UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday set a general election date for July 4, ending months of speculation but not doom-laden forecasts about the size of the government’s expected defeat.

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 by
Conservative MPs 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 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.”

Sunak, in a Downing Street statement made in driving rain after he gathered his top ministers, said he had spoken to head of state King Charles III and requested the dissolution of parliament.

“The king has granted this request and we will have a general election on July 4,” he said, adding: “Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future.”