LONDON — Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday a national election would be held in the second half of the year, when asked about rumors in parliament that the British leader might call a vote to take place in the summer.
Sunak has repeatedly said an election will be held in the second half of 2024, and he stated that again when he was asked about the rumors in the House of Commons on Wednesday. October or November had been seen as the most likely timing by most pundits.
“Spoiler alert: there is going to be a general election in the second half of this year,” Sunak told parliament.
But rumors swirled around parliament on Wednesday, among lawmakers and journalists, that he could move earlier and call a national election in early July.
Sunak’s press secretary declined to be drawn on the rumours.
“I know there is a lot of interest in this, as there has been pretty much every week over the last five months, I will just say the same thing I have always said, which is I am not going to rule anything in or out,” she said.
Keir Starmer’s Labour Party has held an around 20 point lead in opinion polls since late 2021, before Sunak took office in October 2022 and following the scandal-ridden premiership of Boris Johnson and the upheaval of Liz Truss’s 49-day tenure.
