内容摘要：Meanwhile, Wizz Air ended its flights from Cardiff in 2023, and the only direct flight to Paris stopped in March 2024.

Meanwhile, Wizz Air ended its flights from Cardiff in 2023, and the only direct flight to Paris stopped in March 2024.

We now know there was an unusual surge of betting on a July election just before Rishi Sunak confirmed just that.Data given to the BBC by Smarkets betting exchange shows odds shortened dramatically on the afternoon of the 21 May, the day before the election was announced.

Separately, a study of Betfair betting odds byfound several thousand pounds were wagered the day before the 22 May announcement.The Smarkets data showed that the number of bets placed on a July election were almost non-existent until 10 May – the week after a disastrous set of local elections for the Conservatives.

Then on Smarkets, the odds of a July election surged from 18% to 28%, the largest single-day change since the market had opened.The trend persisted, and the odds hit 95% just two hours before the formal confirmation.

The political betting market is a miniscule slice of the £15.1bn-a-year UK gambling market.

Its small size means that events like a £100 bet or a popular article can drastically sway the market.However, some economists have told the BBC that the government is at least partly to blame for the current sell off.

"It's been a relatively dramatic couple of weeks for the gilts markets and for the pound," Nina Skero, chief executive of the Centre for Economics and Business Research, told the BBC."It's been somewhat of a worldwide phenomenon, but it seems to be particularly intense in the UK."

She pinned the UK's specific problems on a "delayed response to the very heavy tax and spend in the Budget", adding that "we're going to have to wait some months, maybe even some quarters, to see the real impact".Economists and retailers have said measures introduced in the Budget, such as the increase in employers' National Insurance contributions,