Next United Kingdom general election
The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than Tuesday 21 August 2029. It will determine the composition of the House of Commons, which determines the government of the United Kingdom.
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All 650 seats in the House of Commons. 326 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Background
editThe 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.[2] The Green Party of England and Wales also won a record number of seats alongside a number of independent MPs.[3] The Scottish National Party (SNP) lost around three quarters of its seats.[4] 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.[3] The election was noted as the most disproportionate in modern British history,[5] mainly as a result of the first-past-the-post voting system.[6][7][8][9]
On 2 November 2024, Kemi Badenoch won the 2024 Conservative leadership election, becoming the first black woman to lead a major British political party.[10]
Current composition of the House of Commons
editThis table relates to the composition of the House of Commons after the 2024 UK general election and summarises the changes in party affiliation that took place during the 2024–present Parliament.
| Affiliation | Members | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elected in 2024[11] |
Current[12] | Difference | ||
| Labour[g] | 411[h] | 402 |  9
| |
| Conservative | 121 | 121 | 
| |
| Liberal Democrats | 72 | 72 |
| |
| Independent | 6 | 15[i] |  9
| |
| SNP | 9 | 9 |
| |
| Sinn Féin | 7 | 7 |
| |
| DUP | 5 | 5 |
| |
| Reform UK | 5 | 5 |
| |
| Green (E&W) | 4 | 4 |
| |
| Plaid Cymru | 4 | 4 |
| |
| SDLP | 2 | 2 |
| |
| Alliance | 1 | 1 |
| |
| TUV | 1 | 1 |
| |
| UUP | 1 | 1 |
| |
| Speaker | 1 | 1 |
| |
| Vacant | 0 | 0 |
| |
| Total | 650 | 650 |
| |
| Total voting[j] | 639 | 639 |
| |
| Majority of voting | 181 | 165[16] |
| |
For full details of changes during the 2024–present Parliament, see By-elections and Defections, suspensions and resignations.
Electoral system
editVoting eligibility
editIn order to vote in the general election, barring any changes in eligibility rules, one must be:[17]
- on the Electoral Register,
- aged 18 or over on polling day,
- a British citizen, a Commonwealth citizen (with leave to remain or not requiring it) or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland,
- a resident at an address in the United Kingdom (or a British citizen living abroad), and
- not legally excluded from voting (for example a convicted person detained in prison or a mental hospital, or unlawfully at large if they would otherwise have been detained, or a person found guilty of certain corrupt or illegal practices, or a sitting Member of the House of Lords)
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
editUnder 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,[18] and a general election is held 25 working days after dissolution.[19] The 2024 parliament opened on 17 July 2024, meaning that if an election is not called, parliament will be automatically dissolved on 17 July 2029, and the latest an election could be held is 21 August 2029.[20]
Opinion polling
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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 Tuesday 21 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
edit- ^ Includes 43 MPs sponsored by the Co-operative Party, who are designated Labour and Co-operative.[1]
- ^ Stephen Flynn leads the SNP in the House of Commons.
- ^ Sinn Féin are a cross-national political party with an abstentionist stance from the UK Parliament. McDonald is a Teachta Dála for Dublin Central in Ireland. Michelle O'Neill leads Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland.
- ^ Liz Saville Roberts leads Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons.
- ^ Sorcha Eastwood is the sole Alliance Party MP in the House of Commons.
- ^ Robin Swann is the sole Ulster Unionist Party MP in the House of Commons.
- ^ Includes 43 MPs sponsored by the Co-operative Party, who are designated Labour and Co-operative.[13]
- ^ Some media sources, such as BBC News, listed Labour's total as 412, by including the Speaker (who, to demonstrate his neutrality, had resigned his Labour Party membership on taking office).
- ^ Nine were elected as Labour MPs but seven of these have been suspended from the parliamentary party until December 2024. A further MP, Mike Amesbury, was suspended on 27 October 2024. Rosie Duffield resigned from the Labour Party on 28 September 2024. Five Independent MPs form the Independent Alliance technical group.
- ^ In the current (2024–present) Parliament, the seven members of Sinn Féin follow a policy of abstentionism. They do not swear into the house, and do not take part in its formal processes (doing so would also compel a by-election).[14] The Speaker and deputy speakers (two Conservative and one Labour) by convention exercise only a casting vote.[15]
References
edit- ^ "About: Members of Parliament". Co-operative Party. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
- ^ "Nigel Farage storms the UK parliament". POLITICO. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
- ^ a b "Historic firsts from the 2024 general election in numbers and charts".
- ^ "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.
- ^ Gallagher, Michael. "Election Indices" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 July 2024. Retrieved 29 July 2024.
- ^ Surridge, Paula (5 July 2024). "Labour wins big but the UK's electoral system is creaking". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
- ^ Curtice, John (5 July 2024). "Labour's strength in Commons is heavily exaggerated". The Times. Retrieved 6 July 2024.
- ^ Topping, Alexandra (8 July 2024). "'Disproportionate' UK election results boost calls to ditch first past the post". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ "Biggest-ever gap between number of votes and MPs hits Reform and Greens". BBC News. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
- ^ Picheta, Rob (2 November 2024). "Kemi Badenoch wins Conservative leadership contest, pitching party to the right after blowout UK election loss". CNN. Retrieved 2 November 2024.
- ^ "UK General election 2024 Results". BBC News. Retrieved 26 October 2024.
- ^ Cracknell, Richard; Baker, Carl; Pollock, Loui (26 July 2024). "General election 2024 results – House of Commons Library". UK Parliament. Retrieved 10 August 2024.
- ^ "About: Members of Parliament". Co-operative Party. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
- ^ Kelly, Conor (19 August 2019). "Understanding Sinn Féin's Abstention from the UK Parliament". E-International Relations. Retrieved 16 December 2019.
- ^ Boothroyd, David. "House of Commons: Tied Divisions". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 6 March 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2024.
- ^ Zodgekar, Ketaki; Baker, Finn; McAlary, Patrick (5 July 2024). "How big is the Labour government's majority?". Institute for Government. Retrieved 13 November 2024.
- ^ "Types of election, referendums, and who can vote". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
- ^ Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk), section 4 "Automatic dissolution of Parliament after five years"
- ^ "General Election 2024: What happens now an election has been called?". Sky News. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
- ^ "Date of next UK general election - a Freedom of Information request to Electoral Commission". WhatDoTheyKnow. 19 November 2024. Retrieved 26 November 2024.