Michael Gove said he saw Rishi Sunak before he made his prediction but insisted they did not discuss the election. Photo: Lucy North/PA
The next general election is likely to be held on November 14 or 21, Michael Gove predicted.
Mr Gove said he had “no inside information” about the date of the vote , but his comments will add to the consensus that it will take place in the fall.
The Leveling Up Secretary made the announcement in an interview with the Political Currency podcast, hosted by George Osborne, the former chancellor, and Ed Balls, who was his Labor Party colleague.
Asked when he thought , the election will take place, Mr Gove replied: “I think November 14 or 21… I have no inside knowledge at all.”
Asked by Mr Balls about what he was on that day at the Prime Minister's office, Mr Gove replied: “We weren't discussing the election – we were discussing politics.”
“If he told me, I couldn't tell you. So the fact that I told you what I thought is proof that I didn't know.”
Mr Osborne, a close ally of Rishi Sunak who has previously advised the Prime Minister, had previously predicted , that the next election will be held on November 14.
He told podcast listeners to “save the date” and said a “little bird” in Downing Street had told him “various work agendas” were based on the results of a poll carried out by in mid-November.
Sir John Curtis, Britain's leading polling guru and professor of politics at the University of Strathclyde, also suggested on November 14, saying that October 2 – which was due to be the final day of the Conservative Party conference – could see Mr Sunak fire the starting gun in the fight.
Rumors in Westminster that a general election could be held on May 2, the same day as local elections, grew to such an extent that Sunak was forced to rule out the date, the clearest sign yet that a vote will not be held this spring . .
General elections are due to be held by January, and the decision on when to announce them to the public rests with the Prime Minister.
He has previously said elections will be held in the “second half” of this year is his “working guess”, although that hasn't stopped Labor officials talking about the chances of a spring election in an attempt to characterize Sunak as a “bottler” and a “chicken”.
Tory insiders have long been suggest that the fall is the most likely option amid falling inflation and the possibility of lower interest rates, while also giving voters time to feel the benefits of the tax cuts introduced in November's “Fall.” Last month's statement and budget.
Speaking after Mr Sunak confirmed the election would not take place on May 2, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt hinted it could take place in October instead.
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