Matteo Renzi eyes premiership, new government

The leader of Italy leading party and the political rival of Italy's Prime Minister Enrico Letta, Matteo Renzi, has today called for a "new government."

Fuelling the growing rumours of a change at Palazzo Chigi, Letta cancelled an official visit to Britain later this month which was scheduled for February 24-25.

Renzi, 39, is the leader of Letta's Democratic Party and made the remarks during a party meeting in Rome this afternoon.

There have been days of speculation that the mayor of Florence wants to take over the post of prime minister.

If Renzi's proposal is approved by the party leadership, analysts say Letta may have to resign as early as Thursday evening.

Relations between the two men had become increasingly fraught, our correspondent adds. Today Renzi told PD heavyweights that Italy needed a new government with a stronger reform agenda lasting to 2018.

Letta, 47, formed a coalition with the centre-right last year. Renzi thanked Letta for his "remarkable work" but said the country could not go in "uncertainty".

Angelino Alfano, head of the New Centre Right party that supports Letta's coalition, said the current prime minister could count on a "loyal, correct and fruitful alliance" as long as he retained the backing of the PD, the centre-left party which is the dominant faction in the current coalition government.

But he left it open whether he would continue to support the government if Letta was forced to step down.

Friction between Letta and Renzi begun after the the charismatic young mayor of Florence was elected as leader of Italy's most powerful political organisation in December.