LONDON: The UK will likely go to the elections in the last six months of this year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hinted Thursday, as speculation mounts regarding the date of the election.
PM Sunak, whose Conservative party has been in power since 2010, has until the end of January 2025 to call a much-anticipated general polls in the UK.
He has already hinted he will not leave it until the last minute to go to the country and make attempt to secure his party mandate following becoming Tory leader in an internal party vote in 2022.
In a statement during his visit to Mansfield, central England, he said that his working assumption is they will have a general election in the second half of the current year.
UK’s Prime Minister Eyes ‘Second Half’ of 2024 for Polls
The Tories, who have had five prime ministers and leaders in 14 years, are expected to lose the polls, handing power to Keir Starmer’s opposition Labour party.
Possible dates recommended for the election include May 2, coinciding with local polls, and coming soon following the March 6 government budget, when the Tories are tipped to announce tax reduction to woo voters. Responding to a question, PM Sunak said that he was looking at a vote in the current year.
He said that he wanted to keep going, managing the country’s economy well and reducing people’s taxes. He maintained that he wished to keep tackling illegal migration in the country.
The last general election in the UK, won by then-Tory leader Boris Johnson on a vow to “get Brexit done”, was held in 2019.
