George Osborne predicts date of next general election

Former chancellor tells voters which date to save Sunak grants Starmer permission to start formal access talks ahead of election

Rishi Sunak has granted Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, permission to start formal access talks with the Civil Service as George Osborne predicted the date of the general election this year.
The meetings will be an opportunity for Labour to discuss its agenda for government and establish relationships with potential future colleagues in Whitehall. Simon Case, the Cabinet Secretary, will oversee and arrange them.
Access talks, held in the run-up to a general election, are the only chance for the opposition and the Civil Service to exchange information ahead of a potential handover date after the election.
The leader of the opposition must write to the prime minister requesting the meetings in order to initiate the process. By convention, the prime minister is expected to respond by authorising the talks.
A Cabinet Office spokesman said: “In line with the long-standing process set out in the Cabinet manual, the Prime Minister has authorised access talks between the official opposition and civil service. The Cabinet Secretary will oversee and arrange these discussions.”
A Labour source confirmed that the party had received the letter on Thursday evening and would reply “in due course”.
It comes as Mr Osborne, the former chancellor, predicted that next general election will take place on Nov 14.
Mr Osborne, an ally of Mr Sunak, said voters should “save the date” after he was informed it had been worked into Number 10 plans for this year. Mr Sunak has previously indicated that the next election, which must be held by January 2025, will take place in the autumn.
In the newest episode of his Political Currency podcast, which he hosts with Ed Balls, his former Labour shadow, Mr Osborne said: “We know this is going to be the general election year… Nov 14, save the date.
“A little birdie has told me that the various work programmes required to get ready for a general election have that date singled out. I’m pretty certain that is the date that Downing Street has currently selected. 
“It doesn’t mean, of course, they won’t be pushed off it.”
Mr Osborne added that “logic leads you there” in the wake of opinion polls that show the Conservatives continuing to trail Labour by around 20 percentage points.
“He’s not going to have a spring election, so then you’re left with the autumn. And you’re probably thinking, ‘I know, we’ll have the party conference as a kind of launch pad’… So Nov 14 kind of writes itself,” he said.
Speaking on a trip to Nottinghamshire last week, Mr Sunak said his “working assumption” was that he would trigger the vote for “the second half of this year”.
Last week, Sir John Curtice, widely regarded as Britain’s foremost election expert, also suggested the election would be on the date forecast by Mr Osborne, adding: “The Prime Minister will end the Conservative conference on Oct 2 – that might be the starting gun.”