What is a snap election?

RISHI Sunak has announced that the UK will have a General Election in July 2024.

He confirmed that the vote would happen on July 4, despite the public thinking they’d have to wait until autumn, meaning that the country is facing a snap election.

Rishi Sunak made his announcement outside Downing Street

What is a snap election?

A snap election is one that is called earlier than expected – or when not required.

The “snap” element can be used as a tactic to exploit the opposition’s weakness, or for a party to boost their majority in parliament.

An example of this is when the then-Prime Minister Theresa May called a shock snap election in 2017.

 

However her gamble to try to strengthen the Tories’ hold on Parliament backfired when her majority was slashed by 13 seats.

It put the Conservatives below the 326 seats needed to form a government — leading her to get the support of Northern Ireland’s DUP in a £1 billion supply-and-demand deal to keep them in power.

Previously, elections could be called by the Prime Minister going to the Head Of State at any point within five years of the last one.

But this changed after the Fixed Term Parliament Act was passed in 2011 the five-year gap was enshrined in law.

What would cause a snap election?

Mr Sunak called a snap election on Wednesday May 22, 2024.

There can be several reasons that a snap election may be called.

This can include if 10 Conservative MPs defected to Reform UK or if MPs triggered a confidence vote in the PM.

A senior MP who is supportive of Mr Sunak said before the election was called: “The thing is, even if Rishi wins a confidence vote he won’t want to carry on until the autumn with half the party against him.

“He could call a general election there and then.”

Pollsters asked the public ahead of the announcement if they thought the party would do better in the coming election if Boris Johnson was still leader.

37 per cent of people said they thought it would, but 63 per cent disagreed.

On April 28, 2024, Mr Sunak refused to rule out holding a snap election in July when asked by Sky News.

A Downing Street source said at the time: “The PM has made clear that his working assumption is that the election will be held in the second half of the year.

“In the meantime we’re focused on delivering for people right across the country, and in the last two weeks alone we’ve introduced transformational welfare reform, passed the toughest bit of legislation to crack down on illegal migration and have provided the biggest strengthening to our defence in a generation.”

Mr Sunak also mentioned that he would wait for economic improvements to come through which suggest an election would’ve taken place later in the year.

“I’m determined to make sure that people feel when the election comes that the future is better, that we have turned the corner,” he said.

When is the next UK general election?

The next UK General Election will take place on Thursday July 4, 2024.

Mr Sunak made a speech outside Downing Street where he confirmed that the election would be going ahead.

The last five years have been the most challenging times since the Second World War.

Rishi Sunak

He said that “now is the moment for Britain to choose its future” as he pointed out that either him or Labour leader Keir Starmer would be the next Prime Minister.

The Conservative Party will be taking on Labour in what is set to be an election that goes down in history.

Speaking from Downing St, Mr Sunak said: “The last five years have been the most challenging times since the Second World War.
“Now is the moment to choose to decide whether we want to build on the progress we have made, or risk going back to square one with no plan and no certainty.”
Issuing a warning to voters, Mr Sunak said: “On July 5, either Keir Starmer or I will be Prime Minister.
“He has shown time and time again that he will take the easy way out and do anything to get power.
“If he was happy to abandon all the promises he made to become leader once he got the job, how can you know that he won’t do exactly the same thing if he were to become prime minister?”
After his speech the PM formally begins the process of triggering the General Election.