Commenting on the General Election, Dr Stuart Fox, an expert in British politics from the University of Exeter, said:

“In the next couple of days we're going to hear a lot from Rishi Sunak and the Conservatives about how they're relishing taking the fight to Labour and are going to make the case for 'protecting the progress we've made turning the economy around'.

"But make no mistake: Rishi Sunak isn't calling this election because he thinks the electorate are going to reward him for an improvement in economic circumstances, but because he thinks this is as good as things are going to get.

“The focus of this campaign will not be on winning another term in office for the Conservatives, but on minimising the party's losses in what is likely to be a disastrous election. With prisons so full the police are being asked not to arrest people, the NHS on its knees before its annual winter crisis even gets started, small boat crossings barely different from last year and just about everyone feeling poorer and less secure than they did a year ago, Sunak has one of the worst hands to play of any Prime Minister in modern British political history.

“Perhaps the only silver lining for him is that if, as expected, the Conservatives crash to a devastating defeat, all of those problems will greet Keir Starmer the moment he enters 10 Downing Street."