Next United Kingdom general election
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The next United Kingdom general election is scheduled to be held no later than 15 August 2029. It will determine the composition of the House of Commons, which determines the government of the United Kingdom.
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On or before 15 August 2029
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All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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,[2] mainly as a result of the first-past-the-post voting system.[3][4][5][6]
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.[7] 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.[8]
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.[9] 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.[7] The Scottish National Party (SNP) lost around three-quarters of its seats.[10]
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 14 May 2026[update], it summarises the changes in party affiliation that took place during the 2024–present Parliament.
| Affiliation | Members[11] | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elected in 2024[12] |
Current | Difference | ||
| Labour[j] | 411[k] | 402[l][m] |  9 | |
| Conservative | 121 | 116[n][m] | 5 | |
| Liberal Democrats | 72 | 72 |  | |
| Reform | 5 | 8 |  3 | |
| SNP | 9 | 7 | 2 | |
| Sinn Féin[o] | 7 | 7 | | |
| DUP | 5 | 5 | | |
| Green (E&W) | 4 | 5 | 1 | |
| Ind. Alliance[p] | – | 5 | 5 | |
| Plaid Cymru | 4 | 4 | | |
| SDLP | 2 | 2 | | |
| Alliance | 1 | 1 | | |
| Restore Britain[14] | – | 1 | 1 | |
| TUV | 1 | 1 | | |
| UUP | 1 | 1 | | |
| Your Party[15] | – | 1 | 1 | |
| Speaker[m] | 1 | 1 | | |
| Independent[q] | 6 | 8 | 2 | |
| Vacant | 0 | 3 | 3 | |
| Total MPs | 650 | 647 | 3 | |
| Total voting[o][m][18] | 639 | 636 | 3 | |
| Government majority[r] | 174 | 159 | 15 | |
| Working majority[s] | 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[19][20] 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.[21]
By-elections
Runcorn and Helsby
On 24 February 2025, incumbent Labour MP for Runcorn and Helsby, Mike Amesbury, was sentenced to 10 weeks in prison for assault which was reduced to a suspended sentence, however, a recall petition was held with Amesbury resigning on 17 March 2025.[22][23][24] The by-election was characterised in the media as a fight between Labour and Reform UK.[25] Labour would select Karen Shore, a former teacher and deputy leader of Cheshire West and Chester Council, as their candidate, as Reform UK picked Sarah Pochin, a former Cheshire East Conservative Party councillor before being expelled from the party in 2020.[26][27] Meanwhile minor candidates included the Conservatives standing Sean Houlston, a National Federation of Builders executive and former candidate for the neighbouring seat of Widnes and Halewood, and the Greens picked Chris Copeman, a local councillor in Helsby as their candidate.[28][29] Other candidates included Michael Williams as an independent, Danny Clarke for the Liberal Party, and Jason Hughes for Volt UK.[30][31][32]
Pochin and Reform UK won the by-election, overturning Labour's 14,696-vote majority from the last general election with Pochin being the first non-Labour MP to hold the seat in 50 years.[33][34] The initial vote count saw Pochin win by just 4 votes, which was extended to 6 votes following a Labour requested recount.[35] It was the closest by-election result since at least the Second World War, the previous narrowest being a majority of 57. The results were seen as a major upset for Reform UK with Labour pinning their defeat on cuts to the winter fuel payment.[36][37]
Gorton and Denton
On 23 January 2026, incumbent Labour Co-op MP for Gorton and Denton, Andrew Gwynne, formally resigned from Parliament citing significant ill health, triggering a by-election. The by-election was characterised in the media as a three-horse race between the Green Party, Reform UK and Labour. The Greens selected Hannah Spencer, a local councillor and community activist, as their candidate. Reform UK picked Matt Goodwin, a high-profile commentator, while Labour chose Angeliki Stogia, a Manchester councillor. Spencer and the Green Party won the by-election with 14,980 votes and a majority of 4,402, overturning Labour’s 13,413-vote majority from the 2024 general election and marking the first ever Westminster by-election victory for the Greens. Matt Goodwin finished second with 10,578 votes, while Angeliki Stogia came third with 9,364. The result was seen as a historic upset and a major blow to the Labour government under Keir Starmer.[38][39][40]
Aberdeen South
An upcoming by-election is scheduled to take place in Aberdeen South following the resignation of Stephen Flynn, then-leader of the Scottish National Party in the House of Commons, after his election to the Scottish Parliament at the 2026 Scottish Parliament election.[41]
Arbroath and Broughty Ferry
An upcoming by-election is scheduled to take place in Arbroath and Broughty Ferry following the resignation of SNP MP Stephen Gethins after his election to the Scottish Parliament.[42]
Makerfield
An upcoming by-election is scheduled to take place in Makerfield. On 14 May 2026, Labour MP Josh Simons announced that he would stand down from parliament in order to allow the Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham to contest the seat.[43]
Electoral system
Voting eligibility
Presently, in order to vote in general elections, one must be:[44]
- 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.[45] Extending the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds would add well over a million potential voters across England and Northern Ireland.[46] Analysts found that this would expand voter participation, but the additional votes would represent only a small share of the national electorate.[47]
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,[48] and a general election is held 25 working days after dissolution.[49] Parliament first met on 9 July 2024,[50][51][52] 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.[53]
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.
Notes
- Includes 42 MPs sponsored by the Co-operative Party, who are designated Labour and Co-operative.[1]
- 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.
- Jeremy Corbyn leads Your Party in the House of Commons.
- The official Parliament list of parties has only Zarah Sultana as a member of Your Party; three other MPs (Shockat Adam, Jeremy Corbyn, Ayoub Khan) are members of the party but sit in parliament as part of the Independent Alliance.
- The Labour total includes 43 MPs elected in 2024 (41 current MPs as at 20 May 2026) who are sponsored by the Co-operative Party and are designated Labour and Co-operative.[13]
- 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.[17]
- 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.[16]
- Independent politicians affiliated to the Independent Alliance group of MPs
- Unaffiliated independent politicians
- Total number of MPs on the government side minus MPs on the opposition side. The government side comprises all Labour MPs plus the Speaker (as he was originally a Labour MP). The opposition side comprises all other MPs.
- Total number of voting MPs on the government side minus voting MPs on the opposition side