FOLLOWING a day of speculation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced July 4th as the date for the upcoming General Election.

Now that the country has entered the pre-election period, the clock starts ticking on a strict timetable until polling day so, in order to ensure you're able to place your vote, here are the key dates that voters need to keep in mind:

May 30 2024: Dissolution of parliament. By law, this has to take place no later than 25 working days before polling day, which, in this instance, is May 30.

The days between now and May 30 will be used to complete any urgent business in the Commons and the Lords, though it also means certain pieces of legislation currently going through parliament – such as the Tobacco & Vapes Bill and the Football Governance Bill – will probably be lost or else scaled back.

June 7: Deadline for candidates to be nominated. It is highly likely that candidates for some of the 650 constituencies across the UK have yet to be picked. Political parties will be rushing to find people to fill these gaps.

June 18: Deadline to register to vote. This can be done online at gov.uk/register-to-vote.

June 19: Deadline to apply for a postal vote.

June 26: Deadline to apply for a proxy vote – in other words, for someone to vote on your behalf – and to apply for a Voter ID certificate, if you do not already have a valid form of photo identification.

July 4: Thursday July 4 will be election day across the United Kingdom. Polls will open from 7am to 10pm with the results coming in overnight.

This will be the first UK general election where all voters will have to show a valid form of photo ID before casting a ballot - here is a list of the accepted forms.