Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ruled out a UK general election on May 2, signaling that a public vote would take place later this year instead.
“In several weeks on May 2 we have elections on local issues, police and crime commissioners, mayors. There won’t be a general election on that day,” Sunak said in an interview with ITV on Thursday evening.
His remarks end weeks of speculation in Westminster that the premier could seek an early general election. Sunak had repeatedly said his “working assumption” had been that an election would be held in the “second half” of 2024. Though his previous failure to explicitly rule out a May vote, as well as increasing political pressure on his position, had led to speculation he might choose to go the polls early.
Sunak’s aides are looking at calling the election in the autumn, Bloomberg previously reported. The governing Conservative Party trail Keir Starmer’s opposition Labour Party by around 20 points in opinion polls.