After three prime ministers, 21 by-elections and seemingly endless political drama, many voters are understandably asking: when will the government call the next general election?
Well, the short answer is: we don’t know.
But, we can make an educated guess.
We know it has to be before January 28, 2025, and parliament has to be dissolved by December 17, 2024, because each parliament can only sit for five years.
But, a survey from YouGov has found half of Brits would find an election in December or January, so it’s pretty unlikely the government would wait that long.
And a winter election is an uncommon choice anyway, as the weather conditions can sometimes stop voters from being able to reach the ballot box.
So, what about holding it in November? Polling guru professor John Curtice previously speculated polling day could be on November 14.
But, concerns have since arisen that this could mean the UK election could be too close to the US presidential election (November 5, 2024) – and too many UK voters may be polarised by the outcome of that election.
That leaves the rest of autumn wide open – and the latter part of summer, as Sunak has said that he is working towards holding an election in the “second half” of the year.
But, that’s still not early enough for many voters.
YouGov found May 2024 is the most popular month for the general public to head to the polls.
It’s unclear if the Tories will choose to wait it out, in the hope that they might be able to claw back some points in the opinion polls from Labour – or if they’ll bend to public pressure and call it sooner rather than later.