UK PM announces general election

Our live coverage has ended. Read more about Rishi Sunak’s announcement and the upcoming UK election here.

In the UK, voters don’t elect a prime minister directly. Instead, they elect a member of parliament (MP) to represent their local constituency.

The leader of the party that wins a majority of the UK’s 650 constituencies automatically becomes prime minister. That means 326 is the magic number.

If there’s no majority, they need to look for help elsewhere, ruling as a minority government or forming a coalition.

A campaign takes just six weeks – a breeze compared to the mammoth US presidential election calendar.

Technically, the King has to allow an election to take place and allow parliament to be dissolved, which will occur in the next few days for the rest of the campaign.

But this role is symbolic; King Charles III will not go against the advice of his prime minister or the votes of the British public.

Rishi Sunak is looking to do in six weeks what he hasn’t been able to do in the 20 months since he took power: overturn a polling deficit.

Labour have been leading in general election opinion polls since late 2021, and that lead has been huge for the entirety of Sunak’s premiership.

They are around 20 points up on average, with the Tories often closer to third party challengers like Reform and the Liberal Democrats than they are to Labour.

When converted to a projection of seats in parliament, those figures indicate either a comfortable Labour win or a potential electoral wipeout for the Conservatives.

But for Sunak’s team, some deeper numbers provide some comfort. While Keir Starmer leads Sunak in polling on the question of who would make a better prime minister, that lead is much smaller than the overall party voting gap – suggesting Sunak will seek to keep the focus on a “me versus him” message.

Some polling experts also suggested that recent local elections may indicate a slimmer Labour win than polling does, but it is notoriously difficult to extrapolate nationwide forecasts from local votes in only some parts of the country.

Sunak may also take heart from an unlikely source: former left-wing Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who started the 2017 general election facing a similar deficit and eventually forced a hung parliament, in a narrow loss to Theresa May.

However he looks at it, the polls are dire for Sunak. He has six weeks to change that.

Sunak walks back into Number 10 Downing Street on Wednesday.

Sunak’s speech was delayed by over 10 minutes. Speculation among those standing around on Downing Street was that he was waiting for the rain to clear.

A let-up in the weather was shortly followed by the prime minister’s emergence from his official residence. The heavens almost immediately opened again, drenching Sunak.

His back luck continued as protesters outside blasted the song “Things Can Only Get Better” by D-Ream, the anthem of Labour’s 1997 victorious election campaign. At this point it was virtually impossible to hear the PM.

If his tone was flat, his message was somewhat uninspiring. Big speeches on Downing Street are usually surround by a buzz of excitement. Such speeches are reserved for big moments in politics: resignations, major policy announcements, or indeed, calling elections.

This was a list of what Sunak sees as his biggest selling point: a safe pair of hands at a difficult time.

He spoke of his first major political intervention, when he implemented a furlough scheme to pay the wages of those who could not go to work during Covid lockdowns. He elaborated on how as the world becomes less secure, he is the stable hand that Britain needs.

It was a riff on a speech he made last week, in which he outlined the challenges Britain faces, from a belligerent Russia waging war on the continent to the threats posed by AI.

And he said that the opposition Labour Party doesn’t have a plan and cannot be trusted. It was all quite negative, but that might be all that Sunak and his party have left after 14 years in power.

He is trying to pitch himself as a change candidate with fresh ideas, which might be the case.

But the key question any voter will now ask ahead of this long-awaited election is: why should you be given another go?

Starmer outlined a three-prong pitch to voters as he set out Labour’s electoral offering for the first time under his leadership.

He said the election is “a vote to stop the chaos,” promising “a politics that treads more lightly in all our lives” – a rebuke of a turbulent few period in Westminster that has seen five Tory prime ministers in eight years.

Secondly, he hit out at the Conservatives’ economic record, framing his party as the one more in touch with the financial struggles of voters across the UK.

And thirdly, he promised “a long-term plan to rebuild Britain,” said he would “reset” the country and its politics.

“Time and again they have pursued their own interesting rather than tackling the issues that affect your family. And if they get another five years, they will feel entitled to carry on exactly as they are. Nothing will change,” Starmer said.

“Tonight the prime minister has finally announced the next general election,” opposition leader Keir Starmer said in response to PM Rishi Sunak’s announcement.

He framed the vote as a “chance to change for the better - your future, your community, your country.”

“It will feel like a long campaign, I’m sure of that, but no matter what else is said and done, that opportunity for change is what this election is about,” Starmer said.

He begins the vote about 20 points ahead in the polls, so he will be running as a favorite as well as a challenger.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech in the rain on Wednesday.

Rishi Sunak’s speech outside Downing Street gave a glimpse into what Britons can expect to hear from the prime minister as he looks to defy gloomy expectations for his party and retain power.

He sought to diffuse criticism of his record, pointing to two major challenges — Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine — that he said amounted to “the most challenging times since the Second World War.” 

Critics say that, while every country has dealt with those forces, many comparable economies are coping better than Britain’s. But Sunak said he had restored “hard-earned economic stability.”

Sunak touched heavily on illegal migration, which is expected to be a major plank of his electoral campaign.

He claimed “we are stopping the boats with our Rwanda partnership,” though that deal — which finally became law last month — has not yet led to a single asylum-seeker being deported to the African country.

He also noted other policies — like saying Britain’s will be the first generation “to grow up smoke-free” — a key, legacy-defining plan from Sunak that hasn’t, and now won’t, make it to parliament before the election.

And he attacked the policy record of Keir Starmer, saying the Labour leader hasn’t been clear about what he stands for.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak walks back into 10 Downing Street after announcing the date for the election.

Rishi Sunak was drenched by rain and had to compete with blaring music being played by protesters, in a speech that did not provide the flawless optics staff would have hoped for in a set-piece election announcement.

The recent trend has been for prime ministers to announce elections outside the famous front door of Number 10.

But that does leave them open to the elements – and pouring rain soaked the back of Sunak’s suit in the minutes in which he was speaking, which was evident as he turned away from cameras and walked back into the building.

Meanwhile, the D:Ream song “Things Can Only Get Better” – the campaign song for the Labour Party before its landslide victory in 1997 – almost drowned out Sunak’s voice on the TV broadcast of his speech, disrupting Sunak’s attempts to deliver a clear message to cameras and, by extension, voters.

Sunak had the option to deliver his remarks indoors in a media briefing room built specially for big speeches. One might wonder if he regrets the choice to fight the weather and noise instead.

The first few members of Rishi Sunak’s cabinet have filtered out of Downing Street after the prime minister’s speech in which he fired the starting gun on a July general election.

They smiled broadly to journalists as they walked quickly through the rain, but failed to respond to questions shouted by reporters about the poll.

Labour Party leader Keir Starmer speaks on May 16 in Essex.

Opposition leader Keir Starmer has responded to Rishi Sunak calling a general election, claiming that “Britain deserves better” than the Tories, and that his Labour party will do so.

In the video, shared on X, Starmer said “it’s time for change,” and that “the answer is not five more years of the Tories. They have failed.”

“Stop the chaos. Turn the page. Start to rebuild. Vote Labour,” he said in the video.

Rishi Sunak turned to Labour leader Keir Starmer – who is widely expected to win the upcoming election – attacking his record and policies.

“I’m guided by doing what is right for our country, not what is easy, and I can’t say the same thing for the Labour party,” Sunak said.

“I don’t know what they offer,” he said.

“He has shown time and time again that he will take the easy way out, and will do anything to get power,” Sunak added of Starmer.

“If you don’t have the conviction to stick to anything you say … how can you possibly be trusted to lead our country?”

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech to announce the date of the UK's general election in London on Wednesday.

Rishi Sunak has confirmed he is calling a general election for July 4, as he started speaking outside Downing Street.

“Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future,” Rishi Sunak said during his speech outside Downing Street.

He said that, by voting Labour, Britain would “risk going back to square one.”

But he admits: “I cannot and will not claim that we have got everything right.”

Sunak also mentioned the war in Ukraine, as he seeks to set out the challenges facing his unpopular government.

But as he speaks, he is battling against an extremely loud speaker being blared by a protester.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delivers a speech outside Number 10 Downing Street.

Rishi Sunak is speaking outside Downing Street now.

“In the last five years our country has fought through the most challenging times since the Second World War,” he begins.

He refers to his time as finance minister during the Covid pandemic, which was his first major introduction to the wider public.

“You met that challenge and then some, and I have never been prouder to be British,” Sunak says.

As the lectern was wheeled out the front of Downing Street, rain fell and dozens of protesters chanted “Tories Out,” ahead of an expected election announcement from UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

The Conservative Party is known colloquially as the Tory party in the UK.

Opinion polls currently point to outcomes ranging from a comfortable Labour win to a devastating electoral wipeout for the Conservatives.

Labour is around 20 points ahead in the polls, and has been for the vast majority of Sunak’s premiership.

But recent election and referendum campaigns have proved volatile, and Tories still publicly hopeful of success have pointed to mixed levels of enthusiasm for Labour’s offering.

The vote will take place on Thursday 4 July, sources say, in all of Britain’s 650 parliamentary constituencies, and counting will occur overnight, with parties seeking to cross the 326 mark needed for a majority.

A government will be formed as soon as that mark is crossed, and take charge immediately, pending the symbolic approval of King Charles III.

While it might seem odd for Sunak to call an election while he’s so far behind in the polls, the chances are there won’t be a better time.

He has to call one by the end of the year and there is every chance things will get worse for the PM over the coming months.

His flagship scheme to deport irregular migrants to Rwanda is supposed to be up and running by the first few weeks of July.

But given the policies legal problems to date, it could still face delays.

Holding an election in early July allows Sunak to place it at the center of his election campaign.

Then there’s the economy, which is finally improving after a miserable few years. On Wednesday the government was able to celebrate inflation returning to a normal level for the first time since he’s been in office.

The longer he clings on, the more nervous his own backbenchers get and calling the election now at least gives Conservatives a common cause to rally around: not losing power.

Workers carry a podium outside 10 Downing Street ahead of a speech by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London on Wednesday.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will shortly start speaking at Downing Street, where it is expected he will announce the 2024 general election.

We’ll bring you the latest updates on what he says as we get them here.

Sunak will hope that a shrewd campaign could result in a spectacular upset, extending a period of Tory rule which began in 2010 and has overseen austerity economics, Brexit, the Covid-19 pandemic and a cost of living crisis.

He is the fifth Tory leader to serve during that time, taking over from the ill-fated Liz Truss, whose disastrous term imploded just six weeks after it began and exacerbated the financial woes crippling the UK.

Sunak’s party will likely put his efforts to tackle illegal migration at the center of his campaign; a recent move to deport some asylum seekers to Rwanda finally became law last month, and the first flights could potentially leave during the campaign.

But Labour will seek to highlight the government’s struggles to ease soaring prices, the state of Britain’s over-stretched healthcare service, and the sleaze scandals that have tanked the Tories’ reputation among a large swathe of British voters.

Rishi Sunak leaves 10 Downing Street in central London on Wednesday.

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is shortly expected to call a snap general election for July 4, sources say, with his Conservative party facing an uphill struggle to extend its 14 years in power.

Sunak was required to hold a vote by January 2025, and had long resisted calls to be specific about his plans. But a fall in inflation rates, announced on Wednesday, provided the backdrop for the announcement, expected to be made outside Downing Street.

The decision will fire the starting gun on a six-week campaign that, currently, is almost universally expected to conclude in the demise of Sunak’s Conservative government.