Rishi Sunak is working towards an autumn general election on 10 October, The Independent has been told.
The prime minister on Thursday ruled out a snap election on 2 May amid mounting speculation in Westminster that he wanted to coincide with the local elections.
Mr Sunak did not indiciate when the election would be called, but Downing Street sources told The Independent that the date has been pencilled in for the second Thursday in October.
It is understood that the PM is unlikely to wait until mid-November, since it would clash with US presidential election.
The October date would also throw party conference season into disarray, which is a key opportunity for all the major parties to campaign and fundraise ahead of the upcoming election.
No 10 dismissed the claim as “speculation” but did not deny the date. A government source said: “The PM will announce the date. Until then everything else is speculation.”
Labour activists staged a protest outside Downing Street calling for the prime minister to name the date for a general election
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The PM had previously said that it was his “working assumption” that the general election would be held in the second half of the year.
But there was increasing speculation that it would be brought forward as the Conservative Party sought to reap an advantage at the ballot box from the national insurance cut announced at the Budget.
Speaking on Thursday in an interview with ITV News West Country, Mr Sunak said: “In several weeks’ time we’ve got elections for police and crime commissioners, for local councils, for mayors across the country – they’re important elections.”
Asked whether there would be a general election on the same day, he said: “There won’t be an election on that day.”
He did not rule out a wider spring or summer vote.
Party conference season will be thrown into disarray by an October election
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Mr Sunak has come under fire for refusing to name the date that the country can expect to take to the polls.
Labour’s national campaign coordinator Pat McFadden said the British people had “the right” to expect a general election on 2 May and called on the prime minister to name the date.
“Rishi Sunak should stop squatting in Downing Street and give the country what it desperately needs – a chance for change with a Labour government. The prime minister needs to finally come clean with the public and name the date of the election now,” he said.
A Labour source told The Independent that the party was ready for any eventuality.
They said: “We remain ready for all scenarios. The public wants change and we’re ready to deliver it. Sunak needs to end the speculation and name the date.”