Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announces General Election

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called the General Election for July 4.

He made the announcement outside Downing Street just after 5pm.

Mr Sunak, who has been PM since October 22 when he replaced Liz Truss, travelled to Buckingham Palace earlier today to ask the King to dissolve Parliament.

The Tory leader said: “Now is the moment for Britain to choose it’s future, build on the progress it’s made or go back to square one.

“Earlier this day I spoke to the King to dissolve parliament and he’s granted this request and we will have a general election on July 4.”

He continued, talking about the challenges the country has faced with the Covid pandemic and the ongoing Russia/Ukraine war.

“I have never and will never leave the people of this country to face the darkest of days alone, and you know that because you've seen it,” he said.

“As I did then, I will forever do everything in my power to provide you with the strongest possible protection I can. That is my promise to you. Because for so many of us, it's easy to forget the scale of what we've been through.

“We were hit by a pandemic that upended normal life. Who would have thought that the Government would ever tell us how many times a day we could leave our homes?

“Then, just as we were recovering from Covid, war returned to Europe, with Putin's invasion of Ukraine sending your energy bills spirally. I came to office, above all, to restore economic stability.”

Speaking at PMQs this lunchtime, the PM repeated his insistence an election would take place in the second half of the year amid mounting speculation he could have his eye on a summer polling day.

SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: “Speculation is rife, so I think the public deserve a clear answer to a simple question. Does the Prime Minister intend to call a summer general election or is he feart?”

Mr Sunak replied: “There is, Mr Speaker – spoiler alert – there is going to be a general election in the second half of this year.

“At that moment, the British people will in fact see the truth about the honourable gentleman opposite me (Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer), because that will be the choice at the next election, Mr Speaker – a party that is not able to say to the country what they would do, a party that would put at risk our hard-earned economic stability, or the Conservatives that are delivering a secure future for our United Kingdom.”

It follows a difficult period for the Conservatives, who have suffered two defections by backbench MPs and a drubbing at the local elections earlier this month.

Polls continue to suggest the Tories are on course to lose the forthcoming vote, with Labour retaining a double-digit polling lead.

At the last election in December 2019, former Tory leader Boris Johnson cemented a Conservative majority.