Tasmania’s Premier Jeremy Rockliff will go to the governor tomorrow to request an early election.

It comes after he issued an ultimatum to the two former Liberal backbenchers who quit his party last May, throwing it into minority.

Mr Rockliff wanted Lara Alexander and John Tucker to sign a new stricter agreement, which he believed would guarantee Tasmanians “certainty and stability”, but the pair rejected his proposal.

After spending the day meeting with his parliamentary Liberal team, Mr Rockliff said it had become clear that the only way forward was to call a general election.