British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced general elections in the country set for July 4. Experts say that the head of the Conservative government has chosen a seemingly strange moment to let the people express their will. The Conservative Party is certain to lose to the Labor for the first time in many years.

Speaking at his 10 Downing Street residence, the Prime Minister said: "Now is the moment for Britain to choose its future and to decide whether we want to build on the progress we have made or risk going back to square one. With no plan and no certainty." While there is still a lot to do, he said, the plan is working and the country has returned to economic stability.

By law, the government had to call elections before January next year. And the entire British political class was wondering what date the Prime Minister would choose. Sunak’s announcement “took many people who expected a fall election by surprise,” The Washington Post writes, as most analysts thought he would not dare face voters except when absolutely necessary.

The fact is that "the prospects look disgusting for the Conservatives." Opinion polls and recent local election results suggest the Tory party is moving towards collapse after 14 years in power. The opposition Labor leads by a 20 p/p margin.

Some Conservatives argue that things may still change despite their weak popular support. For example, the Labor may experience low voter turnout. In general, members of the Conservative Party are awaiting elections with noticeable anxiety.   Reuters writes altogether that “Conservatives stunned by Sunak's decision for early election” and “some lawmakers enter election race knowing they'll lose.” In other words, the election campaign starts with an extremely low overall morale for the ruling party.

And still, why would Sunak decide to call elections for summer? His people are utterly dissatisfied with the country’s floundering economy. Hence such public opinion polls. The Office for National Statistics reported that the British economy was shrinking in the second half of 2023, and getting out of recession was not obvious even by the beginning of this year. GDP per capita has not been on the rise since early 2022. And this has proved the United Kingdom’s longest non-interruptible economic contraction in 70 years.

“Britain's economy fell into a recession in the second half of 2023, a tough backdrop ahead of this year's expected election for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak who has promised to boost growth,” Reuters wrote in February this year. “Gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 0.3% in the three months to December, having shrunk by 0.1% between July and September, official data showed. The fourth-quarter contraction was deeper than all economists' estimates in a Reuters poll, which had pointed to a 0.1% decline.”

However, the country's economy does feature positive trends at the moment. And it is this "bright window" in the long recession that Sunak seeks using to try to keep himself and his Conservative Party in power. Nobody knows what will happen in the fall or closer to winter. What if everything turns out the same as last fall? But Sunak decided to take the risk now. That's why he urges people to vote for the Conservative Party to "build on the progress that has been made." Still, everyone apprehends the mere tactical nature of this step, and no one can really say that if the Conservatives proceed with ruling the nation, things are definitely going to improve.

Neither it will under the Labor. But nevertheless, they rub their hands in anticipation of their victory. Party leader Keir Starmer, 61, already sees himself in the chair of Prime Minister. Labor is wasting no time attempting to widen its path to power by exposing examples of Rishi Sunak's worst moments while at the wheel. They have distributed "attack advertising" across the social media. Starmer said that after 14 years of the Tory rule, nothing seems to work anymore, with public services collapsing, ambulances not coming to calls, and families burdened by rising mortgage rates. It only remains to be seen how everything is going to work under Starmer. However, British voters do not place much hope on him. And their vote will simply be a protest against the Conservatives — not for the Labor.

Meanwhile, some of Sunak's party members put forward another — simpler, but no less understandable — reason why the Prime Minister has announced an election. "It may well be the case that he just realized that the game is up," an anonymous Conservative lawmaker said as quoted by Reuters. "The spark has gone. There is a lot of tiredness. People are just fed up," admitted another activist who previously campaigned for the Conservatives. That is, we are simply talking about Sunak’s attempt to “leave gracefully.”