Prime Minister Rishi Sunak surprised everybody on 22 May – including many in his party – with his announcement of a general election on Thursday 4 July.

At the start of 2024, Rishi Sunak said that his “working assumption” was that the general election would be held “in the second half of the year”. His unexpected choice of 4 July just passes that midway threshold, so what happens next?

Election timeline

The run-up to the dissolution of parliament will see a week of frantically trying to pass outstandin...