Sir Keir Starmer launches Labour's election campaign in Kent
July the 4th has been set as the date for the next general election
Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Kent to launch Labour's election campaign, following a shock announcement from Rishi Sunak yesterday (22 May), calling a snap general election.
The Labour leader has told voters "this election is for you" to end the chaos as he kicked off his General Election campaign in Gillingham.
He gave his first speech on the campaign trail at Gillingham Football Club, flanked by supporters and deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Speaking at the event, Sir Keir said: "This election is for you, because you now have the power, the chance to end the chaos, to turn the page and rebuild Britain."
He said what the Tories have done to the country is "unforgivable" and voters "do not need to put up with it".
Elsewhere, the Prime Minister is touring broadcast studios before embarking on a two-day whistle-stop trip taking in all four nations of the UK.
Flights carrying migrants to Rwanda will take off "after the election", Rishi Sunak has conceded, as he urged voters to back him at the polls if they want to see this happen.
He and his ministers have repeatedly marked early July for when the first one-way deportation flight for migrants to east African nation Rwanda will take place.
Political correspondents were on an early morning train out of London to follow Mr Sunak on his tour.
In London, Reform UK's leader Richard Tice is staging a press conference setting out his party's plans.
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is expected to visit a target seat as he launches a campaign expected to focus on targeting Conservative-held seats following a series of eye-catching by-election successes.
Mr Sunak fired the starting gun for the election in a damp Downing Street, surprising many in Westminster who had expected an autumn polling day.
Even his own Cabinet was kept in the dark until the last minute, with Home Secretary James Cleverly telling ITV's Peston "we don't get particular advance notice" and it was largely a matter for Mr Sunak and his inner circle.
The news caused disquiet among Tory MPs fearful of losing their jobs, and those who have already said they will not stand and are having to say goodbye to Parliament sooner than expected.
Dame Andrea Jenkyns, who has called for Mr Sunak to go, said she understood "other letters have been going in" to 1922 Committee chairman Sir Graham Brady but "colleagues, it's too late, I told you six months ago we should have done this".
Just two more days of Commons business have been scheduled, during which important legislation will have to be rushed through.
Party whips from the Conservatives and Labour are holding talks to work out what outstanding legislation can become law before prorogation - the end of the current parliamentary session - on Friday.
That includes the Victims and Prisoners Bill, which includes measures to establish a compensation scheme for victims of the infected blood scandal.
In his Downing Street statement, the Prime Minister said the election would be a question of trust, warning that Sir Keir was not the man to lead the country through "uncertain" times.
Sir Keir said the election would be a chance to turn the page on 14 years of Conservative rule and "stop the chaos" at Westminster.
Mr Sunak hopes that Consumer Prices Index inflation falling to 2.3% in April and a recovering economy will help overturn a 20-point opinion poll deficit.
It was "proof that the plan and priorities I set out are working", Mr Sunak said, but he acknowledged "for some it might still be hard when you look at your bank balance".
He added: "On July 5, either Sir Keir Starmer or I will be prime minister. He has shown time and time again that he will take the easy way out and do anything to get power."
But Labour leader Sir Keir said: "If they get another five years they will feel entitled to carry on exactly as they are. Nothing will change."