PRIME MINISTER CALLS GENERAL ELECTION FOR JULY 4TH
In a statement delivered outside Downing Street on Wednesday evening, the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak announced that he had been to see His Majesty the King to request the dissolution of Parliament and that the date of the General Election had been set for July 4th. This news came as a big surprise to many in Westminster, who had been expecting the election not to be called until the autumn.
I will be sending out my last newsletter of this parliament on Wednesday 29th May. It has been a true privilege to serve as your MP and I would like to thank everyone who has written to me, read my newsletters, or supported my work over the past 4 and half years.
INFORMATION FOR CONSTITUENTS
Parliament will be prorogued after its business is completed today. Dissolution will happen at 12:01 am on Thursday 30th May. From that moment, I will cease to be the Member of Parliament for Richmond Park. I shall, however, be standing as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Richmond Park in the General Election. The new MP – whether that is me or one of the other candidates – will be sworn in to the new Parliament on, or shortly after, 9th July.
Between 30th May and 9th July, there will be no MPs. Any matter that you may have wished to raise with your MP will have to wait until the new MP is elected and sworn in. My email inboxes will continue to be monitored, but my staff will only be able to reply to urgent casework issues.
VOTING INFORMATION
If you are resident within the Richmond Park constituency but not yet registered to vote, Richmond residents can register here and Kingston residents can register here.
The deadline to register to vote is June 18th at 11.59pm
I have heard from a number of constituents who have told me that they will be on holiday on the date of the General Election. You can either apply for a postal vote, to be cast before you leave, or you can apply for a proxy vote, to be cast on your behalf by another voter.
VOTER ID
Under the Conservative Government’s Elections Act 2022, all voters are now required to show ID before being permitted to cast their vote. This is the first General Election for which the new regulations will apply.
Make sure you have the correct ID to enable you to cast your vote in the General Election on July 4th.
Information about accepted forms of ID is available here:
If you don’t already have an acceptable form of ID, you can apply for a Voter Authority Certificate, which will give you permission to vote.
BOUNDARY CHANGES
The Final Report of the Boundary Commission for England was laid before Parliament in June 2023 and adopted into law in November 2023. This has resulted in some significant changes to the Parliamentary constituency boundaries for the 2024 General Election.
Richmond Park retains its name and the majority of its electoral wards. The one major change is that the Coombe Vale ward in Kingston upon Thames will move to the Parliamentary constituency of Kingston and Surbiton.
This means that, after the General Election, the residents of Coombe Vale will be represented in Parliament by the MP for Kingston and Surbiton and not by the MP for Richmond Park.
I've felt honoured to represent Coombe Vale over the past 4 and a half years and I hope that whoever is elected as the next Kingston and Surbiton MP, they will enjoy representing the area as much as I have.
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