London, May 22 (PTI) Speculation around the UK general election being around the corner, possibly in early July, went on overdrive on Wednesday as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak called a Cabinet meeting for which ministers rather unusually cut short foreign visits and changed their plans last-minute to ensure they can attend.
In Parliament, Sunak stuck to his stance of a general election in the “second half of this year” when asked during his weekly Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) in the House of Commons.
However, UK Defence Secretary Grant Shapps delayed his flight to attend a North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) meeting and Foreign Secretary David Cameron cut short his visit to Albania to be in London for a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street, curious activity soon being connected with the prospect of an election date announcement in the offing.
“As I have said repeatedly, there is — spoiler alert — going to be a general election in the second half of this year,” Sunak told MPs in the Commons.
“At that moment, the British people will in fact see the truth… it will be a party [Labour] that is not able to say to the country what it would do, a party that would put at risk our hard-earned economic stability, or the Conservatives who are delivering a secure future for our United Kingdom,” he said.
The frenzied speculation comes on the day Sunak had some good news on the economy with inflation figures dropping to 2.3 per cent, the lowest in three years and in line with the British Indian leader’s pledge to cut inflation by more than half from the 11 per cent mark when he took charge in October 2022.
“Brighter days are ahead, but only if we stick to the plan to improve economic security and opportunity for everyone,” he said, in response to the welcome statistics.
It added further credence to an earlier-than-expected general election, which was previously expected in October or November.
If an election is called earlier over the summer period in the UK, Sunak is expected to inform his Cabinet during Wednesday’s meeting that he will be heading to Buckingham Palace to ask King Charles to dissolve Parliament for a general election – perhaps on the first Thursday of July (July 4).
The repeal of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act in 2022 restored the ability of British prime ministers to set election dates.
However, by law a general election has to take place at least every five years, making January 2025 the outermost deadline for Sunak to go to the ballot box. The governing Conservatives are being forecast for a general election drubbing by most opinion polls, with the Opposition Labour Party holding a firm lead.
A Labour Party spokesperson said the party is “fully ready to go whenever” and that the country is “crying out for a general election”. PTI AK ZH AKJ ZH ZH
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