UK general election set for 4th July

The UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak today announced that the UK’s next general election will be held on 4th July. Mr Sunak made the announcement this afternoon outside 10 Downing Street following mounting speculation among Westminster that he would soon be naming the day of the election, with opposition leaders only that afternoon in Parliament asking the Prime Minister if he was scared to call a general election.  Suspicions arose that a decision on the date had been made following Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron cutting short a trip to Albania and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps delaying an overseas trip to attend Cabinet.

In his statement, Mr Sunak indicated that now was a good time to call a general election saying the UK economy was still growing, inflation had returned to normal, interest rates had come down and the government’s plan was working. He also acknowledged that things were not easy for many people in the UK and asked the British public “who do you trust?”.

Mr Sunak said that people had to decide whether they wanted to “build on the future you’ve made or risk going back to square one”.

Reuters news agency reports the UK Prime Minister is calling for the election from a place of weakness and was fighting for his political life. Mr Sunak came into power as the UK Prime Minister in autumn 2022 following Liz Russ’s short lived disastrous leadership of just 49 days and two years of Boris Johnson’s chaotic leadership, which left the Conservative party deeply divided and the country in crisis.

In response to the news, Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer said this was a moment the country needed and had been waiting for and that on July 4, the British people had a choice.

“Together we can stop the chaos, turn the page, and we can start to rebuild Britain and change our country,” he stated.