When will the election be? It’s the question that is asked whenever MPs meet. Over the Christmas recess, the issue has once again been driven up the news agenda. The reason? The announcement from the Chancellor that the Spring budget is due to take place March 6. Given this is the earliest the annual fiscal event has been scheduled for since the Tories entered government in 2010, it has added to talk that Rishi Sunak could opt for a spring election rather than waiting until the autumn. As shadow cabinet minister Emily Thornberry put it this morning, a May election is ‘the worst kept secret in Westminster’.
Sunak confirmed this month at the Christmas drinks reception with the lobby that the election will be in 2024 – rather than January 2025 (the last possible date). The general Westminster consensus has been for some time that the autumn is the most likely date: the thinking being that Sunak hasn’t had much time as prime minister so he won’t want to cut it shorter.
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