Why did the UK Prime Minister announce general elections? When are they?

In front of Number 10 Downing Street, as the rain poured heavily and “Things Can Only Get Better” by D:Ream drown out his speech, the soaking wet UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced a general election, which will take place this summer. Sunak has come under significant pressure for a series of failing schemes, despite the Prime Minister saying the opposite, that the UK is in fact showing evidence of financial recovery.

The Conservative Party, the United Kingdom’s right-wing group, have been in power for a total of 14 years, ever since David Cameron beat Labour leader and then-Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2010. Over that time the UK has had a total of 5 Prime Ministers (including Sunak) all with varying levels of success and plenty of controversies to speak of.

When is the UK election?

The Prime Minister confirmed that the election would take place on Thursday 4 July 2024. The timing is not ideal for voters in some parts of the UK, including Scotland and Northern Ireland, as school holidays will have already started and many people may be on holiday.

Why did Rishi Sunak call an election?

The Conservatives have been, as mentioned, in power for 14 years, and during that time their popularity has wained due to various failed policies and controversies. We won’t go into it here as I don’t have time to write something as long as War and Peace, but COVID-19 damaged the Tory party (another name for the Conservatives) heavily.

After that, once Boris was booted out and Rishi took over (sorry, Liz Truss), plenty of incendiary topics have continued to damage the image of the party. Brexit has been a huge albatross that has hung over the Tories since it was confirmed that the UK was to leave the European Union: years have gone by and yet there are still regularly problems of supply, transport and immigration that hit the news.

As well as this and relating to immigration, Sunak - along with various right-wing Home Secretaries - have promoted the idea of ‘stopping small boats’ crossing the channel into the UK from France, a member of the EU. This idea has fallen flat and little action has been taken - apart from spending tax money - that has pleased the public. As well as this, the Conservative government have pushed hard to get legislation through that would send illegal migrants to... Rwanda.

Yes, the East African country struck a deal with the UK to accommodate illegal migrants while their paperwork was processed. It’s as crazy and expensive an idea as you’re rightly thinking, and one that has people in the UK re-thinking about who they should vote for when the election comes around.