When will manifestos for the general election 2024 be released by major parties?

The general election campaign is now in full swing after Rishi Sunak announced the UK will head to the polls on July 4.

Party leaders will be travelling up and down the country over the coming weeks in an attempt to win over as many voters as possible in key battlegrounds.

Central to their campaigns will be the party manifestos - which lay out all of their major policies and how they plan to bring about change.

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According to think tank the Institute for Government (IfG), manifestos are likely to be launched between the start and middle of June, giving Brits a couple of weeks to study them before deciding who to vote for.

The IfG said: "There is no set date for manifestos to be launched – it is decided by the parties. Since 1997, Labour and Conservative manifestos have been launched between 18 and 29 days before the election, typically within a few days of each other. That means they are likely to be launched between 5 and 16 June."

Typically, there will be a special campaign event at which the parties will launch their manifesto and the major parties tend to co-ordinate their timings to avoid releasing their manifestos on the same day.

In recent years manifestos have become longer and more detailed. Fifty years ago they would usually be just a few thousand words, but during the 2019 campaign parties were releasing manifestos of more than 20,000 words.

Parties are not under any statutory obligation to stick to the promises made in their manifestos but breaking manifesto pledges will likely not go down well with the electorate.

Some of the key battlegrounds during the election campaign are likley to be the long-term future of the NHS and immigration policy.