Sunak Gambles on Summer Election as Tories Struggle in Polls
- Premier was expected to wait to autumn to let economy improve
- Ruling Conservatives trail Starmer’s Labour by about 20 points
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Rishi Sunak called a surprise UK general election for July 4, with the prime minister battling a Downing Street downpour and protesters to set his Conservative Party up for a bruising six-week battle to try to stop Keir Starmer’s poll-leading opposition Labour Party from taking power.
“Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future,” Sunak said in a statement that tried to frame the UK as a nation emerging from economic shocks that should stick with him rather than gambling on a new leader. “I cannot and will not claim that we have got everything right — no government should.”