Sunak Fights Election on Economy That’s Only Just Picking Up
- Prime minister gambles on election months before expected
- Economy is growing, but Tories face huge task to beat Labour
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Standing in the rain and being drowned out by protesters playing the Labour Party’s 1997 victory anthem “Things Can Only Get Better” will not have been Rishi Sunak’s preferred backdrop for his announcement naming the date of the next UK election. The soundtrack, though, was apt.
The prime minister will fight the campaign over the next six weeks in the belief that the economy is going to pick up further. Labour leader Keir Starmer will counter that the next government, which his party is the clear favorite to form, faces the worst economic inheritance since World War II.