Sunak confirms election to take place on 4 July
Sunak says the king has granted the dissolution of parliament, and the election will be on 4 July.
Key events
John Swinney, the SNP leader and Scotland’s first minister, says he will be urging Scots to vote for his party to get the Tories out. In a statement he says:
I very much look forward to leading the SNP in this election campaign.
This is the moment to remove the Tory government and put Scotland first by voting SNP. We will work night and day to protect them from the damage done by Westminster.
The SNP offers a better future to the broken Westminster consensus.
In this election we’ll be making the case why decisions about Scotland should be made here – and I’ll take that message to every part of Scotland.
In government, we’ve grown Scotland’s economy, doubled frontline funding for the NHS and ensured Scotland has the highest number of GPs per head in the UK. We’re helping with the cost of living through measures such as free prescriptions, free bus travel for under-22s and off-peak rail fares all day.
A vote for the SNP is a vote to put Scotland first – and for Scotland to become an independent country.
Starmer says ‘vote for Labour is vote for stability’
Keir Starmer has delivered his own video address. It contained two key messages.
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Starmer stressed his commitment to public service, and insisted that this was a priority for his party too. Referring to his record as director of public prosecutions, he said:
Service of our country is the reason and the only reason why I am standing here now asking for your vote. I believe with patience, determination and that commitment to service, there is so much pride and potential we can unlock in our country. So here it is, the future of the country in your hands.
He also insisted that Labour would fight the election campaign in a new “spirit of service: country first, party second”.
If [the Conservatives] get another five years they will feel entitled to carry on exactly as they are. Nothing will change,
A vote for Labour is a vote for stability, economic and political, a politics that treads more lightly on all our lives. A vote to stop the chaos.
The royal family is scaling back engagements while the election campaign is on. A Buckingham Palace spokesperson said:
Following the prime minister’s statement this afternoon calling a general election, the royal family will – in accordance with normal procedure – postpone engagements that may appear to divert attention or distract from the election campaign. Their Majesties send their sincere apologies to any of those who may be affected as a result.
But D-Day engagements are going ahead, the palace says.
Key election-related dates, up to state opening of new parliament on Wednesday 17 July
Here are the full election-related dates announced by No 10.
Friday 24 May – Parliament prorogued
Thursday 30 May – Parliament dissolved
Thursday 4 July – General election
Tuesday 9 July – New parliament meets for election of speaker and swearing-in of MPs
Wednesday 17 July – State opening of parliament, with king’s speech
Here are a selection of pictures from outside Downing Street as Rishi Sunak called a general election for 4 July.
Photograph: Hollie Adams/Reuters
Sunak’s speech – snap verdict
“Things can only get wetter.” If Rishi Sunak was setting out to make people feel sorry for him, he succeeded brilliantly. Otherwise, it was hard to find any redeeming features in that speech.
First of all, the optics. Sunak got drenched, and he looked miserable. If you believe in the weather gods, they clearly vote Labour. And whoever was playing ‘Things can only get better’ on a loudspeaker in Whitehall almost drowned him out completely (drowned being the operative word today). The Tory legislation that was supposed to ban noisy protests clearly did not work as well as Priti Patel intended.
On the announcement, we got the election date, but Sunak made no attempt to explain why he is calling it for 4 July, when until very recently he had been planning for an autumn election. There was no real need for an explanation, but it would have been nice to have one. Some commentators are describing this a “gamble”. But that implies he is expecting a positive outcome. This feels more like a capitulation, a recognition that all of his other options are worse.
Sunak was at his most popular when he was announcing the furlough scheme as chancellor, and he made this the centre of his pitch to the electorate. But he was on much weaker ground when talking about more recent policies. “We are stopping the boats with our Rwanda partnership, and we will ensure the next generation grows up smoke free,” he said. But the boats aren’t stopping, and the legislation to create a smoke-free generation almost certainly won’t become law, because the election is happening now.
On Labour, he said Keir Starmer could not be trusted, and that Labour does not have a plan. But Labour does have a plan, as the Tories admitted last week when they published a 20-page document costing it. And all the polling evidence suggests that people aren’t scared of Starmer, and that they trust him more than Sunak.
“I have never and will never leave the people of this country to face the darkest of days alone,” Sunak said at one point. The problem is, it seems that voters want Sunak to leave them alone, and to take his party off to oppositon. He has just six weeks to turn that around.
Keir Starmer has released a video with his own message. He sums up what he is offering with one word: “Change.”
Sunak says voters don’t know what they’re getting with Starmer because he doesn’t keep promises
Sunak says he is guided by what is right, not by what is easy.
He goes on:
I can’t say the same thing for the Labour party because I don’t know what they offer.
And in truth I don’t think you know either.
And that’s because they have no plan. There is no bold action. And as a result the future can only be uncertain with them.
On the 5th of July, either Keir Starmer or I will be prime minister. He has shown time and time again that he will take the easy way out and do anything to get power.
If he was happy to abandon all the promises he made to become leader leader once he got the job, how can you know that he won’t do exactly the same thing if he were to become prime minister?
If you don’t have the conviction to stick to anything you say, if you don’t have the courage to tell people what you want to do, and if you don’t have a plan, how can you possibly be trusted to lead our country, especially at this most uncertain of times?
Sunak is now talking about government achievements.
We’ve tackled inflation, controlled debt, cut workers’ taxes, and increased the state pension by £900.
We’ve reduced taxes on investment and seized the opportunities of Brexit to make this the best country in the world to grow a business, put record amounts of funding into our NHS and ensured it is now training the doctors and nurses it needs in the decades to come.
Sunak says the election will be a choose – who will take the right decisions to give people a better future.
(Sunak is getting drenched in the rain.)
Sunak is almost being drowned out by someone playing ‘Things can only get better” very, very loudly in Whitehall.
Sunak confirms election to take place on 4 July
Sunak says the king has granted the dissolution of parliament, and the election will be on 4 July.