General election 2024: Sunak says Labour taking victory for granted as Starmer calls on voters to ‘stop the chaos’ on 4 July – live
Prime minister announces early summer election with date putting parties on campaign trail for six weeks
Sunak calls UK general election for 4 JulyWhy is Sunak calling an election now?
In an interview with Sky News this morning, Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, was asked if the UK would follow Ireland, Spain and Norway in formally recognising a Palestinian state. No, he replied. He told Sky:
We have a long-standing position on this that we will be prepared to recognise the state of Palestine at the time that it most helps the peace process, and we will continue to keep that under review.
We will continue to keep that under review. But our position is that this is not the right time to do it at the moment.
Dubbed “Sue’s shit list” by one senior Labour official, it has been drawn up by the former civil servant to identify the most immediate problems Labour would face in office if it wins the election expected this year.
Senior Labour officials said that any one of the areas on Gray’s “government risk register” could puncture a honeymoon period for a new administration led by Sir Keir Starmer.
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