Rishi Sunak will not say if he is planning snap basic election in July
Rishi Sunak has refused to rule out triggering a summer general election amid feverish speculation over the date.
The PM fuelled rumours of a snap election after figures on Wednesday showed inflation falling to 2.3% in April – just shy of the Bank of England’s target and the lowest level since July 2021. Mr Sunak said it was a “major moment for the economy” and went on to claim “brighter days are ahead”.
During Prime Minister’s Questions, he was directly challenged over the date of the vote by SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn, who said: “Speculation is rife, so I think the public deserve a clear answer to a simple question. Does the Prime Minister intend to call a summer general election or is he feart?”
But swerving the question, the PM replied: “There is – spoiler alert – going to be a general election in the second half of this year. At that moment, the British people will in fact see the truth about the honourable gentleman opposite me, because that will be the choice at the next election Mr Speaker, a party that is not able to say to the country what they would do, a party that would put at risk our hard-earned economic stability, or the Conservatives that are delivering a secure future for our United Kingdom.”
The rumour mill at Westminster was also sent into overdrive after reports suggested senior government ministers have not been told what is on the agenda for today’s Cabinet meeting at No10. The meeting is usually held on Tuesday morning but is being held at 4pm today due to the PM’s visit to Vienna yesterday. But in an unusual move the Foreign Secretary David Cameron has also cut short a trip to Albania to be back in time for the meeting.
Mr Sunak chickened out of a general election in May – to coincide with the local and mayoral elections – but he has refused to rule out the prospect of a summer election. The Tory leader has repeatedly said it is his “working assumption” a vote will be held in the second half of 2024 with his party still trailing Keir Starmer’s Labour in the national polls.
Just days ago a survey for The Mirror found the Tories are on course for their worst general election result in history. According to the poll, Labour has the support of 44% of voters with the Tories trailing on 24%. Reform is on 13% and Liberal Democrats on 8%.
A seat predictor run by Electoral Calculus suggests these vote shares would translate into Labour picking up 469 seats, giving Keir Starmer a 288-seat majority. The Tories would lose 263 of the 365 seats they won in 2019, leaving them with just 102. That would be an even more seismic result than Tony Blair ’s historic landslide victory in 1997 when he secured a 179-seat majority as John Major picked up 165 seats.
By law the latest a general election can be held is January 2024, with Parliament being dissolved in December 2023 to allow time for an election campaign.
