Party in crisis

Sunak: British general election is on July 4

Sunak announced the election date on Wednesday evening. After the ballot, the prime minister could literally be left out in the rain.(Bild: APA/AFP/HENRY NICHOLLS)

The next general election in Great Britain will take place on July 4. This was announced by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in London in pouring rain. Uncertain times require a clear plan, said Sunak. He has this plan, in contrast to the opposition party Labor.

Only a Conservative government led by him would stabilize the economy, said the Conservative head of government, who also spoke of the need for courageous action in these times. In view of the polls, according to which Sunak's Tory party would plummet, commentators also spoke of a courageous move.

Labour party has been leading the polls for months
In the election polls, the social democratic Labour Party is around 20 percentage points ahead of the Tories. Should this result materialize in the election, the Conservatives, who have been in power since 2010, are likely to suffer a historic defeat. Sunak has been in office since October 2022. He is already the third head of government since the previous election in 2019 after Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

Unlike in Austria, the Prime Minister in the United Kingdom is largely free to decide on the election date within a generous period of time. He must give at least 25 working days' notice. The opposition has been urging Sunak for months to finally set an election date. They accused him of delaying the election date for as long as possible in view of the poor poll results.

Much pressure on the Conservative Party
Despite several announcements and recently improved economic data, Sunak's Conservatives have not yet managed to close the gap on Labor. They recently lost hundreds of seats and an important mayoral post in local elections in England, as well as a constituency in north-west England in a parliamentary by-election. The right-wing populist Reform UK party, the former Brexit party, is also putting the Tories under increasing pressure.