Â鶹ԼÅÄ

A Welsh Conservative has said he expects a majority of MPs to vote to bring down Boris Johnson's government and trigger a general election.

Monmouth MP David Davies predicted "an election being called before the end of September".

The prime minister has said he does not want to hold a general election before the Brexit deadline on 31 October.

But there is increasing speculation that MPs will table a no-confidence motion in Mr Johnson.

If the prime minister loses the motion, then the law states he would have another 14 days to win a vote of confidence.

If he failed to win such a vote, then a general election would be called.

He has a working majority of just one in the House of Commons, with the backing of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, after the Conservatives lost last week's Brecon and Radnorshire by-election.

Speaking on Â鶹ԼÅÄ Radio Wales' Sunday Supplement programme, Mr Davies predicted Mr Johnson "will lose a no-confidence motion within the first two weeks of coming back [after the summer recess in August]."

The MP said: "He will not have to resign. He will have to form a government and Jeremy Corbyn can try to do so as well within two weeks.

"They can all try and form a government. The truth is, I don't think any of them would win a motion of confidence.

"So, therefore around about the third week of September... we will lose another motion of no-confidence and there'll be an election," he added.

If the prime minister loses a motion of no-confidence, there has been some discussion of a backbench Labour or Conservative MP leading a temporary coalition government to avoid a no-deal Brexit and request a further extension to the UK's departure date.

But Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell has said Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn would "never" step down if other opposition parties demanded it to form a caretaker government.

Labour MP for Newport West Ruth Jones said: "Of course, we would like Jeremy to be head of a caretaker government but there are other options.

"I think Brexit is something that's above party politics. We need to stop a no-deal Brexit.

"Now, how we do that, we will discuss again and again. Positions evolve... it's a process not an event," she added.

Cadan ap Tomos, who chairs the Welsh Liberal Democrats, said he thought it would be "unwise" for the Conservatives to go into a general election.

"I don't see what their path to a majority is without some of the seats that they've won off our party, off the Liberal Democrats, in the past," he added.