United Kingdom’s General Election To Hold July 4

Political editors at the BBC, ITV, Sky News, and The Guardian all disclosed that Sunak would name the date in a Downing Street statement after the cabinet meeting.

The poll will be the first time Sunak, 44, faces the electorate as the leader, after becoming the head of the largest party in parliament through an internal Conservative vote in October 2022.

The vote — the third since the Brexit referendum in 2016 — comes as Sunak seeks to capitalize on better economic data to woo voters hit by cost-of-living rises.

Halving inflation within a year from historic highs of above 11.0 per cent at the end of 2022 was one of the former financier’s five key pledges.

That happened last year and on Wednesday rates slowed to a near three-year low at 2.3 percent in March, prompting Finance Minister Jeremy Hunt to declare: “This is proof that the plan is working.”

Political commentators have increasingly suggested that Sunak, trailing badly in the polls to the main opposition Labour Party, could try to seek a bounce from the healthier outlook.

However, critics point out that it has more to do with changes in the global economy than government policy.

Sunak has previously batted back all efforts to name a date, saying only that he would go to the country in the second half of this year.

Speculation mounted again after Sunak and his top officials on Wednesday refused to deny fresh talk that he was about to call an election on the back of more positive data.

Rumours went into overdrive when Foreign Secretary David Cameron was recalled from a trip to Albania and Defence Secretary Grant Shapps delayed a trip to Eastern Europe to attend a Cabinet meeting.

Hunt also cancelled a scheduled television interview for Wednesday evening, ITV’s political editor said, as journalists, photographers and camera crews flocked to Downing Street.