British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has vowed to “fight for every vote” as he called an early UK general election for Thursday, July 4.
Prime Minister Sunak made the announcement in a rain-soaked speech outside 10 Downing Street, as he bids to win a fifth term in office for the Conservatives.
The surprise move overturned expectations of an autumn poll, which might have given the Tories a better chance of closing the gap with Labour.Sir Keir Starmer said it was “time for change” away from “Tory chaos”.Labour has been posting large leads in national opinion polls, and has insisted it has a fully organised campaign ready to go.
Parliament will now be suspended on Friday, before it is formally shut down on Thursday next week ahead of an official five-week election campaign. It means there are only two days to pass any outstanding legislation – a move which will mean some of the government’s measures will have to be abandoned. But the rumours started swirling from early on Wednesday morning, after confirmation that annual inflation had fallen to its lowest rate in almost three years.
And as Prime Minister’s Questions got under way in the Commons, it still was not clear whether an announcement was coming. It was not until just after 17:00 BST that the UK’s first July election since 1945 was confirmed. Prime Minister Sunak referred to the inflation figures as he announced the election date in Downing Street later in the day, in a sign he hopes to frame his campaign around a narrative of economic recovery after a period of rising living costs.
He added that the fall in inflation, along with the UK’s emergence from recession earlier this year, were “proof that the plan and priorities” he had set out were working. (BBC)
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