General election announcement live updates as July 4 date confirmed by Rishi Sunak

The Prime Minister has confirmed the date the next general election will take place. It has been a balancing act for the Conservative Prime Minister about when to call the election.

He has consistently had low polling figures but an election has to be held before January 2025. The Prime Minister has been repeatedly questioned about when it will take place and had said he expected it to be in the second half of 2024. Either side of the summer break was most widely expected. Mr Sunak, in a statement in the rain outside 10 Downing Street, has now confirmed the next general election will be held on Thursday, July 4. Parts of his statement were almost drowned out by a loudspeaker playing Things Can Only Get Better.

In Wales the polls suggest the Conservatives could be all but wiped out, retaining just one or two seats. The favourite seats to hold onto are Montgomeryshire, held by Craig Williams, and the Brecon and Radnorshire seat held by Fay Jones. You can see the detail of Welsh polling here.

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The election will be fought on different constituency boundaries. Wales' 40 constituencies are being cut to 32 under a redesign of the constituency to make the sizes more equal. The new constituencies are detailed in this story.

The latest date Parliament could have been dissolved for a general election is December 17, 2024. Given the requirement for 25 working days to prepare for an election the next election must be held by January 28, 2025. Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news.

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