BRITISH NEWSPAPERS ARE abuzz with the news that the Conservatives and Labour are set to go head to head in a general election on 4 July.

The next six weeks will be hectic for the UK after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced yesterday evening that he was calling a general election.

Four and a half years since the last election, the question of when the parties would need to dust off their campaign materials had been hotly anticipated.

With a sense among some British newspapers that Sunak has taken a “gamble”, here’s how the country’s media is reacting to the announcement.

The Guardian’s editorial takes the position that Sunak had little choice but to confirm a date, saying: “Fear of taking punishment for years of accumulated disappointment is the reason why Rishi Sunak has postponed the dissolution of parliament until now.”

The paper writes that calling the election was “driven not by confidence in a record to celebrate, but by a recognition that procrastination had become untenable”.

“The Conservative party, exhausted and riven by factional feuding, has become ungovernable, leaving the country feeling ungoverned.”

The Daily Mirror believes that the “end of 14 years of incompetent and damaging Tory rule is now in sight”.

It writes that Conservatives have failed the UK “by almost every measure” and that the election “will be a choice between a dismal past or a more hopeful future”.

“This is Labour’s moment. This is the moment for the change we need.”

Thursday's front page: Rishi Sunak has called a summer general election#TomorrowsPapersTodayhttps://t.co/RkKoWo3hMS pic.twitter.com/GqiNyszs6g

— The Mirror (@DailyMirror) May 22, 2024

The front page of The Times reads: “Sunak bets the house.”

The newspaper takes the view that yesterday was “perhaps the last possible moment for this government to head to the country on something like the front foot”.

Its editorial writes that “beyond July lies an uncertain political landscape dotted with dangers as well as opportunities”, adding: “There was logic, therefore, in ending speculation that, over time, would have become only more of a distraction to governing.”

Similarly, The Telegraph declares Sunak saw “a window of opportunity”. It argues in an editorial that “a Labour government might well bring change, but it will not be of the good kind”.

The front page of tomorrow's Daily Telegraph:

'Sunak gambles on snap poll'#TomorrowsPapersToday #GeneralElection

Sign up for the Front Page newsletterhttps://t.co/x8AV4Oomry pic.twitter.com/88FyFOU0bF

— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 22, 2024

The Daily Express, also backing Sunak, claims in its editorial that the UK has “bounced back” under his leadership and accuses Labour leader Keir Starmer of wanting “power for its own sake”.

“Just as he made the right decisions as Chancellor during the pandemic, Sunak has held his nerve as Prime Minister, ended disarray at Westminster and led us out of an economic crisis,” the Daily Express argues.

The Daily Mail calls Sunak’s decision “nothing if not bold” and puts the onus on Labour “to convince the electorate it is fit to govern”, which it says has achieved its sustained lead in the polls “because of Tory failings (of which there have been far too many)”.

Additional reporting by Press Association