Rishi Sunak has called a General Election for 4 July.
The Prime Minister held a cabinet meeting this afternoon and confirmed the election just after 5pm.
Announcing the election, Sunak said: “Now it is the moment for Britain to choose its future.
“To decide whether we want to build on the progress that we have made or go back to square one with no plan and no certainty.
“Earlier today, I spoke with His Majesty the King to request the dissolution of Parliament.
“The King granted this request and we will have an election on the 4 of July.”
Hecklers played the song Things can only Get Better by D:Ream throughout Sunak’s speech, which was Tony Blair’s anthem during his famous 1997 election win.
In response to the announcement, Labour Leader Keir Starmer said: “This is the moment the country has been waiting for.
“The opportunity for change is what this election is about.
“All we want to do now is to turn Britain to the service of working people.
“We will stop the chaos.
“A vote for Labour is a vote for change.
“With your vote we can change Britain and turn the page for good.”
Earlier in the day at Prime Ministers’ Questions, SNP Westminster Leader Stephen Flynn asked the Prime Minister whether “he would call a summer general election or is he feart (scared).”
Mr Sunak said “Spoiler alert. There will be a general election in the second half of this year.”
“It will show about the difference between a party that is not able to say to the country what they would do, a party that will put our hard-earned economic stability at risk or the Conservatives that are delivering a secure future for our United Kingdom.”
This decision will be seen as a tremendous gamble from Sunak.
His party is 20 points behind Labour in the opinion polls, a gap which to date has never been clawed back during an election campaign.
It would also be the Conservativ’es fifth election victory in a row, which would be unprecented in modern times.
However, Labour would also need a swing greater than that of 1997 in order to win a majority in Parliament.
Image credit: Sergeant Tom Robinson RLC/MOD under the Open Government Licence version 1.0
