LONDON: UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday set a general election date for July 4, ending months of speculation about when he would go to the country.
"Earlier today I spoke with His Majesty the King to request the dissolution of parliament. The king has granted this request and we will have a general election on July 4," he said.
The poll will be the first time Sunak, 44, faces the public while in charge, after he was appointed leader of the largest party in parliament in an internal Conservative vote in October 2022.
The vote -- the third since the Brexit referendum in 2016 -- comes as Sunak seeks to capitalise on better economic data to woo voters hit by cost-of-living rises.
Halving inflation within a year from historic highs of above 11.0 percent at the end of 2022 was one of the former financier's five key pledges.
That happened last year and on Wednesday rates slowed to a near three-year low at 2.3 percent in March, prompting finance minister Jeremy Hunt to declare: "This is proof that the plan is working."
Political commentators have increasingly suggested that Sunak, trailing badly in the polls to the main opposition Labour party, could try to seek a bounce from the healthier outlook.
But critics point out that is more to do with changes in the global economy than government policy.
Sunak has previously batted back all efforts to name a date, saying only that he would go to the country in the second half of this year.