Sunak announces snap general election for July 4

London. The next general election in Britain will take place on July 4. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced this in London on Wednesday. Uncertain times require a clear plan and courageous action, the conservative government leader said in the pouring rain. He has this plan, in contrast to the opposition Labor party. Only a Conservative government led by him will be able to stabilize the economy, Sunak said. Commentators called it a bold move as Sunak’s Tory party lagged in the polls.

According to opinion polls, the social democratic Labor Party is about 20 percentage points ahead of the Tories. Should this outcome materialize at the election, the Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010, are likely to suffer a historic defeat. Sunak has been in power since October 2022. After Boris Johnson and Liz Truss, he is already the third head of government since the previous elections in 2019.

Conservatives are threatened with defeat

Unlike in Germany, the Prime Minister in the United Kingdom largely has the freedom to determine the date of the elections within a wide period of time. He must report this at least 25 working days in advance. The opposition has been pressing Sunak for months to finally set an election date. She accused him of delaying the election date as long as possible given the poor election results.

Despite several announcements and recently improved economic figures, Sunak’s Conservatives have so far failed to close the gap with Labour. They recently lost hundreds of seats and a key mayoral post in local elections in England, as well as a constituency in north-west England in a parliamentary by-election. The right-wing populist Reform UK party, the former Brexit party, is also putting increasing pressure on the Tories.

RND/dpa