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Rishi Sunak has refused to rule out a July general election amid speculation he could go to the polls as the first Rwanda flights take off.
The day after his deportation bill finally cleared parliament, the prime minister was grilled about whether he would hold a summer election to capitalise on the scheme coming into effect.
But, keeping the door open to a July contest, Mr Sunak told reporters: “All I’m going to say is the same thing I say every time, as I said in the first week of January, my working assumption is an election in the second half of the year.”
It is still widely expected the country will go to the polls in October or November, but a July vote would help Mr Sunak avoid a surge in small boat Channel crossings over the summer.
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