The leaders of the UK’s political parties have kicked off their election campaigns, six weeks before voters go to the polls.
Prime Minister and Conservative Party leader Rishi Sunak toured broadcast studios before embarking on a two-day whistle stop trip of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Labour leader Keir Starmer is in southeast England in a sign he wants to make inroads in Tory areas.
In London, Reform UK’s leader Richard Tice will stage a press conference setting out his party’s plans.
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The party’s most high-profile figure, honorary president Nigel Farage, has said he is not standing in the
general election, but said he will “do my bit to help in the campaign”.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is expected to visit a target seat as he launches a campaign expected to focus on targeting Conservative-held seats following a series of eye-catching by-election successes.
Even his own Cabinet was kept in the dark until the last minute, with Home Secretary James Cleverly saying “we don’t get particular advance notice” and it was largely a matter for Mr Sunak and his inner circle.
The news caused disquiet among Tory MPs fearful of losing their jobs, and those who have already said they will not stand and are having to say goodbye to parliament sooner than expected.
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Despite speculation at Westminster about a Tory rebel effort to oust Mr Sunak and call off the election, one prominent critic of the prime minister said it was “too late” to get rid of him.
Andrea Jenkyns, who has called for Mr Sunak to go, said she understood “other letters have been going in” to 1922 Committee chairman Graham Brady but “colleagues, it’s too late, I told you six months ago we should have done this”.
Just two more days of House of Commons business have been scheduled, during which important legislation will have to be rushed through.
Party whips from the Conservatives and Labour are holding talks to work out what outstanding legislation can become law before prorogation – the end of the current parliamentary session – on Friday.
That includes the Victims and Prisoners Bill, which includes measures to establish a compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal.
In his Downing Street statement, Mr Sunak said the election would be a question of trust, warning that Mr Starmer was not the man to lead the country through “uncertain” times.
Mr Starmer said the election would be a chance to turn the page on 14 years of Conservative rule and “stop the chaos” at Westminster.
Mr Sunak hopes that Consumer Prices Index inflation falling to 2.3% in April and a recovering economy will help overturn a 20-point opinion poll deficit.
It was “proof that the plan and priorities I set out are working”, Mr Sunak said, but he acknowledged “for some it might still be hard when you look at your bank balance”.
He also highlighted that whoever was in No 10 would have to deal with a world “more dangerous than it has been since the end of the Cold War” with Vladimir Putin’s actions in Ukraine, the Israel-Hamas conflict in the Middle East, China’s efforts to “dominate the 21st century” and migration “being weaponised by hostile states”.
