Time is running out for Rishi Sunak to call a UK general election that would take place on the same day as the local elections on May 2nd.
Under UK electoral law, parliament has to be dissolved – in other words, come to an end – 25 working days before a general election is held.
This means that if the election were to be on May 2nd, dissolution must take place no later than March 26th.
In practice, Parliament would need a few days’ notice of dissolution, to allow MPs and peers to decide which – if any – remaining pieces of non-controversial legislation should be approved.
It has also become a tradition for the House of Commons to hold a “valedictory debate” just before a dissolution, during which MPs who are standing down from Parliament are given time to make a farewell speech.
As such, Mr Sunak would need to call the election several days before dissolution took place.
If polling day were to be May 2nd, with dissolution on March 26th, the general election would probably have to be announced in just over a week’s time, on March 21st or 22nd.
Elections are already taking place in England on May 2nd to choose new councillors, mayors and police and crime commissioners.
More than 2,500 council seats will be up for grabs across 107 local authorities, while some of the most high-profile politicians in the country are seeking another term as mayor, including Labour’s Sadiq Khan in London and the Conservatives’ Andy Street in the West Midlands.
Voters in Wales will also go to the polls on May 2nd to choose new police commissioners.
It is not unprecedented for a general election to take place on the same day as local elections – it happened most recently in May 2015.
The latest possible date, by law, for the dissolution of the current Parliament is December 17th 2024 – exactly five years since Parliament first met, on December 17th 2019.
If Mr Sunak chooses to run down the clock and wait until this date for Parliament to end, then polling day would have to take place no later than Tuesday January 28th 2025.
General elections are typically held on a Thursday in the UK, although they can be held on any weekday.
If dissolution does not happen until December 17th 2024, the last Thursday on which a general election can be held is January 23rd 2025.
