Next United Kingdom general election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than 15 August 2029.[2] It will determine the composition of the House of Commons.
 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
On or before 15 August 2029
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background
2024 election
The 2024 general election resulted in a landslide victory for the Labour Party led by Keir Starmer, but with the smallest share of the electoral vote of any majority government since record-keeping of the popular vote began in 1830. The combined vote share for Labour and the Conservatives reached a record low, with smaller parties doing well. Labour returned to being the largest party in Scotland and remained so in Wales. The election was noted as the most disproportionate in modern British history,[3] mainly as a result of the first-past-the-post voting system.[4][5][6][7]
The Conservative Party under Rishi Sunak lost 251 seats and suffered their worst ever defeat, ending their 14-year tenure as the primary governing party. The Conservatives won no seats in Wales and only one seat in North East England.[8] On 2 November 2024, Kemi Badenoch won the 2024 Conservative leadership election to succeed Sunak, becoming the first Black British person to become the Conservative leader.[9]
Reform UK, led by Nigel Farage, came third in the share of the vote in the 2024 election and had MPs elected to the Commons for the first time.[10] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats, led by Ed Davey, made significant gains especially in seat terms to reach their highest number of seats since (as their predecessor Liberal Party) the 1920s (and highest since the merger with the SDP). The Green Party of England and Wales also won a record number of votes and seats alongside a number of independent MPs.[8] The Scottish National Party (SNP) lost around three-quarters of its seats.[11]
Current composition of the House of Commons
This table relates to the composition of the House of Commons after the 2024 United Kingdom general election. As of 1 September 2026[update], it summarises the changes in party affiliation that took place during the 2024–present Parliament.
| Affiliation | Members[12] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elected in 2024[13] |
Current | Difference | ||
| Labour[h] | 411[i] | 403[j][k] |  8 | |
| Conservative | 121 | 118[l][k] | 3 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 72 | 71 | 1 | |
| SNP | 9 | 8 | 1 | |
| Reform | 5 | 8 |  3 | |
| Sinn Féin[m] | 7 | 7 |  | |
| DUP | 5 | 5 | | |
| Green (E&W) | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| Plaid Cymru | 4 | 4 | | |
| Ind. Alliance[n] | – | 4 | 4 | |
| SDLP | 2 | 2 | | |
| Your Party[15] | – | 2 | 2 | |
| Alliance | 1 | 1 | | |
| UUP | 1 | 1 | | |
| TUV | 1 | 1 | | |
| Restore[16] | – | 1 | 1 | |
| Speaker[k] | 1 | 1 | | |
| Independent[o] | 6 | 7 | 1 | |
| Vacant | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Total MPs | 650 | 649 | 1 | |
| Total voting[m][k][19] | 639 | 638 | 1 | |
| Government majority[p] | 173 | 158 | 15 | |
| Working majority[q] | 181 | 166 | 15 | |
For full details of changes during the 2024–present Parliament, see By-elections and Defections, suspensions and resignations.
Events since 2024
The 2025 United Kingdom local elections led to a rise in the number of seats held by smaller parties at the expense of the Conservatives and Labour. On 2 September 2025, Zack Polanski was elected as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales in a landslide, with 85% of the vote share[20][21] succeeding Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay in that position. The party's membership figures doubled, from around 70,000 to over 140,000, overtaking the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives.[22]
On 17 July 2026, Andy Burnham won the 2026 Labour Party leadership election (having won the 2026 Makerfield by-election a month prior) to succeed Starmer, and was appointed as prime minister on 20 July.[23]
Electoral system
Voting eligibility
At present, in order to vote in general elections, one must be:[24]
- 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. In July 2025, the government announced plans to reduce the voting age to 16 before the next general election.[25] Extending the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds would add well over a million potential voters across England and Northern Ireland.[26] Analysts found that this would expand voter participation, but the additional votes would represent only a small share of the national electorate.[27]
Members not standing for re-election
| Portrait | MP | Seat | First elected | Party | Date announced | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
Helen Grant | Maidstone and Malling | 2010 | Conservative | 19 July 2026[28] | |
 |
James Cleverly | Braintree | 2015 | Conservative | 29 August 2026[29] | |
 |
Christine Jardine | Edinburgh West | 2017 | Liberal Democrats | 26 September 2026[30] | |
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,[31] and a general election is held 25 working days after dissolution.[32] Parliament first met on 9 July 2024,[33][34][35] meaning that unless Parliament is dissolved earlier it will be automatically dissolved on 9 July 2029, and the latest an election could be held is 15 August 2029.[36]
In September 2026, speculation of an early general election mounted amid media reports that Prime Minister Andy Burnham was being encouraged by advisors to call a snap election in early 2027.[37] However, Burnham quickly denied any intention of calling an early election. When asked whether the next election would take place in 2029 specifically, he replied "Yes, that's when the next election will be."[38]
Opinion polling
Following the election, Labour's lead in polls collapsed, with Nigel Farage's Reform UK gaining the lead by spring 2025.[39] Following the election of Zack Polanski as leader of the Green Party of England and Wales in September 2025, the party surged in polls,[40] gaining even more support after winning the Gorton and Denton by-election in February 2026.[41] However, after Starmer's resignation due to a leadership crisis caused by heavy losses in 2026 local elections and replacement by Andy Burnham as Prime Minister in July 2026, Labour retook the lead, gaining back support from the Greens and Liberal Democrats.[42] Meanwhile, Reform lost support due to scandals around the party and the formation of the far-right Restore Britain party.[42]
.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.
Declared candidates
England
Northern Ireland
Scotland
| Constituency | Labour | SNP | Liberal Democrats | Conservative | Reform UK | Green Party | Others | Incumbent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Wales
| Constituency | Labour | Plaid Cymru | Liberal Democrats | Conservative | Reform UK | Green Party | Others | Incumbent | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Notes
- Includes 43 MPs sponsored by the Co-operative Party, who are designated Labour and Co-operative,[1] and does not include Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle, a longtime MP for Labour.
- Dave Doogan leads the SNP in the House of Commons.
- Sinn Féin are an all-Ireland political party with an abstentionist stance from the UK Parliament. McDonald is a TD (Republic of Ireland MP). Michelle O'Neill leads Sinn Féin in Northern Ireland.
- Ellie Chowns leads the Greens in the House of Commons.
- 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.
- The Labour total includes 43 MPs elected in 2024 (43 current MPs as at 19 June 2026) who are sponsored by the Co-operative Party and are designated Labour and Co-operative.[14]
- Includes one deputy speaker
- The Speaker and three deputy speakers by convention comprise two MPs from the government side and two from the opposition side. They do not vote in House of Commons divisions and exercise only a casting vote.[18]
- Includes two deputy speakers
- Sinn Féin's seven MPs follow a policy of abstentionism. They do not swear into the House of Commons, and do not take part in its formal processes. As a result, they are not able to sit or vote in the House of Commons.[17]
- Independent politicians affiliated to the Independent Alliance group of MPs. Some sources group Independent Alliance MPs with other independent MPs, instead of treating the Independent Alliance as a separate group.
- Unaffiliated independent politicians
- Total number of MPs on the government side minus MPs on the opposition side. The government side comprises all Labour MPs. The opposition side comprises all other MPs (except the Speaker).
- Total number of voting MPs on the government side minus voting MPs on the opposition side
- Incumbent MP seeking reelection
- Elected as an independent
- Incumbent MP has announced intention to retire
- Elected for the Labour Party
- Elected for the Conservative Party
- Elected for Reform
- Former MP seeking to return to Parliament
- Elected for the Liberal Democrats