Election will not be called until after May, Rishi Sunak suggests amid accusations of 'squatting' in No 10

Yesterday the Prime Minister said that it is his “working assumption” that he will trigger the vote which has to be held before January 2025 in the “second half of this year”.

Labour currently lead the Conservatives by around 15 points in opinion polling, with Sir Keir Starmer accusing Mr Sunak of “dithering and delaying”, while the Liberal Democrats claimed that he had “bottled” calling an election in May.

This week the main parties began their campaigning, with the Lib Dems and Reform UK holding events on Wednesday before Sir Keir and Mr Sunak visited key battleground seats yesterday.

Speaking to reporters in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, the Prime Minister did not rule out a May election, but said: “So my working assumption is we’ll have a general election in the second half of this year and, in the meantime, I’ve got lots that I want to get on with.”

It also marked one year since Mr Suank made his five pledges to the country, with critics suggesting that he has only achieved one in 12 months.

Despite halving inflation as promised, there remains doubt over the progress the Government has made on cutting debt and NHS waiting lists, growing the economy, and stopping channel migrant crossings.

Hinting at what will make up the core of the Conservatives’ offer to voters when polls open, Mr Sunak raised the prospect of further tax cuts following the reduction in National Insurance that was announced in the Autumn Statement.

Jeremy Hunt and officials in the Treasury are reportedly looking at scrapping or cutting Inheritance Tax, as well as reductions in Income Tax, as part of the last Spring Budget before election day.

“We want to do more because as we manage the economy responsibly, we can cut your taxes, give you and your family peace of mind, immediate relief from some of the challenges you’re facing and confidence that the future is going to be better for you and your children,” Mr Sunak said.

Meanwhile in Bristol, Sir Keir Starmer said that he wants the polls to open “as soon as possible” as “people are crying out for change”.

“If he’s not going to set a date, what’s he hiding from the public?” he added.

“This has serious implications for the country because he’s basically saying he’s going to be squatting for months and months in Downing Street, dithering and delaying.”

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey accused the Prime Minister of having “bottled it” as he is “running scared” of a May election.

“Squatter Sunak is holed up in Downing Street, desperately clinging on to power rather than facing the verdict of the British people,” he said.

In his speech, Sir Keir pleaded with voters to hang on to the “flickering hope in your heart that things can be better” amid the “understandable despair of a downtrodden country”.

He said that “in principle I do want to see lower taxes on working people, I want people to have more money in their pocket”.

But he stressed that the “first lever that we will pull is the growth lever because in the end that’s the only way we’re going to get the money we need to fund our public services”.

In what was the latest indication that the Labour Party will row back on its promise to invest £28 billion per year in green energy, Sir Keir conceded that it was dependent on economic conditions.

Sir Keir said: “The money that is needed for the investment that is undoubtedly needed, saying that the £28 billion will be ramped up in the second half of the Parliament, that it will be subject of course to any money that the Government is already putting in, and it will be subject to our fiscal rules.

“That means that if the money is from borrowing, which it will be, borrowing to invest, that the fiscal rules don’t allow it, then we will borrow less.”