Campaign kicks off after surprise poll announcement

As of Friday, Parliament will not be sitting. MPs will go back to their constituencies and campaigning begins in full.

But there are an awful lot of laws currently making their way through parliament. So what happens to them? We are expecting an announcement to confirm which bills will be debated in the time that remains.

Some like the Finance Bill, which includes tax measures the government announced in the Budget, have to pass. So that will take up some time.

Right now there are lots of questions about what will happen to the promised compensation for victims of the infected blood scandal.

Penny Mordaunt, the government minister who sets the business in the House of Commons, told MPs earlier she wanted to reassure people “the sentiments that have been expressed at this despatch box earlier this week still stand and I think all parties want that and other important legislation to get through”.

There seems to be goodwill from both main parties in making sure the infected blood compensation happens.

But on other laws going through parliament – like on renters reform, leaseholders reform, and criminal justice – there are big questions over whether they will get through before the end of Friday. We expect to find out from Mordaunt shortly.