UK General Election: How Does It Work and What’s At Stake?

UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s Conservative party appears to be heading for its worst electoral defeat in more than a century. Some of the party’s most senior figures, including the premier himself, are at risk of losing their seats in the snap general election he called for July 4. Here are answers to some key questions, including the possible reasons why Sunak called the election, the way it will work and what the opposition Labour party would do if it wins office.

Sunak suggested in January that he would hold the election "in the second half of this year,” which many believed pointed toward an autumn vote. By calling it just four days into that period, he may have hoped to catch Labour and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK off guard, not to mention Keir Starmer’s poll-leading Labour Party. He also highlighted economic data as one of the reasons for having an election, with the UK exiting recession and inflation falling. The opportunity to turn deportation flights of asylum seekers to Rwanda into a campaign point — to draw a contrast with Labour, which wants to scrap the idea — may also have been a factor. Sunak’s decision to call the snap vote was kept a secret from all but his closest advisers. It disappointed and surprised many parliamentary colleagues who had thought he would hold off until later in the year in the hope that voters would be starting to feel the benefits of a strengthening economy by then. After the vote was announced, former Brexit cheerleader and anti-immigration campaigner Farage initially ruled out standing as a candidate, before making an about-turn, in a further blow to Tory morale.