Next United Kingdom general election

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Next United Kingdom general election
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  2024 No later than 15 August 2029

All 650 seats in the House of Commons.
326 seats needed for a majority
PartyLeaderCurrent seats
Labour Keir Starmer 404 [lower-alpha 1]
Conservative TBD [lower-alpha 2] 121
Liberal Democrats Ed Davey 72
SNP John Swinney [lower-alpha 3] 9
Sinn Féin Mary Lou McDonald [lower-alpha 4] [lower-alpha 5] 7
Reform UK Nigel Farage 5
DUP Gavin Robinson 5
Green (E&W) Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay 4
Plaid Cymru Rhun ap Iorwerth [lower-alpha 6] 4
SDLP Claire Hanna [lower-alpha 7] 2
Alliance Naomi Long [lower-alpha 8] 1
UUP Mike Nesbitt [lower-alpha 9] 1
TUV Jim Allister 1
Independents N/A 13 [lower-alpha 10]
Speaker Lindsay Hoyle 1

The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than Wednesday 15 August 2029. It will determine the composition of the House of Commons, which determines the government of the United Kingdom.

Contents

Background

The 2024 general election resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer. The Conservative Party under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lost 251 seats and suffered their worst ever defeat, ending their 14-year tenure as the primary governing party. The combined vote share for Labour and the Conservatives reached a record low, with smaller parties doing well. The Liberal Democrats made significant gains to reach their highest ever number of seats. Reform UK placed third in the share of the vote in the 2024 election and had MPs elected to the Commons for the first time. [3] The Green Party of England and Wales also won a record number of seats alongside a number of independent MPs. [4] The Scottish National Party (SNP) lost around three quarters of its seats. [5] Labour returned to being the largest party in Scotland and remained so in Wales. The Conservatives won no seats in Wales and only one seat in North East England. [4]

Electoral system

Voting eligibility

In order to vote in the general election, barring any changes in eligibility rules, one must be: [6]

Individuals must be registered to vote by midnight twelve working days before polling day. Anyone who qualifies as an anonymous elector has approximately five working days before polling day to register. A person who has two homes (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) may be able to register to vote at both addresses as long as they are not in the same electoral area, but can only vote in one constituency at the general election.

Date of the election

Under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, the prime minister has the power to request the monarch call an election at any time during the five-year length of a parliamentary session. If the prime minister chooses not to do this, then parliament is automatically dissolved five years after the day it first met, [7] and a general election is held 25 working days after dissolution. [8] The 2024 parliament first met on 9 July 2024, [9] meaning that if an election is not called, parliament will be automatically dissolved on 9 July 2029, and the latest an election could be held is 15 August 2029.

Opinion polling

Opinion polling graph for the next United Kingdom general election (post-2024).svg

Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election is being carried out continually by various organisations to gauge voting intention. Most of the polling companies listed are members of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abide by its disclosure rules. The dates for these opinion polls range from the 2024 general election on 4 July to the present day.

Under the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, the next general election must be held no later than Wednesday 15 August 2029. The Act mandates that, if it has not already been dissolved at the request of the prime minister, Parliament automatically dissolves five years after it first met and polling day occurs no more than 25 working days later.

Notes

  1. Includes 43 MPs sponsored by the Co-operative Party, who are designated Labour and Co-operative. [1]
  2. Subject to the result of the 2024 Conservative Party leadership election.
  3. Stephen Flynn leads the SNP in the House of Commons.
  4. Michelle O'Neill leads Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland.
  5. Sinn Féin are abstentionists from Parliament.
  6. Liz Saville Roberts leads Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons.
  7. Hanna, who is running unopposed in the 2024 Social Democratic and Labour Party leadership election is set to succeed Colum Eastwood as SDLP leader on 5 October 2024.
  8. Sorcha Eastwood is the sole Alliance Party MP in the House of Commons.
  9. Robin Swann is the sole Ulster Unionist Party MP in the House of Commons.
  10. Includes 6 MPs elected as independents in the 2024 general election, 5 of which later joined the Independent Alliance, and 7 MPs who have been temporarily suspended from the Labour Party. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Politics of the United Kingdom</span> Political structure of the United Kingdom

The United Kingdom is a constitutional monarchy which, by legislation and convention, operates as a unitary parliamentary democracy. A hereditary monarch, currently King Charles III, serves as head of state while the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, currently Sir Keir Starmer since 2024, serves as the elected head of government.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1992 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 1992 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 9 April 1992, to elect 651 members to the House of Commons. The governing Conservative Party led by the prime minister John Major won majority of 21, and would be the last time that the Conservatives would win an overall majority at a general election until 2015. It was also the last general election to be held on a day which did not coincide with any local elections until 2017. This election result took many by surprise, as opinion polling leading up to the election day had shown a narrow but consistent lead for the Labour Party under leader Neil Kinnock during a period of recession and declining living standards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. The UK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and especially in Blair.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2010 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, to elect Members of Parliament to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system. The election resulted in a large swing to the opposition Conservative Party led by David Cameron similar to that seen in 1979, the last time a Conservative opposition had ousted a Labour government. The governing Labour Party led by the prime minister Gordon Brown lost the 66-seat majority it had previously enjoyed, but no party achieved the 326 seats needed for a majority. The Conservatives won the most votes and seats, but still fell 20 seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since the Second World War to return a hung parliament, the first being the February 1974 election. This election marked the start of Conservative government for the next 14 years.

In the United Kingdom, general elections occur at least every five years. About 650 constituencies return a member of Parliament. Prior to 1945, electoral competition in the United Kingdom exhibited features which make meaningful comparisons with modern results difficult. Hence, unless otherwise stated, records are based on results since the 1945 general election, and earlier exceptional results are listed separately.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elections in the United Kingdom</span>

There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and police and crime commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be by-elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the prime minister during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five electoral systems used are: the single member plurality system (first-past-the-post), the multi-member plurality, the single transferable vote, the additional member system, and the supplementary vote.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (FTPA) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, for the first time, set in legislation a default fixed election date for general elections in the United Kingdom. It remained in force until 2022, when it was repealed. Since then, as before its passage, elections are required by law to be held at least once every five years, but can be called earlier if the prime minister advises the monarch to exercise the royal prerogative to do so. Prime ministers have often employed this mechanism to call an election before the end of their five-year term, sometimes fairly early in it. Critics have said this gives an unfair advantage to the incumbent prime minister, allowing them to call a general election at a time that suits them electorally. While it was in force, the FTPA removed this longstanding power of the prime minister.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2015 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 May 2015 to elect 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. It was the first of three general elections to be held under the rules of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 and was the last general election to be held before the United Kingdom voted to end its membership of the European Union (EU) in June 2016. Local elections took place in most areas of England on the same day and is to date the most recent general election to coincide with local elections. The governing Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister David Cameron, won an unexpected victory; opinion polls and political commentators had predicted that the results of the election would cause a second consecutive hung parliament whose composition would be similar to the previous Parliament, which was in effect from the previous national election in 2010. However, opinion polls underestimated the Conservatives, as they won 330 of the 650 seats and 36.9 per cent of the votes, giving them a majority of ten seats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2017 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing Conservative Party led by the prime minister Theresa May remained the largest single party in the House of Commons but lost its small overall majority, resulting in the formation of a Conservative minority government with a confidence and supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) of Northern Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2019 United Kingdom general election</span>

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019, with 47,567,752 registered voters entitled to vote to elect 650 Members of Parliament (MPs) to the House of Commons. The governing Conservative Party led by the prime minister, Boris Johnson, won a landslide victory with a majority of 80 seats, a net gain of 48, on 43.6 per cent of the popular vote, the highest percentage for any party since the 1979 general election, though with a narrower popular vote margin than that achieved by the Labour Party over the Conservatives at the 1997 general election. This was the second national election to be held in 2019 in the United Kingdom, the first being the 2019 European Parliament election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019</span> United Kingdom legislation

The Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019, also known as the Election Bill, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made legal provision for the holding of the 2019 United Kingdom general election on 12 December 2019.

References

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  2. "Labour suspends seven rebel MPs over two-child benefit cap". BBC News. 23 July 2024. Retrieved 23 July 2024.
  3. "Nigel Farage storms the UK parliament". POLITICO. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Historic firsts from the 2024 general election in numbers and charts".
  5. "UK general election results live: Labour set for landslide as results come in across country". BBC News. 4 July 2024. Archived from the original on 4 July 2024. Retrieved 4 July 2024.
  6. "Types of election, referendums, and who can vote". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  7. Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk), section 4 "Automatic dissolution of Parliament after five years"
  8. "General Election 2024: What happens now an election has been called?". Sky News. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  9. "What happens next in the House of Commons". parliament.uk. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.