Rishi Sunak has announced the next general election will take place on July 4.

The Prime Minister made the announcement outside Downing Street this evening.

It comes after rumours built all day of an upcoming election, with Mr Sunak being asked about it during Prime Minister's Questions in the House of Commons.

The Southampton-born PM repeated that an election would happen in the "second half" of the year.

LIVE UPDATES: Rishi Sunak announces general election - reaction

It comes after the latest inflation figures hit 2.3 per cent - close to the Bank of England target and the government's Rwanda bill was passed through parliament on April 22.

The last General Election happened on December 12, where Boris Johnson beat Jeremy Corbyn with a majority of 80 seats for the Tories.

It was the Conservative's biggest majority at Westminster since Margaret Thatcher's 1987 election victory.

However, in the last few years polls have shown a Labour win this time around, with the latest YouGov poll showing Sir Keir Starmer's party winning over 400 seats.