Five key election issues that Rishi Sunak will have to fight on

But figures released just hours before the election was called show that, while inflation continues to fall towards the target level, national debt has risen.

With some of the Prime Minister's priorities still to be achieved, the Government goes into a general election campaign unable to claim success on all these key issues.

Here are five key priorities from the PM that will be central to the election campaign.

1: HALVE INFLATION

The Prime Minister met his pledge to halve inflation in 2023. Mr Sunak needed inflation to fall to below 5.4 per cent in order to meet his target, and the final figures for last year showed this had been achieved, with inflation falling to four per cent by December.

The latest figures published yesterday show inflation continues to fall towards the Bank of England's target of two per cent, with price rises slowing to 2.3 per cent in April. This is the lowest level since July 2021, but the decline was smaller than expected as economists had predicted CPI would fall to 2.1 per cent in April. However, the Prime Minister hailed the news, saying it is "an important moment for our country, for the economy, and shows that our plan is working".

2: GROW THE ECONOMY

Growth over 2023 was weak, with the UK falling into a recession in the second half of the year.

Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates suggest the economy grew by just 0.1 per cent over the whole year, with the first three months of 2023 being the only quarter of the year that saw any growth.

The UK economy rebounded out of recession with faster-than-expected growth over the first quarter of 2024, according to official figures.