General election 2024: PM Rishi Sunak sets date for when Sheffield votes in election this summer

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called a general election.

After hours of speculation by news outlets and sources close to No 10 today (May 22), the PM has announced the day Sheffield voters will head to the polls to pick a new Government will be this summer.

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The general election 2024 will be held on July 4, 2024.

In a speech that repeatedly invoked the security of the country, Mr Sunak said: "This election will take place at time when the world is more dangerous than it has been since the end of the Cold War.”

He claimed that the “uncertain times” call for a “clear plan” under Conservatives.

Rumours around Whitehall were intense today following on from reports showing inflation slowed to 2.3 per cent in April, the lowest level since July 2021.

Gossip was stoked further when a trip by Defence Secretary Grant Shapps was delayed, and Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron cut short a visit to Albania to rush back for a sudden cabinet meeting. Other ministers cancelled TV interviews, with Jeremy Hunt pulling out of an ITV appearance.

Speculation ran unchecked that an announcement was imminent, and media outlets waited with baited breath that it would instead be cabinet reshuffle.

When asked directly in the the Commons, Mr Sunak said: “There is, Mr Speaker – spoiler alert – there is going to be a general election in the second half of this year.”

In the political calendar, the ‘second half of the year’ formally begins on July 1.

Mr Sunak said at Prime Minister’s Questions: “At that moment, the British people will in fact see the truth about the honourable gentleman opposite me (Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer), because that will be the choice at the next election, Mr Speaker – a party that is not able to say to the country what they would do, a party that would put at risk our hard-earned economic stability, or the Conservatives that are delivering a secure future for our United Kingdom.”

Labour urged the Prime Minister to “get on with it” and trigger a general election which Britons are “crying out for”.

A spokesman for Sir Keir Starmer said: “We are fully ready to go whenever the Prime Minister calls an election. We have a fully organised and operational campaign ready to go and we think the country is crying out for a general election so would urge the Prime Minister to get on with it.”

Polls continue to suggest the Tories are on course to lose the next election, with Labour retaining a double-digit lead.

The Prime Minister surprised many pundits by announcing he had already asked His Majesty the King for permission to dissolve Parliament, and had been granted it. Dissolution will take place on May 30.

If granted, dissolution would be timed to allow for the vote to happen on Mr Sunak’s preferred date.

Polling day takes place 25 working days after dissolution, with bank holidays not counted, and is by convention held on a Thursday.

At the point of dissolution, every seat in the Commons becomes vacant and Government enters a pre-election period during which its activity is restricted.