2024 United Kingdom general election

2024 United Kingdom general election

4 July 2024
All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326[n 1] seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
First party Second party Third party   Leader Keir Starmer Rishi Sunak Ed Davey Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Holborn and St Pancras Richmond and Northallerton Kingston and Surbiton Last election 202 seats, 32.1% 365 seats, 43.6% 11 seats, 11.6% Seats won 411 121 72 Seat change 209 244 61 Popular vote 9,708,716 6,828,925 3,519,143 Percentage 33.7% 23.7% 12.2% Swing 1.6 pp 19.9 pp 0.6 pp
A map presenting the results of the election, by party of the MP elected from each constituency.
Prime Minister before election Rishi Sunak Conservative Prime Minister after election Keir Starmer Labour

The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on 4 July 2024.^[2] It determined the composition of the House of Commons, which determines the next Government of the United Kingdom.^[3][4] In addition, this was the first UK general election where physical forms of voter identification were needed to vote in Great Britain.^[5]

The Labour Party won with a landslide majority, leading to Keir Starmer replacing Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister. The Conservative Party lost 244 seats, giving them their lowest number of seats (121) in the party's history.

Results

2024 Brtish general election

Party	Seats	Leader/Leaders
Labour Party	411 seats	Keir Starmer
Conservative Party	121 seats	Rishi Sunak
Liberal Democrats	72 seats	Ed Davey
Scottish National Party	9 seats	John Swinney
Sinn Féin	7 seats	Mary Lou McDonald
Reform UK	5 seats	Nigel Farage
Democratic Unionist Party	5 seats	Gavin Robinson
Green Party of England and Wales	4 seats	Carla Denyer Adrian Ramsay
Plaid Cymru	4 seats	Rhun ap Iowerth
Social Democratic and Labour Party	2 seats	Colum Eastwood
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland	1 seat	Naomi Long
Ulster Unionist Party	1 seat	Doug Beattie
Traditional Unionist Voice	1 seat	Jim Allister
Speaker	1 seat	Lindsay Hoyle

Sinn Féin's MPs do not go to the UK Parliament to take their seats because of the party's policy on not doing so.^[6]

Notes

1. Given that Sinn Féin members of Parliament (MPs) practise abstentionism and do not take their seats, while the Speaker and deputies do not vote, the number of MPs needed for a majority is in practice slightly lower.^[1] Sinn Féin won 7 seats, meaning a practical majority required 322 MPs.

References

1. "Government majority". Institute for Government. 20 December 2019.
2. "UK PM Rishi Sunak set to announce surprise July election as his party seeks to defy dire polls". CNN. Retrieved 22 May 2024.
3. Kelly, Richard (20 April 2023). "Dissolution of Parliament". House of Commons Library. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
4. "Rishi Sunak confirms election will be next year, despite legal right to wait until January 2025". Politics.co.uk. 18 December 2023.
5. "Our Plan - Conservative Manifesto 2019". Conservative Party. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
6. Dinnen, Carl (18 June 2024). "Sinn Féin won't take up any seats they win in the General Election - so who will?". ITV News. Retrieved 11 July 2024.