Confirmed: Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces a General election for July 4
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed there will a General election this summer set for July 4, making it an untypically short campaign of just 43 days in total.
At stake is the end of 14 years of Conservative-led government with opinion polls placing Labour about 20 points ahead in the polls making it very likely that Keir Starmer becomes the next prime minister.
The move by Mr Sunak was likely prompted by after UK inflation fell to 2.3 per cent in April and No. 10 claiming that the economy was improving.
General Election 2024: Your new Highland constituencies and who is running to become your MP
News started leaking out earlier today after the Prime Minister refused to deny that he was about to call an election. Then cabinet members started changing their plans and diaries were cleared - behaviour usually seen ahead of a big announcement - to attend a cabinet meeting this afternoon.
More to follow…
