Italian PM resigns amid coalition turmoil and publicly attacks Salvini for putting country at risk

Far right wants new elections to consolidate poll gains, but new coalition may be possible bringing in centre left

Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte (right) flanked by League leader Matteo Salvini in the Italian senate (EPA)

Italy’s prime minister has announced his resignation, as turmoil in the country’s populist coalition drags the government into a state of collapse.

Giuseppe Conte said during a parliamentary debate on Tuesday afternoon that he would go to the president to resign at the end of the day’s sitting, adding: “This government ends here.”

His announcement come after weeks of infighting between the populist Five Star Movement and their coalition partners, the far-right League.

The League had said it would bring a vote of no confidence in the government, with its leader Matteo Salvini gunning for early elections – in which polls show his party would make big gains.

“The League will have to answer for its wrong decision to bring everything down, opening a government crisis in the middle of August ... just to chase the polls,” said Luigi di Maio, leader of the Five Star Movement.

But elections may not be inevitable if a new governing coalition can be formed, with reports that the centre-left Democratic Party are considering entering government with the Five Star Movement.

Mr Conte is technically an independent broker between the two existing coalition parties, though he was proposed by the Five Star Movement and is perceived as closer to it than to the League.

The Five Star Movement’s founder Beppe Grillo branded Mr Salvini a “traitor” on Sunday, while other senior Five Star figures said they never wanted to work with the far-right leader again.

“[Mr Salvini] has shown that he is following his own interests and those of his party,” Mr Conte told the Italian senate, while a stony-faced Salvini sat by his side. “His decisions pose serious risks for this country.”

Tensions within the coalition over policy have been exacerbated by the far-right interior minister’s tendency to position himself as Italy’s de facto leader on the world stage – despite his formal role being limited to domestic policy.

The governmental meltdown was ostensibly triggered by a policy row over a new high-speed rail line to France, which the Five Star Movement opposes but the League supports. The League voted with opposition parties in the senate earlier this month to reject a Five Star motion to scrap the line.