- Prime Minister Sunak announces date after cabinet meeting.
- Local media say Sunak would call an election on July 4.
- The prime minister previously said that elections will be held in the second half of 2024.
The UK general election is scheduled for July 4, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday.
British media citing sources said Sunak would name the date in a Downing Street statement after the cabinet meeting.
Earlier, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared set to call an election on Wednesday for July 4, with a statement expected after ministers canceled events and reduced or delayed trips abroad to attend a government meeting.
For most of Wednesday, rumors circulated in parliament that the British leader was about to call an election, something he and his team neither confirmed nor denied.
Several local media outlets, citing sources, said Sunak would call an election on July 4, an expectation shared by many in his Conservative Party, which is far behind the Labor opposition in opinion polls.
Previously, when asked about the rumours, Sunak stood firm in his formulation that a national election would be held in the second half of 2024. But then Foreign Secretary David Cameron cut short a trip to Albania and the Foreign Secretary Defense delayed a visit abroad to attend a cabinet meeting of senior ministers.
That fueled speculation that the meeting could be required to approve a decision to call elections before the October or November dates that most experts had considered most likely.
“Spoiler alert: there will be a general election in the second half of this year,” Sunak told Parliament.
Sunak's press secretary declined to comment on the rumours.
“I know there's a lot of interest in this, as there has been almost every week for the last five months. I'll just say the same thing I've always said, which is I'm not ruling anything out or leaving,” he told reporters.
