Sky News has announced its coverage plans for the 2024 general election after Rishi Sunak surprised the nation by saying the public will go to the polls on 4 July.

Chief Presenter Kay Burley will anchor Election Night Live, the overnight results programme, from a 360-degree immersive studio normally used by Sky Sports shows like Monday Night Football.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester and a former Labour MP, will provide guest analysis alongside the former leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Baroness Ruth Davidson.

Burley, who will be covering her twelfth UK general election, will also be joined by Sky News' award-winning political editor Beth Rigby, the presenter of our Sunday breakfast show Sir Trevor Phillips, and data and economics editor Ed Conway.

You can read more on our election night plans below:

If Rishi Sunak can convince the public he still has more in the tank "he might have a chance", former Conservative minister Lord Vaizey has said.

The Tory peer said he was "very surprised" about the PM's decision to call a 4 July general election on Wednesday afternoon.

"I thought they can't be serious. I always thought a November election was pretty much nailed on and that Rishi Sunak would want some time to see some great indicators in the economy," he said.

He said when trying to rationalise the decision it was possible to see some "positive and negative points".

"He has got some good economic news -  inflation has finally fallen back to what it was before it started to go through the roof and he has also got some threats. 

"For e.g if it's a summer with calm seas we could see a lot of people coming over on boats from France which won't look good and there may be some trouble with the economy in autumn.

"If you are going into an autumn election with the economy starting to look bad again it would not be good for him."

Lord Vaizey said there "was probably an element of gut feeling" in the PM's decision to call the election in July. 

He said the election at the moment was "whether the public want to see the end of the Tory government and not whether they actively want a Labour government".

"If Rishi Sunak can convince them he's got more energy, more in the tank and more he can still achieve, he might have a chance," he added.

With the general election campaign officially under way, what better time to keep a close eye on the latest polling?

The Sky News live poll tracker - collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team - aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.

See the latest update below - and you can read more about the methodology behind the tracker here.

Our deputy political editor Sam Coates is on the campaign trail, heading up to Derby on the same train as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak - who we will hear from later.

"Well, this is it," Sam says. "This is the first visit, the first trip, the first of probably hundreds of trains like this, taking the prime minister and his rival - the leader of the opposition Sir Keir Starmer - around the country.

"In a few minutes, we are off. 

"What the prime minister is seeking to do is show energy, show commitment, so what he's trying to do in the next two days is visit every nation of the United Kingdom, three of those - England, Scotland and Wales - today, and Northern Ireland tomorrow.

"And he is showing that he has the vision, in his view, and the commitment to continue in the job in Downing Street.

"He is, of course, 20 points behind. He knows he's got a mountain to climb.

"But he is going to position himself in a series of rallies over the next 48 hours, the first of many across five and a half weeks, as the underdog in this campaign."

By Professor Michael Thrasher, Sky News election analyst

The electoral geography of the UK is changing.

Following the recommendations of independent Boundary Commissions for England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the next UK general election - which Sky News understands will be on 4 July - will be fought on new constituency boundaries, replacing those in operation since 2010.

This is the sixth periodic review to be implemented since the war. The next review is not scheduled until October 2031.

Exploring how this movement of voters affects the political makeup of the House of Commons is a task that Colin Rallings and myself have been doing over the past thirty years following previous boundary adjustments.

There are winners and losers in different parts of the UK - read the full analysis here:

The prime minister has called a general election for 4 July. It means parliament only has a few days to pass any bills still waiting to become law before MPs leave Westminster to begin campaigning.

On the Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson gets the very latest from our deputy political editor Sam Coates and political correspondent Tamara Cohen on why the election was announced today, and what the next six weeks of campaigning could have in store.

👉 Listen above then tap here to follow the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Rishi Sunak has called a general election for this summer.

The prime minister has been saying for months he would call a vote for the "second half of the year", and he has now confirmed it will be on 4 July.

Parliament will be prorogued on Friday - which means that will mark the formal end of this session of parliament.

On Thursday, 30 May, parliament will formally be dissolved.

This means that members of parliament cease to be members of parliament, and become candidates in the election - or not, if they are standing down.

The campaign will then take place ahead of polling day on Thursday, 4 July, when polls will close at 10pm.

Following the vote, the new elected MPs will travel to London to meet in parliament for the first time on Tuesday, 9 July.

The Speaker of the House of Commons will be elected and MPs will be sworn in.

The formal state opening of parliament and a King's Speech will take place on Wednesday, 17 July.

Our political reporter Alix Culbertson explains more below...

With the general election set for 4 July, political parties are wasting no time in launching their campaigns, with the Conservatives kicking things off in east London last night.

But this is only the very beginning, with far more taking place today as the six-week election period formally begins.

The prime minister will today tour broadcast studios before embarking on a two-day whistlestop trip taking in all four nations of the UK.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will head to south-east England in a sign he wants to make inroads in Tory areas.

In London, Reform UK's leader Richard Tice will stage a press conference setting out his party's plans.

The party's most high-profile figure, honorary president Nigel Farage, said he was thinking about whether to return to frontline politics by standing in the 4 July election.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is expected to visit a target seat as he launches a campaign expected to focus on targeting Conservative-held seats following a series of eye-catching by-election successes.

We'll have all the latest right here in the Politics Hub - stay tuned.

Good morning!

The date is set - and the tooth-and-nail fight for the keys to Number 10 will accelerate today as we head towards the 4 July general election.

This six-week race begins today, with political parties gearing up to make their campaign launches after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged himself as the "man with a plan" yesterday.

Here's what you need to know about the election today:

• After firing the election starting gun in the rain on Downing Street, and launching the Conservative election campaign in east London last night, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will today kick off a two-day whistle-stop tour of the UK;
• Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer will head to south-east England in a sign he wants to make inroads in Tory areas, as he kicks off his party's election campaign today;
  
• In London, Reform UK's leader Richard Tice will stage a press conference setting out his party's plans;
  
• The party's most high-profile figure, honorary president Nigel Farage, has said he was thinking about whether to return to frontline politics by standing in the 4 July election;
  
• The Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey is today expected to visit a target seat in Cheltenham as he too launches his party's campaign.
  

And in other news...

• Net legal migration data will be published by the government today, and it is thought the numbers will be down - but still higher than ministers would want;
• Foreign Secretary Lord Cameron will give a speech at the London Defence Conference this morning, after returning home early from Albania for the election announcement;
• And the UK's top civil servant, Simon Case, will give evidence to the COVID inquiry about his scathing views of Boris Johnson's pandemic-era government.

We'll be discussing all this and more with:

• Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, at 8.45am;
• Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper.

Stick with us for all the latest political news throughout the day.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak appeared outside Downing Street on Wednesday evening to call a general election for 4 July.

In his speech, he reminisced about his early days in the job, and pointed to all the Conservative "successes", before pitching himself as the man with a plan for the UK's future.

In case you missed it, you can watch his statement in full here: