Rishi Sunak calls UK general election for July 4th | Election News

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak sets the date for national elections, ending months of speculation over the timing of the vote.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called an early general election, choosing July 4 as the date for a vote that the ruling Conservatives are expected to lose to the opposition Labor Party after 14 years in power.

Ending months of speculation over when he would call a new vote, Sunak, 44, stood outside his Downing Street office on Wednesday and announced he would call the election sooner than some had expected.

“Now is the time for Britain to choose its future,” he said, listing what he considers to be the highlights of his time in government, including the introduction of the so-called furlough scheme that has helped businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. 19. “We will have a general election on July 4.”

Sunak comes into the election not only far behind the Labor Party in the polls, but also somewhat isolated from some members of his party, increasingly dependent on a small team of advisers to guide him through what is expected to be an ugly campaign.

Sunak took office less than two years ago and has since struggled to define what he stands for, becoming increasingly frustrated that what he sees as his successes have not been appreciated.

Labour’s Starmer calls for ‘change’

Both parties have practically started the electoral campaign, with the lines of attack on the economy and defense already firmly drawn.

Keir Starmer, leader of Britain’s opposition Labor Party, said the election would give the country an opportunity to end the “chaos” of Sunak’s conservative government.

“No matter what else is said and done, this opportunity for change is what this election is all about,” Starmer told supporters.

“A vote in favor of Labor is a vote in favor of stability – economic and political, a policy that treads more lightly on all of our lives; a vote to end the chaos. It’s time to change.”

British elections must be held at least every five years, but the timing is up to the Prime Minister.

Sunak’s Conservatives are far behind Labor in opinion polls and, despite welcoming a decline in inflation and a rise in defense spending, have failed to chip away at the opposition party’s lead.

Sunak is the third Conservative Prime Minister since the last election in 2019. He managed to stabilize the economy, but without increasing the Conservatives’ popularity with the public.

He may take heart from figures released on Wednesday which show UK inflation has fallen sharply to 2.3%, the lowest level in almost three years, due to big falls in domestic accounts.

But Labor has maintained an advantage over the Conservatives of around 20 points in opinion polls since late 2021 – before Sunak took office in October of that year.

Reporting from London, Al Jazeera’s Jonah Hull said the timing of Sunak’s announcement was “curious”.

It is “extremely surprising that he decided to push the button to start the general election so soon,” Hull said.

“The assumption was that he would wait until at least the autumn, giving his party much more time to recover from its dire situation in the polls – consistently voting, on average, around 20 points behind the opposition Labor Party,” he added.

“Why would you go to the polls… when your party is divided by internal divisions and rumors of dissatisfaction with its own leadership? Possibly because you think things won’t get better,” he said.