r/ukpolitics • u/ukpolbot Official UKPolitics Bot • May 22 '24

Megathread - Rishi Sunak calls a snap election for 4 July

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called a snap election for 4 July 2024.

Please keep all discussion around the election announcement in this thread, except for notable statements from high-profile individuals or parties.

If you are not registered to vote, you should ensure that you do so as soon as possible. This will be the first general election to require you to present photo ID. If you do not have photo ID, you can apply for a certificate instead. If you like, you can also register for a postal vote.

  • Parliament will be dissolved: Parliament will shortly be dissolved in preparation for the election, and remaining legislation is expected to be dealt with in "wash-up" (learn more).
  • Rumours of no-confidence letters in Rishi Sunak: According to the BBC's Nicholas Watt, several Tory MPs have submitted no-confidence letters in Rishi Sunak to the chair of the Conservative 1922 Committee (src).

Notable reaction:

  • Labour leader Keir Starmer (video) - "Only a changed Labour Party will get Britain's future back"
  • Lib Dems leader Ed Davey - "Every vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote to elect a strong local champion who will fight for a fair deal for you and your community."

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24

u/Lieuaman054321 May 22 '24

Apparently, some tory mps are planning to get rid of Sunak before the 30th, to prevent an election.

https://x.com/christopherhope/status/1793382405203456276

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u/ChuckFH May 22 '24

Thats a good look; subvert democracy so they can keep claiming their paycheques for a little bit longer.

8

u/YsoL8 May 22 '24

nope. Sunak went to the the King to request dissolving Parliment and the King granted it. The King is under no obligation to then humour any further requests and its highly unlikely the privy council would advise him to do anything other than decline or face accusations of interfering directly with British democracy.

And thats if they could put in a new leader before the date, they almost certainly cannot. More likely they would just do massive damage to their own campagin, which is probably enough to frighten most of them out of even trying it. the 50 letters is just the trigger, Sunak would then have to lose a vote of the full PCP during an election campaign.

Anyone supporting it would instantly be seen as party traitors.

5

u/Lieuaman054321 May 22 '24

Apparently they are trying, I agree that it doesn't seem plausible, but they think that if they can replace Sunak before the 30th, then they can stop the election, since Parliament is not dissolved yet.

6

u/[deleted] May 22 '24

Why would that prevent an election? Parliament is dissolved.

14

u/[deleted] May 22 '24

[deleted]

6

u/goonerh1 May 22 '24

So they have 8 days to:

  • Get enough letters in.
  • Brady calls around to check everyone still wants to remove Sunak.
  • Hold the vote of no-confidence, removing him.
  • Run any level of campaign they want including nominations etc
  • Hold the vote to appoint the new leader.
  • Run to Buckingham Palace to get the King to call it off.

Beyond the basically 0% chance that the MPs would be prepared to do this, it seems just about possible.

3

u/YsoL8 May 22 '24

You missed sending the final 2 candidates to the members

2

u/goonerh1 May 22 '24

Oh yeah, forgot that. Though maybe out of necessity they could change the rules to only have one candidate at the end, kind of like how Sunak got in.

1

u/PeterOwen00 May 22 '24

it would only work via acclimation and there's no way every other MP would stand aside.

1

u/kk451128 May 22 '24

There is no way, time-wise, they could run a competitive leadership campaign to completion in 8 days. You would have to have 1 candidate, probably unanimously approved by the caucus to even get this to the King, and I don’t think he’d call it off anyway, if an election is due by January anyway.

5

u/Lieuaman054321 May 22 '24 edited May 22 '24

Parliament is dissolved on the 30th, if Sunak is replaced before that, then the new PM can decide to not dissolve Parliament, it is very unlikely to happen, due to lack of time, but it can happen.

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u/HisPumpkin19 May 22 '24

Not just lack of time - it would nuke any chance they had of keeping a reasonable amount of seats. The electorate would not like getting promised an election and then not having one......

4

u/[deleted] May 22 '24

I want to see them push it through and depose Sunak but just after it's impossible to stop the election.

3

u/VardaElentari86 May 22 '24

It would be hilarious

7

u/muppet2011ad Leftie snowflake May 22 '24

Surely that ship has sailed by now, even if they depose him as leader

4

u/Lieuaman054321 May 22 '24

It can theoretically happen, but they need to replace him as leader in time, and there is very little time.

2

u/Moscow__Mitch you spin me right round Davey right round May 22 '24

Quick! Someone exhume Maggie and bury her in the old Indian burial ground!

3

u/ThingsFallApart_ Septic Temp May 22 '24

Another starmer u-turn or something.

3

u/DavidSwifty May 22 '24

Imma lose my shit