When are the UK general elections? Who are the candidates for the Conservatives and Labour Party?

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced the date of the next UK general election, potentially bringing the Conservative Party’s 14-year stint in power to an end.

Sunak’s party is well behind in the polls, trailing Labour by around 20 points by most calculations. He has until January 2025 to call a general election but has opted to do so on 4 July, just six weeks away.

Announcing the news in the rain outside Number 10 Downing Street, Sunak said: “I cannot and will not claim that we have got everything right. No government could, but I am proud of what we have achieved together, the bold actions we have taken. I’m confident about what we can do in the future.”

Can Rishi Sunak win the general election?

Sunak will formally ask King Charles to dissolve the UK Parliament later today, the official trigger for a general election. He does so with his party trailing in the polls and looking set to lose power for the first time since 2010.

The Conservative Party has had five Prime Ministers since David Cameron, currently Sunak’s Foreign Secretary, took office in 2010. Sunak is hoping to pull off the biggest UK electoral turnaround since 1992, when Conservative leader John Major overturned the odds to pick up a narrow 21-seat majority.

Sunak ran to take over as leader of the Conservative Party in 2022 when former PM Boris Johnson was forced to stand down off the back of a string of scandals. He was initially beaten by Liz Truss in the leadership contest but swooped in to replace her after Truss’ disastrous government lasted less than two months.

Who is Keir Starmer, leader of the Labour Party?

In the UK’s political system the Conservatives and Labour are, by some distance, the two most widely-supported parties. Labour are currently led by Sir Keir Starmer, a former barrister who was voted in as party leader in 2020.

Starmer was previously Director of Public Prosecutions from 2008 to 2013, meaning that he worked on behalf of the UK government in pursuing legal cases. He was elected to the House of Commons in 2015 and has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Holburn and St Pancras ever since.

Since late 2021, when the Partygate scandal began to engulf Johnson’s government, Starmer has held a consistent lead in most polls. His party continued to make gains in recent local council elections and he looks set to become the first Labour Prime Minister since Gordon Brown left office in 2010.

In response to Wednesday’s news Starmer’s social media account shared a video calling for change. The Labour leader said: “It’s time for change. Britain is a great and proud country. But after 14 years under the Tories nothing seems to work anymore.