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Agence France-Presse

Britain is likely to go to the polls in the last six months of this year, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak indicated 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.
“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.
UK’s Sunak nears first anniversary in power with little to celebrate
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.
Starmer said on Thursday that a much anticipated general election this year will offer the UK the chance to “get our future back”.
In his first major public appearance of 2024, the Labour leader laid out what he called “Project Hope” in a lengthy speech broadcast live on TV news channels.
The chance, finally, to turn the page, lift the weight off our shoulders, unite as a country and get our future back
Keir Starmer, Labour Party leader
Starmer, whose centre-left party is well ahead in opinion polls, said the election will be a choice between “14 years of decline” and “a decade of national renewal”.
“This is your year. The opportunity to shape our country’s future rests in your hands,” he said in a direct pitch to voters during an address from the southwestern city of Bristol.
“The chance, finally, to turn the page, lift the weight off our shoulders, unite as a country and get our future back,” Starmer added.
The 61-year-old Starmer said that he “hated the futility of opposition” and was “ready” for the election, in which his party will need to overturn a large Tory majority to win power.

“Bring it on,” he told Sunak, attacking the Conservatives’ over low economic growth, high taxes and the worst cost-of-living crisis in decades.
The Conservatives’ years in power have been book ended by economic troubles, first the fallout 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.
Blow for Sunak as UK Tories suffer two damaging by-election losses
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.


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Britain

UK PM Rishi Sunak eyes ‘second half’ of 2024 for election, as Labour’s Keir Starmer offers voters chance to ‘turn the page’

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has indicated that an election could be called by the second half of 2024. Photo: Pool via AP

UK Labour Party leader Keir Starmer told Rishi Sunak to “bring it on” after the UK PM indicated an election would be held in the second half of 2024. Photo: dpa

Right-wing upstarts threaten UK Tories at general election with Donald Trump-aping promises to ‘make Britain great’

Richard Tice, leader of the Reform UK party, delivers a speech in central London on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Former Reform UK leader Nigel Farage in London in March 20. Photo: AFP

Britain’s Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer during Prime Minister’s Questions at the House of Commons in London last month. Photo: UK Parliament / Jessica Taylor / Handout via Reuters

Britain bans foreign students from bringing families into UK

Britain’s Prime Minister Rishi Sunak visits the Royal Air Force base Lossiemouth in Moray, northeast Scotland, in December. Photo: AFP

UK Labour Party Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper speaks in the House of Commons in London in December. Photo: UK Parliament/PRU via AFP

Longest doctors’ strike in NHS history piles pressure on England’s health services

Junior doctors in England begin a 6-day walkout as their months-long pay dispute drags on, adding pressure on the National Health Service and dealing another blow to Rishi Sunak’s pledge to cut waiting lists. Photo: Bloomberg/File

Junior doctors in England started a six-day walkout over pay. Photo: AFP

Sunak tells UK Covid inquiry he is ‘deeply sorry’ to bereaved families, hopes country can learn from pandemic

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak gives evidence at the COVID-19 Inquiry, in London on Monday. Photo: UK Covid-19 Inquiry/Handout via Reuters

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Sunak, whose Conservative Party has been in power since 2010, has until the end of January 2025 to call a much-anticipated general election
The Tories, who have had 5 leaders and prime ministers in 14 years, are widely expected to lose the election to Keir Starmer’s main opposition Labour Party


Sunak, whose Conservative Party has been in power since 2010, has until the end of January 2025 to call a much-anticipated general election.


UK PM Rishi Sunak eyes ‘second half’ of 2024 for election, as Labour’s Keir Starmer offers voters chance to ‘turn the page’

Sunak, whose Conservative Party has been in power since 2010, has until the end of January 2025 to call a much-anticipated general election The Tories, who have had 5 leaders and prime ministers in 14 years, are widely expected to lose the election to Keir Starmer’s main opposition Labour Party

Sunak, whose Conservative Party has been in power since 2010, has until the end of January 2025 to call a much-anticipated general election

The Tories, who have had 5 leaders and prime ministers in 14 years, are widely expected to lose the election to Keir Starmer’s main opposition Labour Party