British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak calls July 4 general election

Friday, May 24, 2024 

On Wednesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a general election, set to take place on July 4. In a statement made outside 10 Downing Street, the Prime Minister announced that he had met with King Charles III to discuss the dissolution of parliament; a request which was granted.

The Prime Minister told news agencies that this is "proof that the plan and priorities I set out are working [but] this hard earned economic stability was only ever meant to be the beginning".

The end of Conservative Sunak's speech took aim at Sir Keir Starmer, the leader of the rival Labour Party, saying he had "shown time and time again that he will take the easy way out and do anything to get power". Meanwhile, Starmer has said that the election is an "opportunity for change", mentioning the issues of sewage in British rivers, Britons "waiting on trolleys in A&E", the cost of living crisis, and crime going "virtually unpunished", as he attacked the Conservatives' record in government.

The Prime Minister has been telling the public for months that the next UK general election would happen in the second half of the year, but refused to elaborate on exactly when.

General elections in the UK must be held every five years, so the final day a vote could have taken place would have been January 28. In 2019, however, the Conservatives restored the prime minister's power to call an election at a time of their choosing within that five years. This bill led to the most recent general election in 2019, in which Boris Johnson was elected prime minister.