Keir Starmer Accuses Rishi Sunak Of Putting ‘Vanity Before Country’ Over Election Date

Labour leader Keir Starmer accused Prime Minister Rishi Sunak of prioritising “vanity before country” for not calling a specific date on the next general election.

Starmer told Sky News that Sunak’s decision to announce an election likely only in the second half of 2024 is a ploy to extend his stay in Downing Street and suspects Sunak’s intention to remain in office until later this year is to mark a milestone of two years in the top job.

“If he had a plan, he would set the date and he should set the date because at the moment it is very hard to see him continuing in Government improves the lives of anybody in the country, so there is drift,” the opposition leader said.

“I can’t help feeling that all he really wants to do is to get two years clocked up of his own premiership, and that means he is putting vanity before country.”
The Labour leader’s attack didn’t stop there. He backed his party’s plans to invest £28 billion in green policies, declaring “bring it on”, while accusing the Conservative leader of lacking innovation and resorting to proposed tax cuts as a desperate measure to appeal to the electorate.

Sunak told journalists on Thursday that he was under the “working assumption” that he will hold a general election “in the second half of this year.” However, he has not been specific about an election date.

Starmer has taken to taunting Sunak into an election, expressing his concerns that a delayed election is resulting in more damage to the country by the Tory’s erratic leadership.