Britain will likely go to the polls in the last six months of this year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak indicated on Thursday, as speculation mounts about the date of the vote.
Sunak, whose Conservative party has been in power since 2010, has until the end of January 2025 to call a much-anticipated general election.
He has already indicated he will not leave it until the last minute to go to the country and try to secure his own mandate after becoming Tory leader in an internal party vote in October 2022.
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“My working assumption is we’ll have a general election in the second half of this year,” he said on a visit to Mansfield, central England.
The Tories, who have had five leaders and prime ministers in 14 years, are widely expected to lose the election, handing power to Keir Starmer’s main opposition Labour party.
The Conservatives’ years in power have been bookended by economic troubles, first the fall-out from the 2008 global financial crash, and latterly a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by high inflation and energy prices.
Possible dates suggested for the vote include May 2, coinciding with local elections, and coming soon after the March 6 government budget, when the Tories are tipped to announce tax cuts to woo voters.
Asked if he could rule out a May election, former finance minister Sunak, who has pledged to halve inflation from highs nudging 11 per cent again repeated that he was looking at a vote later in 2024.
“I want to keep going, managing the economy well and cutting people’s taxes. But I also want to keep tackling illegal migration,” he said, referring to another key pledge.
“So, I’ve got lots to get on with and I’m determined to keep delivering for the British people.”
The last general election, won by then-Tory leader Boris Johnson on a pledge to “get Brexit done”, was held in December 2019.