Rishi Sunak General Election announcement

Sunak’s Election Timing and Political Dynamics:

When is the Election taking place and why then?

Rishi Sunak has announced that the UK General Election will take place on July 4th. Rishi Sunak and the Conservative team have been very intentional in the selection of the date, to maximise their chances of winning the election. During the hot summer months, Sunak is relying on the younger Labour voters to not participate in the election, because they will be preoccupied with their summer holidays.  

Between June 14th and July 14th, the Euro 2024 football tournament will be hosted and take place in Germany. Furthermore, the Glastonbury music festival draws crowds between the 26th and 30th of June. The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament will be ongoing during the general election. 

Why on July 4th?

On Wednesday the 22nd of May, UK inflation was announced to have dropped to 2.3%. At the beginning of Rishi Sunak’s term as Prime Minister, inflation was 11%. This serves as a testimony to Rishi Sunak fulfilling his promise of economic reform and improvement.  

Recently, the International Criminal Court published an arrest warrant application for Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, for alleged War Crimes. Labour leader Keir Starmer has agreed with the party’s position, that “the U.K. has a legal obligation to support the ICC’s decision”. On the other hand, Conservative leader Rishi Sunak said the warrant was “deeply unhelpful”. 

Both parties taking hard stances

Such contrasting messages on the Israel-Gaza war show the dependence on different racial, age, and religious groups in the UK. In 2019, 50 to 60% of people between 18 and 24 voted for Labour, whereas only 20 to 30% for the Conservatives. British Muslims make up 6% of the UK’s population and in general, have been against Labour’s view on the Gaza war.  

Sunak strategically dates the election to a time when young people are too occupied to worry about politics playing to his strengths of attracting the over 50’s vote. 

Labour attempting to reconcile their Muslim vote shows their reliance on them. 

How does a General Election work?

 The U.K. election system works by having each party put a candidate for election in a constituency. There are 650 constituencies across the UK. The party that wins the most constituencies is the new ruling party, and the party leader is the Prime Minister. 


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