buried.

“Meanwhile Boris Johnson and his allies were wheeling suitcases of wine into No.10 and partying late into the night the day before Prince Philip's funeral.

“People are rightly furious with the Conservative Party, and they want a general election so that they can vent that fury at the ballot box."

Internal division in the Conservative Party was laid bare over the weekend as allies of Boris Johnson took to media to warn Rishi Sunak against blocking any future attempt by Boris Johnson to return to frontline politics.

Jacob Rees-Mogg, who was awarded a knighthood in Johnson's resignation honours, warned his Party leader that any attempt to block the disgraced former Prime Minister would "plunge the Conservatives into civil war."

Meanwhile Labour leader Keir Starmer accused Rishi Sunak of losing control and not being strong enough to “stand up to the Tory berserkers determined to drag the country down with them.”

In his resignation letter Boris Johnson claimed to have been the victim of a witch-hunt by the Parliamentary Privileges Committee, despite Conservatives having a majority on the Committee, a claim firmly rejected by Julie Minns.

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"The simple truth is that nobody forced Boris Johnson to party during lockdown, nobody forced him to lie to Parliament, nobody forced him to resign,” said Julie.

“The real victims of this whole chaotic Conservative shambles are the people being clobbered by the cost-of-living crisis, struggling to meet their mortgage repayments and unable to get an appointment to see their doctor.

“Enough is enough. Carlisle deserves better than Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson. Carlisle and the country deserve change for the better."

The resignation of the three MPs leaves Rishi Sunak facing three difficult Parliamentary by-elections, including one in Johnson's seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip, where the Conservative majority is just over 1,000 votes - less than the majority won by Carlisle's Conservative MP, John Stevenson, in 2019.