Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to name 4 July as the date for the General Election, confirming reports after a day of swirling speculation.
Members of the cabinet arrived at Downing Street at 4.15 for a cabinet meeting which was announced this morning.
Downing Street refused to rule out a summer general election amid speculation Rishi Sunak could call one imminently, while highlighting “good inflation news”.
As the press gathered at London’s most famous front door, Sky News said it understood the speculation about an election was correct. The BBC also said it understood it was being called for 4 July.
An election being announced today means polling day would be on 4 July.
Labour have been calling for a General Election for months, if not years; with leader Keir Starmer building a massive 20-point plus lead over the Tories.
A day of speculation
This comes after inflation fell to its lowest level since July 2021 on the back of falling energy prices, but still came in ahead of expectations, reducing the chance of a June interest rate cut.
The Bank of England and City economists had expected inflation to fall to 2.1 per cent.
Another contributor to the election call could have been this morning’s borrowing figures. Jeremy Hunt’s hopes of cutting taxes before an election received another blow after government borrowing came in ahead of expectations in April, when released by the ONS this morning.
An hour before Prime Minister’s Questions, journalists all over X were sharing reports a General Election might be called, but nothing concrete was nailed down.
It was later reported a special cabinet meeting had been tabled for 4PM, meaning further speculation about what was about to happen.
The Prime Minister’s press secretary told reporters in Westminster: “I know there’s a lot of interest in this, as there has been pretty much every week over the last five months.
“I’ll just say the same thing I’ve always said, which is I’m not going to rule anything in or out. The PM said election – second half of the year.”
She declined to say when the second half of the year begins in Mr Sunak’s view, noting it “is quite a wide range”.
“It’s not my job to stand here and pre-empt any of that.
“Right now, we’re focused on delivering. Just today, we got good inflation news.”
Downing Street also declined to repeat Rishi Sunak’s previous commitment to keep Jeremy Hunt on as Chancellor until the general election, amid rumours the Prime Minister could announce a reshuffle if he does not name the polling date.
Ministers refused to be drawn on the speculation as one-by-one, they entered Downing Street.
Labour urged Rishi Sunak to “get on with it” and call a general election this afternoon amid speculation the Prime Minister is eyeing a summer vote.
Sir Keir Starmer
A party spokesman said: “We are fully ready to go whenever the Prime Minister calls an election. We have a fully organised and operational campaign ready to go and we think the country is crying out for a general election so would urge the prime minister to get on with it.”
Asked what they would think of an election being called on Wednesday afternoon the spokesman said they would “be very happy with that” but accused the Prime Minister of having “bottled it” in the past.
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Is Keir Starmer ready for government?
“We’ve seen the prime minister has repeatedly marched us up this hill and then bottled it at the last minute when it comes to calling an election, but when it comes to it, however long he keeps delaying it he cannot avoid the verdict of the British public, which recognises that this is a government that has failed over the last 14 years and believes that it’s time for a change,” he said.
“And we look forward to having the opportunity to put our case to the public that this changed Labour Party represents the change that the country needs so that we can hopefully have the privilege of serving in government.”
More as we get it.
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