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by | Mar 29, 2018 | Tellima

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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.

Background

Background of 2024 general election

The 2024 general election resulted in a landslide victory for the opposition Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, similar to that achieved by Tony Blair at the 1997 general election, the previous time a Labour opposition ousted a Conservative government. The governing Conservative Party under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak lost 251 seats and suffered their worst ever defeat, ending its 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, significantly larger than it did in 2019 (then called the Brexit Party) 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 to Scottish Labour.[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]

Electoral system

See also: Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011

Voting eligibility

In order to vote in the general election, barring any changes in eligibility rules, one must be:[5]

  • 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

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 5 years after the day it first met,[6] and a general election is held 25 working days after dissolution.[7] The 2024 parliament first met on 9 July 2024,[8] meaning that if an election isn't called, parliament will be automatically dissolved on 9 July 2029, and the latest an election could be held is 15 August 2029.

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the next United Kingdom general election
Opinion polling for UK general elections
2015 election
Opinion polls • Leadership approval
2017 election
Opinion polls • Leadership approval
2019 election
Opinion polls • Leadership approval
2024 election
Opinion polls • Leadership approval
Next election
Opinion polls • Leadership approval

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. ^ Sinn Féin are abstentionists from Parliament. Michelle O'Neill leads Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland.
  5. ^ Liz Saville Roberts leads Plaid Cymru in the House of Commons.
  6. ^ Sorcha Eastwood is the sole Alliance Party MP in the House of Commons.
  7. ^ Robin Swann is the sole Ulster Unionist Party MP in the House of Commons.

References

  1. ^ "About: Members of Parliament". Co-operative Party. Retrieved 10 May 2024.
  2. ^ "Nigel Farage storms the UK parliament". POLITICO. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b "Historic firsts from the 2024 general election in numbers and charts".
  4. ^ "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.
  5. ^ "Types of election, referendums, and who can vote". GOV.UK. Retrieved 21 June 2024.
  6. ^ Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk), section 4 "Automatic dissolution of Parliament after five years"
  7. ^ "General Election 2024: What happens now an election has been called?". Sky News. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  8. ^ "What happens next in the House of Commons". parliament.uk. 4 July 2024. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
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