There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England.
The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 ...
(commonly called 'general elections' when all seats are contested), elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, local elections, mayoral elections, and
Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may also be
by-elections
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...
. Elections are held on
Election Day
Election day or polling day is the day on which general elections are held. In many countries, general elections are always held on a Saturday or Sunday, to enable as many voters as possible to participate; while in other countries elections ...
, which is conventionally a Thursday, and under the provisions of the
Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 the timing of general elections can be held at the discretion of the
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
during any five-year period. All other types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. The five
electoral systems
An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political elections m ...
used are: the
single member plurality system (
first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast the ...
), the
multi-member plurality system
Plurality block voting, also known as plurality-at-large voting, block vote or block voting (BV) is a non- proportional voting system for electing representatives in multi-winner elections. Each voter may cast as many votes as the number of sea ...
, the
single transferable vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
, the
additional member system, and the
supplementary vote.
Elections are administered locally: in each
lower-tier local authority, the polling procedure is operated by the acting returning officer or
returning officer
In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.
Australia
In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...
, and the compiling and maintenance of the
electoral roll
An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is usually broke ...
by the
electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
(except in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, where the
Electoral Office for Northern Ireland assumes both responsibilities). The
Electoral Commission sets standards for and issues guidelines to returning officers and
electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
s, and is responsible for nationwide electoral administration (such as the registration of political parties and directing the administration of national referendums).
Electoral registration
![Register to vote poster Archway 7 May 2015](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/13/Register_to_vote_poster_Archway_7_May_2015.jpg)
The total number of names in the United Kingdom appearing in Electoral Registers published on 1 December 2010 and based on a qualifying date of 15 October 2010 was 45,844,691.
Entitlement to register
In
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, anyone who will be aged 18 or over on polling day and who is a national of the United Kingdom (all forms of
British nationality
British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to th ...
but excluding
British protected person
A British protected person (BPP) is a member of a class of British nationality associated with former protectorates, protected states, and territorial mandates and trusts under British control. Individuals with this nationality are British n ...
s), the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
living in the
UK, the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...
, a
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
country (including
Fiji
Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consis ...
,
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and ...
and the ''whole'' of Cyprus), can apply to the
electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
in the
local authority area
A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory.
The phrase i ...
where they reside with a 'considerable degree of permanence' to be listed in that area's Electoral Register.
In
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
, those fulfilling the nationality requirements (as stated in the previous paragraph), or who otherwise hold
leave to remain
Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or permanent residency (PR) is an immigration status granted to a person who does not hold the right of abode in the United Kingdom (UK), but who has been admitted to the UK without any time limit on their stay a ...
(limited or indefinite) in the UK,
who will be aged 16 or over on polling day can register to vote, as the age for voting in the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...
and the
Senedd
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gov ...
respectively, and local elections in both countries is 16. However, voters in Scotland and Wales under 18 are not entitled to vote in UK general elections.
A person can still register at their ordinary address if they will be away temporarily (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital). 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 (though an elector can only vote once in any single election or referendum).
In addition, to qualify to appear on the Electoral Register, applicants who are
Commonwealth citizen
A Commonwealth citizen is a citizen or qualified national of a Commonwealth of Nations member state. Most member countries do not treat citizens of other Commonwealth states any differently from foreign nationals, but some grant limited citizen ...
s must either possess
leave to enter or remain in the UK or
not require such leave on the date of their application and no applicant may be 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.
In
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, from 1949 until 2014, a minimum of three months’ residency in the territory was required for registration. This requirement wa
removed in the Northern Ireland (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014.
Remand prisoners, voluntary patients in mental hospitals and people without a fixed place of residence can register to vote by making a declaration of local connection.
Members of
HM Forces and their immediate family members have the option of registering as a service voter, by making a service declaration based on their last UK address.
British citizens (but not other categories of British nationals) residing outside the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
can register as an overseas voter provided that they were on the Electoral Register in the UK within the previous 15 years. The 15-year period begins when they no longer appeared in the electoral register, not the date they moved abroad. British citizens who moved abroad before they turned 18 years old can still qualify for registration, with the 15-years period calculated from the date their parent(s)/guardian ceased to appear in the Electoral Register. Overseas voters can only vote in UK parliamentary elections in the constituency of their last registered UK address (or for those who moved abroad as a minor, the last registered UK address of their parent(s)/guardian). British citizens who are away overseas temporarily do not need to register as overseas electors and can register to vote in the usual way at their UK address.
Crown servant The term "Crown servant" is used to denote a "person employed by the Crown". Although the term is not consistently defined, generally speaking the term encompasses all executive officials and their staffs, civil servants, police, judicial official ...
s and
British Council
The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...
employees (as well as their spouses who live abroad) employed in a post outside the UK can register by making a Crown Servant declaration, allowing them to vote in all UK elections.
An individual can register as an
anonymous elector if his/her safety (or that of any other person in the same household) would be at risk were his/her name and address to be disclosed publicly on the Electoral Register, but the application needs to be supported by a relevant court order, injunction or an attestation by a
chief police officer or a
Director of Social Services.
The right of Commonwealth and Irish citizens to vote is a legacy of the
Representation of the People Act 1918
The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, al ...
, which limited the vote to British subjects. At that time, "British subjects" included the people of Ireland — then part of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland was a sovereign state in the British Isles that existed between 1801 and 1922, when it included all of Ireland. It was established by the Acts of Union 1800, which merged the Kingdom of Grea ...
— and all other parts of the
British Empire
The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...
. Though most of Ireland (see
Ireland Act 1949
The Ireland Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom intended to deal with the consequences of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 as passed by the Irish parliament, the Oireachtas.
Background
Following the secession of most ...
) and the majority of the colonies became independent nations, their citizens have retained the right to vote if they live in the United Kingdom.
In theory, members of the
Royal Family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term pa ...
who are not members of the House of Lords (including those who are peers who lost their right to sit following the House of Lords Act 1999) are eligible to vote, although in practice they do not exercise that right.
Registration procedure
In
Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
, most electors are enrolled during the course of the annual canvass, which
electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
s are obliged to conduct every year between August and November. Canvass forms are sent to all households, and must be returned, otherwise a fine of £1000 can be imposed. One person in the household must confirm the details of all residents who are existing electors, which includes adding or deleting residents who have moved in or out and are eligible to register to vote.
Between December and early August, the rolling registration procedure applies instead. Applications must be submitted individually (unlike the annual canvass forms where one person is responsible for registering all eligible people in a household) using registration forms available from local electoral registration officers or th
Electoral Commission's website Although no proof of identity or address is necessary when submitting an application, the electoral registration officer can require the applicant to provide further ''information'' regarding the applicant's age, nationality, residence and whether or not they are disqualified and/or ''evidence'' to prove the applicant's age and/or nationality. Application forms can be returned to the local electoral registration officer by post, by fax or by e-mail as a scanned attachment.
As of June 2014, as part of the Government's Digital By Default policy, voters in England and Wales can register to the electoral roll online.
Special category electors do not register through the annual canvass procedure. Instead, they submit applications at any time during the year and have to renew their electoral application periodically (every one year for overseas electors and voters with a declaration of local connection and every three years for service voters).
After applications are received by the
electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
, he/she must add them to a list of applications (unless they are applications to register as an anonymous elector). The list is open for inspection for five working days, during which any other elector may raise an objection to an application. The electoral registration officer can initiate an application hearing if he/she considers that there are reasonable integrity concerns about the application.
In
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, there is no annual canvass, and instead people register individually at any time during the year. Applicants must supply their
National Insurance
National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their fami ...
number or, if they do not have one, make a declaration to that effect. Proof of identity, address, three months' residency in NI and date of birth must also be included with applications, which are submitted by post to the
Electoral Office for Northern Ireland.
Knowingly giving false information to an
electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
anywhere in the UK is an offence with a maximum penalty, upon conviction, of £5,000 and/or six months' imprisonment.
Electoral Register
Each
district council or
unitary authority
A unitary authority is a local authority responsible for all local government functions within its area or performing additional functions that elsewhere are usually performed by a higher level of sub-national government or the national governmen ...
has an
Electoral Register
An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is usually broke ...
which is compiled by the
electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
listing all registered electors. The
Electoral Register
An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is usually broke ...
contains the name, qualifying address and electoral number of every ordinary elector, the name of every special category elector (such as service voters) and the electoral number of every anonymous elector. Any elector who was not aged 18 yet at the time of registration will also have his/her date of birth printed. Each district's
Electoral Register
An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is usually broke ...
is subdivided into separate registers for each polling district.
Because the franchise differs between individual voters, various markers may be placed next to voters' names to identify in which elections they are entitled to vote.
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
citizens who are not
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...
or
Irish citizens have their entry prefixed either with G (meaning they can only vote in local government elections) or K (meaning they can only vote in European Parliamentary and local government elections). Overseas electors are prefixed with the letter F, meaning they can only vote in European and UK Parliamentary elections. Members of the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
residing in the UK are prefixed with the letter L, meaning they can only vote in European Parliamentary and local government elections, whilst peers who are overseas electors are prefixed with the letter E, indicating that they can only vote in European Parliamentary elections.
The register is published every year on 1 December after the annual canvass period
[ Representation of the People Act 1983, Section 13(1)] (unless there has been an election during the annual canvass period between 1 July and 1 December,
in which case the publication date is 1 February in the following year). However, in 2012, because the
Police and Crime Commissioner elections were held on 15 November, the annual canvass in
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
and
Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
(excluding
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
) was held between July and October and the Electoral Register was published on 16 October. Between January and September, during the 'rolling registration' period, notices of alteration are published on the first working day of each month to add, remove or amend names. Notices of alteration are also published 5 working days before an election at any time of the year and just before the close of poll at any election to correct any clerical errors or to implement any court decisions. With the exception of a deceased elector who is removed from the register, any individual who is added or removed from the register must be notified by the
electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
.
There are two versions of the Register: the full register and the edited register. The full register can only be inspected under supervision at the office of the local electoral registration officer, and must be supplied free of charge to the district's
returning officer
In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.
Australia
In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...
, the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...
, the
Electoral Commission, the
Office for National Statistics
The Office for National Statistics (ONS; cy, Swyddfa Ystadegau Gwladol) is the executive office of the UK Statistics Authority, a non-ministerial department which reports directly to the UK Parliament.
Overview
The ONS is responsible for ...
(only English and Welsh Registers), the
General Register Office for Scotland
The General Register Office for Scotland (GROS) ( gd, Oifis Choitcheann a' Chlàraidh na h-Alba) was a non-ministerial directorate of the Scottish Government that administered the registration of births, deaths, marriages, divorces and adop ...
(only Scottish Registers), the
National Library of Wales
The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million ...
(only English and Welsh Registers), the
National Library of Scotland
The National Library of Scotland (NLS) ( gd, Leabharlann Nàiseanta na h-Alba, sco, Naitional Leebrar o Scotland) is the legal deposit library of Scotland and is one of the country's National Collections. As one of the largest libraries in t ...
(only English and Scottish Registers) and the relevant
Boundary Commission. The edited register is available for general sale from electoral registration officers and can be used for any purpose. Electors can choose to opt out from appearing in the edited register by informing their local electoral registration officer.
Party system
![Hustings Oxford West and Abingdon 20050204](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d1/Hustings_Oxford_West_and_Abingdon_20050204.jpg)
Political parties are the dominant organisations in the modern UK political system.
The majority of election candidates stand on behalf of political parties of varying sizes. All parties, however large or small, must be registered with the Electoral Commission to be able to operate and stand candidates. Parties must regularly report donations, loans and spending on national elections. Larger parties must also submit audited accounts on an annual basis.
Most parties will have an individual leader (some parties choose to nominate one or more "spokespersons" rather than having a "leader"). Leaders of the main parties will be those parties' "candidates" for the post of prime minister – though there is no formal position of "prime ministerial candidate" since the prime minister is appointed by the monarch rather than being elected directly. Where a party has members elected to a parliament, devolved assembly or local council, they will typically seek to follow a united position and maintain a disciplined group using the
whip system.
Historically (until 2005, with the sole exception of
1923), the United Kingdom has effectively had a
two party system
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...
as a result of the
First-Past-The-Post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast the ...
system used for general and local elections.
Duverger's law certainly seems borne out in the history of British parliamentary politics. Before World War I, the United Kingdom had a true two-party system: the main parties were the
Tories
A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...
(which became the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
) and the
Whigs (which became the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
), though after
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, and later the combined United Kingdom in the late 18th century and early 19th century, that involved reducing and removing many of the restricti ...
there was also a substantial
Irish Parliamentary Party
The Irish Parliamentary Party (IPP; commonly called the Irish Party or the Home Rule Party) was formed in 1874 by Isaac Butt, the leader of the Nationalist Party, replacing the Home Rule League, as official parliamentary party for Irish nation ...
. After World War II, the dominant parties have been Conservative and
Labour. No third party has come close to winning a parliamentary majority, although Johnston et al. wrote of the elections from 1950 to 1997, "Increasingly, a number of smaller (or third) parties has won a substantial proportion of the votes cast." Third parties and smaller parties have always polled at least 20% of the vote between them since the 1980s, while the
Liberal Democrats won 62 of the 646 seats in the House of Commons in
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...
, which led some spectators to regard the Westminster Parliament as a "two and a half" party system.
More recently, in
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
the share of the vote for the two largest parties fell to 65%, with seats won by several other parties, including nationalist parties. In 2015, televised
election debates included leaders of up to seven different parties. In the
general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
, the
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...
(SNP) won over 90% of Scottish constituencies, to become the third party in terms of seats in the House of Commons. At the same time, the
UK Independence Party
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...
won nearly 13% of the UK vote (more than double the UK-wide share obtained by the SNP) to finish third in terms of popular support, yet they won only one seat. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrats remain the third largest political party in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
, with over 100 seats.
Smaller parties receive a higher proportion of votes, and a much higher proportion of seats, in those elections which use some form of proportional system: i.e. the regional elections for the
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...
, the
Senedd
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gov ...
,
Northern Ireland Assembly
sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie
, legislature = Seventh Assembly
, coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg
, coa_res = 250px
, house_type = Unicameral
, house1 =
, leader1_type = S ...
and
London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
. Parties, such as
Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Plaid wa ...
, UKIP and the Green Parties perform better in these elections, which can therefore be considered to produce a
multi-party system
In political science, a multi-party system is a political system in which multiple political parties across the political spectrum run for national elections, and all have the capacity to gain control of government offices, separately or in ...
.
It is relatively easy to stand for election as an independent candidate, although wins are very rare and usually involve special circumstances (for example
Martin Bell
Martin Bell, (born 31 August 1938) is a British UNICEF (UNICEF UK) Ambassador, a former broadcast war reporter and former independent politician who became the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tatton from 1997 to 2001. He is sometimes known as " ...
's 1997 victory against the discredited Conservative MP
Neil Hamilton was aided by the major parties standing aside and not contesting the election). Following the 2005 General Election there were three independent MPs, the highest number since 1945, however only one of these was returned in the 2010 election.
Parliamentary candidate selection
Almost any registered elector is entitled to stand for election to parliament, provided they are able to submit nomination forms signed by ten voters from the constituency they wish to contest, along with a £500
deposit (which is returned to the candidate after the election if they poll more than 5% of the vote). The selection of candidates standing for political parties is the responsibility of the party itself, and all parties follow different procedures.
Per the
Registration of Political Parties Act 1998, political party candidates must be authorised to stand for election for their party by their party's "nominating officer", or someone authorised in writing by the nominating officer. The three largest parties, the Conservative Party, Labour Party, and Liberal Democrats, have centrally-approved lists of candidates.
In the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
, constituency
associations select their constituency's candidates.
Some associations have organised open parliamentary primaries. A Constituency Association must choose a candidate using the rules approved by, and (in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) from a list established by, the Committee on Candidates of the Board of the Conservative Party
The Conservative Party Board is the national governing body of the Conservative Party of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for operational matters such as fundraising, membership, candidates, and internal elections. It is made up of members f ...
. Prospective candidates apply to the Conservative Central Office
The Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ), formerly known as Conservative Central Office (CCO), is the headquarters of the British Conservative Party, housing its central staff and committee members, including campaign coordinators and man ...
to be included on the approved list of candidates, some candidates will be given the option of applying for any seat they choose, while others may be restricted to certain constituencies. A Conservative MP can only be deselected at a special general meeting of the local Conservative association, which can only be organised if backed by a petition of more than fifty members.
In the Labour Party, the Constituency Labour Parties
__NOTOC__
A constituency Labour Party (CLP) is an organisation of members of the British Labour Party who live in a particular parliamentary constituency.
In England and Wales, CLP boundaries coincide with those for UK parliamentary constituen ...
(CLP) select the parliamentary general election candidates using procedures agreed by the National Executive Committee (NEC). The selection will always involve a "one member, one vote" ballot where all members of the CLP are entitled to select their candidate from a shortlist. The methods used to draw up the shortlist will vary according to the structure of the CLP, the time available before the election, and the number of candidates who express an interest in the selection. All selected candidates must attend and pass an interview conducted on behalf of the NEC - most candidates will do this before starting to apply for selections, though the interview can occur after a candidate is selected. Different procedures apply when a sitting Labour MP indicates they wish to stand for re-selection. On very rare occasions, the NEC may withdraw their endorsement of a candidate (including sitting MPs) after the selection process is complete. They exercised this power with regards to some of the MPs involved in the expenses scandal prior to the 2010 General Election.
The Liberal Democrats operate an assessment process for members wishing to join the party's list of potential candidates. Once on the list, candidates are free to apply for selection in any constituency. The candidate in each seat is selected by local party members following a hustings.
UKIP
The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest p ...
, the Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...
and Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom.
Plaid wa ...
select their candidates in a similar manner to the Liberal Democrats.
The Green Party's selections are open to all members to apply. Applicants are not shortlisted, so local parties vote directly on the full list of applicants.
Polling procedure
All voters must be listed on the electoral register, even if the person is otherwise qualified to vote. If, because of a clerical error, someone's name has been left off the electoral register (even though a correctly completed application form was submitted by the deadline), the electoral registration officer can amend the register up to 9pm on polling day. Because the franchise between electors varies (for example, EU citizens who are not Commonwealth or Irish citizens cannot vote in UK parliamentary elections) ballot papers are only issued after checking the marker in the electoral register before an elector's name to identify in which elections the individual is eligible to vote.
Votes can be cast either in person at a polling station, by post or by proxy. British citizens residing abroad and registered as overseas electors cannot vote at British high commissions, embassies or consulates - their votes can only be cast either in person in the constituency where they are enrolled in the United Kingdom, by proxy (who must reside in and be eligible to vote in the UK) or by post (although this option is less popular as postal ballot packs are only despatched by returning officers at 4pm, 19 working days before polling day at the earliest and must be received by the returning officer by the close of poll to be counted).
In person
Polling station
A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building s (also known as polling places) are open from 7am to 10pm on polling day. Voters receive a poll card
A voter invitation card, voter notification card, poll card, or notice of election card, is an informational leaflet, usually of the size of a postcard, which requests voters to attend the elections and which generally contains information regardin ...
from the returning officer
In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.
Australia
In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...
at their local authority with details of their allocated polling place. They are not required to show their poll card (unless they are an anonymous elector[Representation of the People Act 1983, Section 37(2)]) or any other form of identification at the polling place in order to vote, except in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, where one piece of photographic ID (current or expired) must be presented at the polling station - a NI Electoral Identity Card, a photographic NI or GB or other EEA driving licence, a British or other EU passport, a Translink 60+ SmartPass, a Translink Senior SmartPass, a Translink Blind Person's SmartPass or a Translink War Disabled SmartPass.
At 7am when the poll opens, the presiding officer must show the empty ballot box to those who are present inside the polling station
A polling place is where voters cast their ballots in elections. The phrase polling station is also used in American English and British English, although polling place is the building , before closing and sealing it.
Having verified and marked off the voter's name and address on the list of electors, the presiding officer or poll clerk issues the ballot paper, calling out the voter's name, elector number and polling district reference, unless the voter is an anonymous elector, in which case only his/her elector number is called out. Ballot papers cannot be issued before 7am and can only be issued after 10pm to a voter who was present in the queue at/outside the polling station at 10pm. All ballot papers contain both an official mark (e.g. a watermark or perforation) and a unique identifying number; any papers issued without both these features (even if it is the presiding officer/poll clerk's mistake) will be invalid and rejected at the count. On a separate list (called the corresponding number list) the presiding officer or poll clerk writes the voter's elector number next to the unique identifying number of the ballot paper issued. However, the secrecy of the vote is usually maintained, as at the close of the poll this list linking voters to their ballot paper numbers is sealed inside a packet which may only be opened by the order of a court if the election result is challenged. The ballot paper is folded and then handed to the voter.
The voter marks the ballot papers in the privacy of a voting booth
A voting booth or polling booth (in British English) is a room or cabin in a polling station where voters are able to cast their vote in private to protect the secrecy of the ballot. Commonly the entrance to the voting booth is a retractable ...
. Polling stations must provide a writing implement for voters; usually pencils are provided (for practical reasons, as ink pens may dry out or spill), but there is no legal requirement for voters to mark their ballot papers with a pencil (they can use their own pen instead). If the ballot paper has been spoilt, the presiding officer/poll clerk can issue a new one after the old ballot paper is cancelled. Before placing the ballot papers in the ballot box, the voter has (in theory) to show the presiding officer or the poll clerk the official mark and the unique identifying number printed on the reverse of the ballot papers.
If a voter requests a ballot paper but someone has already voted in their name, or they are listed as having requested a postal vote, they can only cast a tendered ballot. After marking the tendered ballot in private, the voter must not place it in the ballot box. Instead, it must be returned to the presiding officer who will endorse it with the voter's name, elector number and polling district reference, before placing it in a special envelope. The voter's name and elector number is then written down in the 'List of Tendered Votes'. Although tendered ballots are not included at the count, they serve as a formal record that a voter has tried, but has been unable, to cast a vote and is evidence of a voter's concern about the conduct of an election. If a voter wants to make a complaint, marking a tendered ballot is the first step in pursuing the complaints procedure.
Voters may bring their underage children with them inside the polling station, but they may only observe the voting procedure and are not permitted to participate (for example, by marking the voter's ballot paper).
The presiding officer and the poll clerk(s) are responsible for maintaining order in the polling station (this includes ensuring that candidates/agents/tellers in the vicinity of the polling station do not interfere with the election process and/or impede voters' access to/from the polling station, and removing any campaign literature from inside the polling station) and ensuring the secrecy and security of all ballots cast. They are under a duty to act impartially at all times.
Candidates may appoint polling agents to observe the voting process in polling stations. These are a type of ''Electoral observer'', and must follow a code of practice to avaoid influencing the eleciton, or obtainting information that could predict the result.
Tellers are often present outside the polling station and record the elector number (as it appears on the Electoral Register and poll card) of those who have voted. Tellers volunteer on behalf of political parties (identifiable by their rosette), but have no legal or official status, and voters are not obliged to give them their elector number. By recording who has voted, tellers help their parties identify supporters who have not yet voted, so that they can be contacted and encouraged to vote, and offered assistance — such as transport to the polling station — if necessary.
At the close of poll, the slot at the top of the ballot box is sealed by the presiding officer or poll clerk (the election and polling agents appointed by candidates can also apply their own seals to the boxes) before being transported 'directly and without delay' by the presiding officer to the central counting location.
By post
Voters can apply to receive a postal ballot either for specific elections or on a permanent basis until further notice without having to give a reason (except in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, where voters have to give a specific reason explaining why they cannot physically attend their allocated polling station). Applications for postal ballots close at 5pm 11 working days before polling day. Postal ballots can be sent anywhere within and outside the United Kingdom, although if they are not sent to a voter's registered address, a reason must be provided to the electoral registration officer as to why the postal ballot is to be sent to an alternative address.
The returning officer must issue and send out postal ballot packs 'as soon as is practicable' (i.e. as soon as possible after the close of nominations at 4pm 19 working days before polling day).
Where an elector has applied for a postal ballot to be sent to an overseas address, the returning officer should prioritise the dispatch of their postal ballot packs (over those sent to UK addresses), send them by air mail
Airmail (or air mail) is a mail transport service branded and sold on the basis of at least one leg of its journey being by air. Airmail items typically arrive more quickly than surface mail, and usually cost more to send. Airmail may be th ...
and ensure that the postal ballot pack includes a return envelope with sufficient postage to be sent to the UK from abroad.
Voters return their postal ballots together with postal voting statements filled in with their date of birth and signature either by post or by hand directly to the returning officer, or by hand to the presiding officer on polling day at a polling station situated within the constituency/ward printed on the postal ballot return envelope. However, for the postal ballot to be counted, the returning officer (or the presiding officer if returned at a polling station) must receive the ballot paper by the close of poll (usually 10pm on polling day).
By proxy
Any person who is ''eligible'' to vote (he/she does not necessarily have to be on the Electoral Register already) can be appointed by another voter as his/her proxy, but for the proxy to be able to vote in an election the proxy application must be received by the electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
at the voter's local authority by 5pm 6 working days before polling day. The proxy can either vote in person, or can apply for a postal proxy vote (though a postal proxy vote application has an even earlier deadline - any such request must be received by the electoral registration officer by 5pm 11 working days before polling day at the latest). A voter who has become ill or disabled after 5pm six working days before polling day can make an emergency application to vote by proxy as long as the application is received by the electoral registration officer
In the United Kingdom, an electoral registration officer (ERO) is a person who has the statutory duty to compile and maintain the electoral roll (which includes conducting the annual canvass). Any expenses incurred by an electoral registration offi ...
by 5pm on polling day. Unless a close relative, a person can only vote as a proxy on behalf of a maximum of two other voters in any single election in each constituency/ward. When applying to vote by proxy for more than one particular election, the application must be accompanied by a relevant attestation and must be justified based on one of the following reasons: blindness; other disability; employment; on an education course; registered as a service, overseas or anonymous elector. If only applying to vote by proxy for one particular election, the elector only needs to explain why he/she cannot vote in person, but does not need an attestation. If it is possible to get to the polling station from the registered address by only air or by sea, the elector can apply for a permanent proxy vote without an attestation.
In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
, voters can only appoint another person to be their proxy if they can provide a specific reason explaining why they cannot physically attend their allocated polling station.
Accessibility
All polling stations are legally required to be wheelchair-accessible and be equipped with a tactile voting device A tactile voting device is a device to enable a visually impaired person to mark a ballot paper in secret.
The plastic device is attached to a ballot paper, and consists of a number of flaps, each covering one of the boxes on the paper. A number, ...
and at least one large print display version of the ballot paper to assist visually impaired voters. Though the large print version cannot be marked, it can be used for reference. Disabled voters can also request the Presiding Officer in the polling station or bring along a family member to mark their ballot papers for them if they wish. If a voter is unable to enter the polling station because of a disability, the Presiding Officer can take the ballot paper to him/her.
Although the Electoral Commission provides electoral registration forms in a number of foreign languages, by law all voting materials (e.g. ballot papers) are only printed in English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ...
(and also in Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
in Wales).
General elections
United Kingdom general elections are held following a dissolution of Parliament
The dissolution of a legislative assembly is the mandatory simultaneous resignation of all of its members, in anticipation that a successive legislative assembly will reconvene later with possibly different members. In a democracy, the new assemb ...
. All the Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MPs) forming the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
of the Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...
are elected. Following the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, parliamentary sessions last five years and one way that an early election can be called is in a dissolution of Parliament by the monarch at the Prime Minister's request. Under the Act, dissolution occurs automatically 25 working days before the election (previously, a minimum period of 17 working days applied). At this point, all parliamentary business ends and the role of MP ceases to exist until after polling day.
Candidates for each constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
are chosen by political parties or stand as independents. Almost all successful candidates are members of a political party, with only one independent elected in the 2010 election. Each constituency elects one MP by the first past the post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
system of election. At the 2005 general election, there were 646 constituencies, thus 646 MPs were elected to Parliament. At the 2017 election the number of MPs was 650.
A party with an overall parliamentary majority (more seats than all the other parties combined) following an election forms the government. If no party has an outright majority, parties can seek to form coalitions. At the 2010 election, even though the Conservatives won the greatest number of seats, it would have been possible for the Liberal Democrats to form a coalition with Labour (and maybe also other, smaller parties) instead of with the Conservatives. Situations such as these can give smaller parties considerable power: the eventual outcome of the 2010 election was effectively decided by the Liberal Democrats, while in 2017 the Conservatives lost their overall majority and had to rely on the Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...
(DUP) who held 10 seats to 'prop up' the minority conservative government in order to achieve the 326 seats needed for a majority government.
The largest party not in government forms His Majesty's Loyal Opposition. This is currently the Labour Party.
Timing
A general election must take place before each parliamentary term begins. Since the maximum term of a parliament is five years, the interval between successive general elections can exceed that period by no more than the combined length of the election campaign and the time for the new parliament to assemble (a total of typically around four weeks). The five years runs from the first meeting of Parliament following the election.
After the 2010 general election, the coalition government
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
enacted the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011
The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (c. 14) (FTPA) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that for the first time set in legislation a default fixed election date for a general election to the Westminster parliament. Since the repeal ...
which set fixed term parliaments of five years. Thus the next general election was held on 7 May 2015, with subsequent elections scheduled to be held every five years thereafter on the first Thursday in May. However the Act also contained provisions for Parliament to be dissolved and an early election held if no government can be formed within 14 days after a vote of no confidence
A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...
in the government. Similarly, the Act allowed for an election to be triggered by a vote of two-thirds of MPs in the House of Commons calling for one. This provision of the act was used to trigger the 2017 United Kingdom general election
The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections. The governing ...
. The Fixed-term Parliaments Act was repealed, reviving the prerogative powers
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy, as belonging to the sovereign and which have become widely vested in the ...
of the monarch to dissolve and summon parliament, by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 on 22 March 2022.
It is also possible for a general election to be triggered by a separate Act of Parliament
Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...
. This scenario happened in October 2019 when the then minority Government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...
led by Boris Johnson
Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...
, after three failed attempts to trigger an election though the two-thirds majority method, introduced the Early Parliamentary General Election Bill
The Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019 (c. 29) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that made legal provision for the holding of the 2019 United Kingdom general election on 12 December 2019.
The Act was fast-tracked i ...
to by-pass the Fixed-term Parliaments Act. The Bill, which required only simple majority votes to pass each stage through the Houses of Parliament, stated that the next general election would be held on 12 December 2019. The Act received royal assent
Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in other ...
on 31 October 2019. However, since the passing of the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 it is extremely unlikely that this legal avenue will be used again.
The Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
asks the Monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
to dissolve Parliament by royal proclamation
A proclamation (Lat. ''proclamare'', to make public by announcement) is an official declaration issued by a person of authority to make certain announcements known. Proclamations are currently used within the governing framework of some nations ...
. The proclamation also orders the issue of the formal writs of election
A writ of election is a writ issued ordering the holding of an election. In Commonwealth countries writs are the usual mechanism by which general elections are called and are issued by the head of state or their representative. In the United S ...
which require an election to be held in each constituency.
Since 1935 every general election has been held on a Thursday. Of the 19 general elections since 1945, six were held in May, five in June, four in October, two in February, and one each in March, April, July, and December. The 2019 general election was the first to be held in December since 1923.
The Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for supporting the prime minister and Cabinet. It is composed of various units that support Cabinet committees and which co-ordinate the delivery of government objecti ...
imposes ''purdah
Pardah or purdah (from Hindi-Urdu , , meaning "curtain") is a religious and social practice of female seclusion prevalent among some Muslim and Hindu communities. It takes two forms: physical segregation of the sexes and the requirement that wom ...
'' before elections. This is a period of roughly six weeks in which Government Departments are not allowed to communicate with members of the public about any new or controversial Government initiatives (such as modernisation initiatives, and administrative and legislative changes).
Counts and declarations
Voting ends at 10 pm (or once all voters present in a queue at or outside the polling station at 10 pm have cast their vote). Presiding officers are responsible for sealing ballot boxes in polling stations (election
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...
and polling
Poll, polled, or polling may refer to:
Figurative head counts
* Poll, a formal election
** Election verification exit poll, a survey taken to verify election counts
** Polling, voting to make decisions or determine opinions
** Polling places o ...
agents appointed by candidates can also apply their own seals to the boxes) and transporting them 'directly and without delay' to the central counting location for the constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
. Multiple counts can take place at the same location, for example when a town is covered by two or more constituencies. Returning officers are required to "take reasonable steps to begin counting ... as soon as practicable within the period of four hours starting with the close of the poll" (i.e. no later than 2 am). In most constituencies, upon receipt by the returning officer
In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.
Australia
In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...
at the central counting location, ballot boxes are unsealed and emptied, and ballot papers are verified and counted immediately. Ballot papers are verified manually and counted by hand. As with Polls and Postal Votes, the counting process A counting process is a stochastic process with values that are non-negative, integer, and non-decreasing:
# ''N''(''t'') ≥ 0.
# ''N''(''t'') is an integer.
# If ''s'' ≤ ''t'' then ''N''(''s'') ≤ ''N''(''t'').
If ''s'' < ''t'', then ''N''(' ...
is observed by ''Election Observers'' who may be individuals or nominated by e.g. parties.
The Representation of the People Act 1983 prohibits the publication of exit polls until voting has ended. In recent general elections, broadly accurate exit poll results have been announced by the major broadcasters at the stroke of 10 pm.
Results are declared in each individual constituency
An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other poli ...
by the local returning officer
In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.
Australia
In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...
. National broadcasters are present at the majority of counts, particularly where there are high-profile candidates or close results expected. The earliest results are declared by about 11 pm, with most having been declared by 3 or 4 am; some constituencies do not declare their results until later the following day. Each individual MP assumes office immediately upon the declaration by the local returning officer
In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.
Australia
In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...
.
Formation of a government
When all the results are known, or when one party achieves an absolute majority of the seats in the House of Commons, the first response comes from the current (and possibly outgoing) Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...
. If a majority in the new Parliament has been achieved by their party, they remain in office without the need for reconfirmation or reappointment—no new "term" of office is started. If a majority has not been achieved, and another party has the numbers to form a government, the Prime Minister submits his/her resignation to the Monarch. The Monarch then commissions the leader of the new majority party to form a new government. The Prime Minister can try to remain in power even without a majority. The subsequent King's Speech (giving an outline of the government's proposed legislative programme) offers a chance for the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
to cast a vote of confidence or no confidence in the government by accepting or rejecting the King's Speech.
By precedent, and in the absence of any formal written constitutional objection, the Monarch could in theory dismiss the incumbent Prime Minister and seek to appoint a replacement. However, this has not occurred since the dismissal of Lord Melbourne
William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...
in 1834, and would almost certainly trigger a constitutional crisis, similar to the 1975 Australian constitutional crisis
The 1975 Australian constitutional crisis, also known simply as the Dismissal, culminated on 11 November 1975 with the dismissal from office of the prime minister, Gough Whitlam of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), by Governor-General Sir Jo ...
.
Once the result of a general election is known, the incumbent prime minister will make a statement regarding whether they will stay on as prime minister or not. When the outcome is decisive, in particular a majority either for their party or the opposition, they will make this announcement immediately, resigning if they lost. In the case of a hung parliament
A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisl ...
, they will remain as prime minister until one party either concludes a coalition agreement or decides to govern as a minority. Until that time, the Monarch conventionally plays no role. The most recent Prime Ministers
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
who, having failed to win a majority, opted not to resign immediately, were Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...
in 1974, Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...
in 2010, and Theresa May
Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...
in 2017.
* In 1974
Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War determined politics; f ...
, after initial negotiations with the Liberal Party failed to provide a coalition deal, the Conservative prime minister Edward Heath resigned, allowing Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
to commission Labour leader Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
to form an administration.
* In 2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, the Conservative Party won a plurality of seats, but no majority; either incumbent Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown or Conservative leader David Cameron could have formed a governing coalition with the Liberal Democrats under Nick Clegg
Sir Nicholas William Peter Clegg (born 7 January 1967) is a British media executive and former Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom who has been president for global affairs at Meta Platforms since 2022, having previously been vicepr ...
. In the event, Brown resigned when Cameron and Clegg announced a coalition agreement.
* In 2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
, the Conservatives lost their majority, but still held a plurality of seats, yet no party was willing to form a coalition with them and Labour was unable to form a majority coalition of their own. Prime Minister Theresa May decided to carry on in a minority government after making a confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parl ...
agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party.
The largest party not in government becomes the Official Opposition, known as ''His Majesty's Loyal Opposition''. Any smaller parties not in government (or formally supporting it, such as in a confidence and supply
In a parliamentary democracy based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply are required for a ruling cabinet to retain power in the lower house.
A confidence-and-supply agreement is one whereby a party or independent members of parl ...
agreement) are collectively known as "the opposition".
After each election, having remained in power, a Prime Minister may engage in a major or minor reshuffle
A cabinet reshuffle or shuffle occurs when a head of government rotates or changes the composition of Political minister, ministers in their Cabinet (government), cabinet, or when the Head of State changes the head of government and a number of ...
of ministers; such a reshuffle may occur at any time if the Prime Minister wishes it. Any vacancy arising in the House, due to death, ennoblement, resignation
Resignation is the formal act of leaving or quitting one's office or position. A resignation can occur when a person holding a position gained by election or appointment steps down, but leaving a position upon the expiration of a term, or choos ...
, or recall
Recall may refer to:
* Recall (bugle call), a signal to stop
* Recall (information retrieval), a statistical measure
* ''ReCALL'' (journal), an academic journal about computer-assisted language learning
* Recall (memory)
* ''Recall'' (Overwatch ...
, is filled by a by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...
. The timing for this is not automatic and it can be months after the vacancy arose, or even abandoned if there is a general election due soon.
The media influence debate
The influence of media on elections in the UK – and elsewhere – is often a topic of debate, and overall, there seems to be little academic consensus. The often cited 'chicken and egg' or 'self-selection' problem makes it difficult to tell whether media outlets have an impact on their users' political affiliations, and ultimately, on what party they vote for: one can argue that users choose media outlets that fit their politics, or that their politics are molded to fit the source of news they consume.
Many studies have attempted to sway the balance one way or the other; for instance, Newton and Brynin analysed voting patterns in the general elections of 1992 and 1997, and concluded that newspapers had a statistically significant effect on voting, larger for Labour than Conservative sympathizers, and larger for the 1992 than the 1997 election. Alternatively, Cowley reviewed ''The Observer'' claims that it had encouraged tactical voting during the 1997 election by publishing poll results for 16 constituencies with a guide on how to vote tactically against the Conservatives; Cowley concluded that the newspaper had had little to no tangible impact on the result of the election in these constituencies.
When it comes to social media, the debate seems to be more about its effect on legality and fairness: the Conservative Party spent £1.2 million on Facebook during the UK 2015 general election campaign, which "enabled the party to target specific voters in marginal constituencies with tailored messages". Moore believes the sheer amount parties are spending on Facebook is itself proof of how 'central' digital media has become when it comes to political campaigning, but whether one believes online campaigning can encourage citizens to vote one way or another ("Brits believe traditional media mattered more in the 2017 general election"), the use of social media might be "compromising the principles of fair and open elections in the UK"; Moore uses the example of how Facebook algorithms helped the Conservative Party bypass spending limits by assigning constituency-specific expenses to the national budget in 2015. The "potential for fraud, lies and disproportionate influence", says a ''Guardian'' editorial advocating for new digital campaigning legislation, is "only too obvious".
Previous results
Devolved parliament and assembly elections
Scottish Parliament elections
Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...
elections occur every four years to elect the Members of the Scottish Parliament
Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP; gd, Ball Pàrlamaid na h-Alba, BPA; sco, Memmer o the Scots Pairliament, MSP) is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.
Electoral system
The add ...
(MSPs). The first election to the unicameral
Unicameralism (from ''uni''- "one" + Latin ''camera'' "chamber") is a type of legislature, which consists of one house or assembly, that legislates and votes as one.
Unicameral legislatures exist when there is no widely perceived need for multic ...
Scottish Parliament that was created by the Scotland Act 1998
The Scotland Act 1998 (c. 46) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which legislated for the establishment of the devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers and the Scottish Government (then Scottish Executive). It was on ...
, was held in 1999. Elections to the Scottish Parliament are by the Additional Member System, which is a hybrid of single member plurality
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...
and party list
An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...
.
* 1999 Scottish Parliament election
The first election to the devolved Scottish Parliament, to fill 129 seats, took place on 6 May 1999. Following the election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats formed the Scottish Executive, with Labour Member of the Scottish Parliam ...
* 2003 Scottish Parliament election
The 2003 Scottish Parliament election was the second election of members to the Scottish Parliament. It was held on 1 May 2003 and it brought no change in terms of control of the Scottish Executive. Jack McConnell, the Labour Party MSP, rema ...
* 2007 Scottish Parliament election
The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999. Local elections in Scotland fe ...
* 2011 Scottish Parliament election
The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to Members of the 4th Scottish Parliament, elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.
The election delivered the first majority government since the opening of Holyrood, ...
* 2016 Scottish Parliament election
The 2016 Scottish parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the fifth election held since the devolved parliament was established in 1999. It was the first parliamentary electi ...
* 2021 Scottish Parliament election
The 2021 Scottish Parliament election took place on 6 May 2021, under the provisions of the Scotland Act 1998. All 129 Members of the Scottish Parliament were elected in the sixth election since the parliament was re-established in 1999. The ele ...
Senedd elections
Elections to the National Assembly for Wales were held every four years from 1999; this was increased to five years following the for the 2016 election, originally scheduled for 2015 but moved to avoid a clash with the 2015 UK Parliament general election. The elections elected Members of the National Assembly for Wales (AMs). Following the passage of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020
The Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 (anaw 1) ( cy, Deddf Senedd ac Etholiadau (Cymru) 2020) is an Act of the National Assembly for Wales that was given royal assent on 15 January 2020. It was first detailed in February 2019 by way of an Ex ...
, the Assembly was renamed (in English formally "Welsh Parliament"), and elections from 2021 elect Members of the Senedd
A Member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; cy, Aelodau o'r Senedd; , plural:) (AS)., group=la is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd ...
(MSs).
Elections use the Additional Member System, which is a hybrid of single member plurality
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...
and proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
.
* 1999 National Assembly for Wales election
The first National Assembly for Wales elections were held on 6 May 1999. The overall turnout of voters was 46.3%. Although Welsh Labour were the biggest party, they did not gain enough seats to form a majority government and instead entered int ...
* 2003 National Assembly for Wales election
3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...
* 2007 National Assembly for Wales election
The 2007 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Senedd, National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, as well as the ...
* 2011 National Assembly for Wales election
Eleven or 11 may refer to:
*11 (number), the natural number following 10 and preceding 12
* one of the years 11 BC, AD 11, 1911, 2011, or any year ending in 11
Literature
* ''Eleven'' (novel), a 2006 novel by British author David Llewellyn
*'' ...
* 2016 National Assembly for Wales election
Sixteen or 16 may refer to:
*16 (number), the natural number following 15 and preceding 17
*one of the years 16 BC, AD 16, 1916, 2016
Films
* '' Pathinaaru'' or ''Sixteen'', a 2010 Tamil film
* ''Sixteen'' (1943 film), a 1943 Argentine film ...
* 2021 Senedd election
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
Northern Ireland Assembly elections
Northern Ireland Assembly
sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie
, legislature = Seventh Assembly
, coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg
, coa_res = 250px
, house_type = Unicameral
, house1 =
, leader1_type = S ...
elections occur every five (formally four) years on the first Thursday in May. They began in 1998, when the assembly created by the Northern Ireland Act 1998
__NOTOC__
The Northern Ireland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which allowed Westminster to devolve power to Northern Ireland, after decades of direct rule.
It renamed the New Northern Ireland Assembly, established by ...
began its first session. For elections to the Northern Ireland Assembly, the Single Transferable Vote system
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
, is used. Under this system, voters rank individual candidates in order of preference. STV was chosen as the electoral method to attempt to give adequate representation to the different sectarian
Sectarianism is a political or cultural conflict between two groups which are often related to the form of government which they live under. Prejudice, discrimination, or hatred can arise in these conflicts, depending on the political status quo ...
groups in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
. Elections continued even when the assembly was suspended between 2002 and 2007.
* 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election
The 1998 Northern Ireland Assembly election took place on Thursday, 25 June 1998. This was the first election to the new devolved Northern Ireland Assembly. Six members from each of Northern Ireland's eighteen Westminster Parliamentary constit ...
* 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election
The 2003 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday, 26 November 2003, after being suspended for just over a year. It was the second election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. Each of Northern Irela ...
* 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election
The 2007 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Wednesday, 7 March 2007. It was the third election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. The election saw endorsement of the St Andrews Agreement and the two l ...
* 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election
* 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election
The 2016 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2016. It was the fifth election to take place since the devolved assembly was established in 1998. 1,281,595 individuals were registered to vote in the election (representing ...
* 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election
The 2017 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on Thursday, 2 March 2017. The election was held to elect members (Member of the Legislative Assembly (Northern Ireland), MLAs) following the resignation of First Minister and deputy First Min ...
* 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election
The 2022 Northern Ireland Assembly election was held on 5 May 2022. It elected 90 members to the Northern Ireland Assembly. It was the seventh assembly election since the establishment of the assembly in 1998. The election was held three months ...
Regional and local elections
In local elections, councillors are elected forming the local administrations of the United Kingdom. A number of tiers of local council exist, at region
In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...
, county
A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...
, district/borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
and town/parish
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
levels. A variety of voting systems are used for local elections. In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
and Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, the single transferable vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
system is used, whilst in most of England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
and Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
the single member plurality system
Plurality voting refers to electoral systems in which a candidate, or candidates, who poll more than any other counterpart (that is, receive a plurality), are elected. In systems based on single-member districts, it elects just one member per ...
is used. The remainder of England (including all of the London Boroughs
The London boroughs are the 32 local authority districts that together with the City of London make up the administrative area of Greater London; each is governed by a London borough council. The present London boroughs were all created at t ...
) and Wales use the plurality at-large
The multiple non-transferable vote (MNTV) is a group of voting system, in which voters elect several representatives at once, with each voter having more than one vote. MNTV uses multi-member electoral districts or only one district, which contai ...
system, except for the elections of the Mayor and Assembly of the Greater London Authority
The Greater London Authority (GLA), colloquially known by the metonym "City Hall", is the devolved regional governance body of Greater London. It consists of two political branches: the executive Mayoralty (currently led by Sadiq Khan) and the ...
(GLA).
The only Region of England which has a directly elected administration is London. London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
elections began in 2000, when it was created. The Additional Member System is used for elections to the Assembly. The Mayor is elected via the Supplementary Vote system.
Local elections are held in different parts of the country each year. In general, local elections are held on the first Thursday in May. In years with a general election
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
it is usual practice to hold both general and local elections on the same day. In 2004, for the first time, local elections were held on the same day as European elections
Elections to the European Parliament take place every five years by universal adult suffrage; with more than 400 million people eligible to vote, they are considered the second largest democratic elections in the world after India's.
Until ...
, and London Mayoral and Assembly
Assembly may refer to:
Organisations and meetings
* Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions
* General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...
elections. The date was referred to as ' Super Thursday'. This was repeated in 2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...
where elections scheduled for 2020 were postponed to 2021, leading to English local elections, England and Wales crime commissioner elections, the Scottish Parliament election
Scotland has elections to several bodies: the Scottish Parliament, the United Kingdom Parliament, local councils and community councils. Before the United Kingdom left the European Union, Scotland elected members to the European Parliament.
...
, the Senedd election, a UK parliament by-election, and mayoral elections (such as the London mayoral election or Greater Manchester mayoral election) were all held on 6 May 2021 and also dubbed as a 'Super Thursday'.
Unlike general elections, for local elections there is no legal requirement as to when the count should begin after the close of poll. For this reason, some returning officers have decided to store the sealed ballot boxes overnight at the central counting location and begin the count the next working day. However, once the count has started, the returning officer
In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies.
Australia
In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...
must, so far as practicable, proceed continuously with the count between the hours of 9am and 7pm (subject to refreshments). Ballot papers are verified manually and counted by hand (with the exception of London Mayoral and Assembly elections, where optical scanners are used).
Police and crime commissioners
From 2012, England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
and Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
have voted for regional police and crime commissioners.
History
Before the creation of the United Kingdom
In the Kingdom of England
The Kingdom of England (, ) was a sovereign state on the island of Great Britain from 12 July 927, when it emerged from various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, until 1 May 1707, when it united with Scotland to form the Kingdom of Great Britain.
On 1 ...
(of which Wales was incorporated into from 1542), a small fraction of the adult male population were able to vote in parliamentary elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
that occurred at irregular intervals to the Parliament of England
The Parliament of England was the legislature of the Kingdom of England from the 13th century until 1707 when it was replaced by the Parliament of Great Britain. Parliament evolved from the great council of bishops and peers that advised t ...
since 1265. From 1432 only forty-shilling freeholders
Forty-shilling freeholders were those who had the parliamentary franchise to vote by virtue of possessing freehold property, or lands held directly of the king, of an annual rent of at least forty shillings (i.e. £2 or 3 marks), clear of all c ...
held the parliamentary franchise. The franchise for the Parliament of Scotland
The Parliament of Scotland ( sco, Pairlament o Scotland; gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) was the legislature of the Kingdom of Scotland from the 13th century until 1707. The parliament evolved during the early 13th century from the king's council o ...
developed separately but, again, involving just a small proportion of the adult population. The Bill of Rights 1689
The Bill of Rights 1689 is an Act of the Parliament of England, which sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown, and is seen as a crucial landmark in English constitutional law. It received Royal ...
in England and Claim of Right Act 1689
The Claim of Right (c. 28) is an Act passed by the Convention of the Estates, a sister body to the Parliament of Scotland (or Three Estates), in April 1689. It is one of the key documents of United Kingdom constitutional law and Scottish const ...
in Scotland established the principles of regular parliaments and free elections, but no significant changes to the electoral franchise had taken place by the time the United Kingdom had come into being.
Similarly, the history of local government in England
The history of local government in England is one of gradual change and evolution since the Middle Ages. England has never possessed a formal written constitution, with the result that modern administration (and the judicial system) is based on ...
stretches over the same period with the election of town mayors and the development of town councils taking place since the Middle Ages. Local government in Scotland and in Wales evolved separately.
Expansion of the franchise
Although the institutions implemented after Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution; gd, Rèabhlaid Ghlòrmhor; cy, Chwyldro Gogoneddus , also known as the ''Glorieuze Overtocht'' or ''Glorious Crossing'' in the Netherlands, is the sequence of events leading to the deposition of King James II and ...
were successful in restraining the government and ensuring protection for property rights, the first Act to increase the size of the electorate was the Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament, Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major chan ...
(sometimes known as the Great Reform Act). It abolished 56 rotten borough
A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...
s (which had elected 112 MPs) and decreased the property qualification in boroughs. It gave some parliamentary representation to the industrial towns (142 MPs) by redistributing some MPs from boroughs who had disproportional representation. The electoral register was created. The overall result of the Act was that the electorate was increased to 14% of the adult male population. Although this was not a large increase, the Act was the first big step towards equal representation.
Between 1838 and 1848 a popular movement, Chartism
Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...
, organised around six demands including universal male franchise and the secret ballot. The Reform Act 1867
The Representation of the People Act 1867, 30 & 31 Vict. c. 102 (known as the Reform Act 1867 or the Second Reform Act) was a piece of British legislation that enfranchised part of the urban male working class in England and Wales for the first ...
redistributed more MPs from boroughs which had disproportional representation (42) to London and industrial towns. It decreased the property qualification in boroughs, so that all men with an address in boroughs could vote. For the first time some of the working class could vote and MPs had to take these new constituents into account. Some political parties decided to become national parties. Overall, the Act increased the size of the electorate to 32% of the adult male population.
The Ballot Act 1872
The Ballot Act 1872 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that introduced the requirement for parliamentary and local government elections in the United Kingdom to be held by secret ballot. The act abolished the traditional hustings ...
replaced open elections with a secret ballot system. The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883
The Corrupt and Illegal Practices Prevention Act 1883 (46 & 47 Vict c. 51) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was a continuation of policy to make voters free from the intimidation of landowners a ...
criminalised attempts to bribe voters and standardised the amount that could be spent on election expenses
Campaign finance, also known as election finance or political donations, refers to the funds raised to promote candidates, Political party, political parties, or policy initiatives and referendums. Political parties, charitable organizations, a ...
. The Representation of the People Act 1884
In the United Kingdom under the premiership of William Gladstone, the Representation of the People Act 1884 (48 & 49 Vict. c. 3, also known informally as the Third Reform Act) and the Redistribution Act of the following year were laws which ...
(the Third Reform Act) and the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885
The Redistribution of Seats Act 1885 (48 & 49 Vict., c. 23) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was a piece of electoral reform legislation that redistributed the seats in the House of Commons, introducing the concept of equal ...
together increased the electorate to 56% of the adult male population.
From the birth of the United Kingdom, the franchise had been restricted to males by custom rather than statute; on rare occasions women had been able to vote in parliamentary elections as a result of property ownership until the 1832 Great Reform Act, and the Municipal Corporations Act 1835
The Municipal Corporations Act 1835 (5 & 6 Will 4 c 76), sometimes known as the Municipal Reform Act, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in the incorporated boroughs of England and Wales. The legisl ...
for local government elections, specified voters as "male persons". In local elections, unmarried women ratepayer
Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government. Some other countries have taxes with a more or less comparable role ...
s received the right to vote in the Municipal Franchise Act 1869. This right was confirmed in the Local Government Act 1894
The Local Government Act 1894 (56 & 57 Vict. c. 73) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed local government in England and Wales outside the County of London. The Act followed the reforms carried out at county level un ...
and extended to include some married women. By 1900, more than 1 million women were registered to vote in local government elections in England.
20th century
The Representation of the People Act 1918
The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, al ...
expanded the electorate to include all men over the age of 21 and most women over the age of 30. Later that year, the Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918
The Parliament (Qualification of Women) Act 1918 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as a Member of Parliament.
At 27 words, it is the shortest UK statute.
Background
The R ...
gave women over 21 the right to stand for election as MPs. The first woman to become an MP was Constance Markievicz
Constance Georgine Markievicz ( pl, Markiewicz ; ' Gore-Booth; 4 February 1868 – 15 July 1927), also known as Countess Markievicz and Madame Markievicz, was an Irish politician, revolutionary, nationalist, suffragist, socialist, and the fir ...
in 1918. However she declined to take up her seat, being a member of Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...
. Nancy Astor
Nancy Witcher Langhorne Astor, Viscountess Astor, (19 May 1879 – 2 May 1964) was an American-born British politician who was the first woman seated as a Member of Parliament (MP), serving from 1919 to 1945.
Astor's first husband was America ...
, elected in 1919, was the second woman to become an MP, and the first to sit in the Commons. The Equal Franchise Act 1928
The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This act expanded on the Representation of the People Act 1918 which had given some women the vote in Parliamentary elections for the ...
lowered the minimum age for women to vote from 30 to 21, making men and women equal in terms of suffrage for the first time. The Representation of the People Act 1949
The Representation of the People Act 1949 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act consolidated previous electoral law, but also made some changes to administration. Representation of the People amendments followed in 1969, 19 ...
abolished additional votes for graduates (university constituencies
A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents the members of one or more universities rather than residents of a geographical area. These may or may not involve plural voting, in which voters ar ...
) and the owners of business premises. However, as late as in 1968, only ratepayers
Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government. Some other countries have taxes with a more or less comparable role ...
were allowed to vote in local elections in Northern Ireland, leading to disenfranchisement and misrepresentation of the communities in the council and to the events that created Free Derry
Free Derry ( ga, Saor Dhoire) was a self-declared autonomous Irish nationalist area of Derry, Northern Ireland, that existed between 1969 and 1972, during the Troubles. It emerged during the Northern Ireland civil rights movement, which sought ...
.
The Representation of the People Act 1969
The Representation of the People Act 1969 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This statute is sometimes known as the Sixth Reform Act.
The Act lowered the voting age to 18. The United Kingdom was the first major democratic country ...
lowered the voting age from 21 to 18. The Representation of the People Act 1985
The Representation of the People Act 1985 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning British electoral law.
The Act allows British citizens who are resident outside the United Kingdom to qualify as "overseas electors" in the con ...
gave British citizens abroad the right to vote for a five-year period after they had left the United Kingdom. The Representation of the People Act 1989
The Representation of the People Act 1989 (c. 28) is an act by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.
It extended the time that a British citizen could have lived abroad and still vote from 5 years to 20 years, and extended this right to people who ...
extended the period to 20 years; and citizens who were too young to vote when they left the country also became eligible.
Summary
The following table summarises historic developments in extending the franchise in England and later the UK (after 1707). At each stage, it shows the percentage of the adult population entitled to vote and the voting age, separately for males and females.
Labour (1997–2010) reforms
Prior to 1997, and the Labour Party government of Tony Blair
Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...
, there were only three types of elections: elections to the House of Commons, local government elections, and elections to the European Parliament. Most elections were conducted under the First Past the Post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
(FPTP) electoral system. In Northern Ireland, both local government and European elections were conducted under the Single Transferable Vote
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
(STV) system. Labour's constitutional reforms introduced elected assemblies for London, Scotland and Wales, and elected mayors in certain cities. Proportional Representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
(PR) was introduced outside Northern Ireland for the first time.
The hybrid (part PR, part FPTP) Additional Member System was introduced in 1999 for the newly created devolved parliament and assemblies: the Scottish Parliament
The Scottish Parliament ( gd, Pàrlamaid na h-Alba ; sco, Scots Pairlament) is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. Located in the Holyrood area of the capital city, Edinburgh, it is frequently referred to by the metonym Holyr ...
, Welsh Assembly
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gove ...
and London Assembly
The London Assembly is a 25-member elected body, part of the Greater London Authority, that scrutinises the activities of the Mayor of London and has the power, with a two-thirds super-majority, to amend the Mayor's annual budget and to reject ...
and STV was used for the newly created Northern Ireland Assembly
sco-ulster, Norlin Airlan Assemblie
, legislature = Seventh Assembly
, coa_pic = File:NI_Assembly.svg
, coa_res = 250px
, house_type = Unicameral
, house1 =
, leader1_type = S ...
. The regional party list
An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...
(Closed list
Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively only vote for political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some inf ...
) system was introduced for European elections in Great Britain (which had previously used single member constituency FPTP) though Northern Ireland continues to use STV.
Labour passed the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000
The Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000 (c. 41) is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom that sets out how political parties, elections and referendums are to be regulated in the United Kingdom. It formed an important par ...
, which created the Electoral Commission
An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...
, which since 2000 has been responsible for the running of elections and referendums and to a limited extent regulating party funding. It also reduced the period during which British expatriates can vote, from 20 years after they emigrate to 15.
In 2006 the age of candidacy
Age of candidacy is the minimum age at which a person can legally hold certain elected government offices. In many cases, it also determines the age at which a person may be eligible to stand for an election or be granted ballot access.
The firs ...
for public elections in the UK was reduced from 21 to 18 with the passing of the Electoral Administration Act 2006
The Electoral Administration Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed on 11 July 2006.
Among its main provisions, the Act:
* Provides a legislative framework for setting up a "Coordinated Online Record of Electors", kn ...
.
In 2008 the Ministry of Justice delivered a report that failed to conclusively recommend any particular voting system as "best" and instead simply compared working practices used in the different elections. The Minister of State for Justice, Ministry of Justice (Michael Wills
Michael David Wills, Baron Wills (born 20 May 1952) is a British politician and life peer who served as Minister of State for Justice from 2007 to 2010. A member of the Labour Party, he was Member of Parliament (MP) for Swindon North from 199 ...
) issued a statement following its publication stating that no action would be taken on the various reports that, since 1997, have suggested a move towards proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
for the UK general election
This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, ...
until reform of the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
is completed.
Labour also made many changes to the election administration underpinning the way that elections are run. Changes included postal voting on demand, rolling registration and some innovative pilots such as internet voting.
European Parliament elections (1979–2020)
As a former member state of the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
and its predecessor the European Communities
The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...
between 1973 and 2020, the United Kingdom elected Members of the European Parliament (MEP's) from 1979 until 2020 with elections being held once every five years. These were the only national elections other than general elections that were held across the United Kingdom. MEP elections differed from general elections in two major ways, the first being that EU citizens
European Union citizenship is afforded to all citizens of member states of the European Union (EU). It was formally created with the adoption of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, at the same time as the creation of the EU. EU citizenship is additio ...
from outside Ireland, Malta and Cyprus were eligible to vote and the second that it used forms of proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
as the main electoral voting systems.
Elections to the European Parliament
The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...
took place from 1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
, the first year in which the parliament was directly elected. From 1973 to 1979, members were elected by national parliaments.
From the 1999 election, Members of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Commu ...
were elected by a closed-list party list system method of proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
, calculated using the D'Hondt method
The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is a method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in party-list proportional representation systems. It belongs to the class of highest- ...
in Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
(England, Scotland and Wales). In Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
the Single Transferable Vote system
Single transferable vote (STV) is a multi-winner electoral system in which voters cast a single vote in the form of a ranked-choice ballot. Voters have the option to rank candidates, and their vote may be transferred according to alternate p ...
was used from 1979
Events
January
* January 1
** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the ''International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the ''Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the song ...
onwards.
The use of proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
has significantly increased the representation of minor parties. Until the 1999 election, the First Past the Post system was used, which had prevented parties with moderately large, but geographically spread out vote shares from receiving any seats. For example, in the 1989 election the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
received 2,292,718 votes, constituting a 15% vote share, but no seats. The European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999
The European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999 (c.1) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act amended the procedures on European elections in the United Kingdom. It received Royal Assent on 14 January 1999, after the Parliame ...
changed the system in time for the 1999 election.
From 1979 to 1989, the United Kingdom had 81 MEPs (78 in England, Wales and Scotland, 3 in Northern Ireland). The European Parliamentary Elections Act 1993 increased the number to 87, adding five more seats in England and one more in Wales. The number was reduced to 78 for the 2004 election, and to 72 for the 2009 election, but increased to 73 during the term of the 2009–2014 parliament. The UK's representation in Europe remained at this level for both the 2014
File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...
and 2019
File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
elections.
On 31 January 2020 the United Kingdom left the European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...
after 47 years of membership and under the provisions of the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018
The European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 (also known as the Great Repeal Act) is an Act of Parliament, Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that provides both for repeal of the European Communities Act 1972 (UK), European Communities A ...
all legislation for the provision of the holding of European elections and the position of Member of the European Parliament was repealed.
Former distribution of UK seats to European Parliament
The United Kingdom was divided into twelve electoral regions, which were the three smaller nations (Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, Wales
Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...
), and the nine regions of England
The regions, formerly known as the government office regions, are the highest tier of sub-national division in England, established in 1994. Between 1994 and 2011, nine regions had officially devolved functions within government. While they no ...
with the 73 UK seats being divided up between these regions. The number of seats that each region is allocated was determined by the Electoral Commission based on population. The last revision of the seat allocation for the regions took place in 2011 when the West Midlands gained an extra seat.
The following contains the regional distribution of the seats as it was for the 2019 election.
1 Includes Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
, the only British overseas territory
The British Overseas Territories (BOTs), also known as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs), are fourteen dependent territory, territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom. They are the last remna ...
which was part of the European Union.
Reforms post-devolution in Scotland
Using powers granted by devolution, the Scottish Parliament has on two occasions broadened the franchise for elections under its control, namely Scottish Parliament elections and Scottish local authority elections.
Using powers granted by the Scotland Act 2012
The Scotland Act 2012 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out amendments to the Scotland Act 1998, with the aim of devolving further powers to Scotland in accordance with the recommendations of the Calman Commission. It ...
, in 2015 the Scottish Parliament unanimously passed a bill to lower the minimum voting age from 18 to 16. Prior to that, the Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013
The Scottish Independence Referendum Act 2013 is an Act of the Scottish Parliament, which was passed on 14 November 2013 and came into force on 18 December. Together with the Scottish Independence Referendum (Franchise) Act 2013, it enabled th ...
had likewise allowed 16- and 17-year-olds to vote in the Scottish independence referendum, 2014.
Using powers granted by the Scotland Act 2016
The Scotland Act 2016 (c. 11) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sets out amendments to the Scotland Act 1998 and devolves further powers to Scotland. The legislation is based on recommendations given by the report of the Smi ...
, in 2020 the Scottish Parliament passed by a greater than two-thirds majority (required under the Act) a bill to extend the right to vote to all foreign nationals with leave to remain (limited or indefinite), and to allow those with indefinite leave to remain
Indefinite leave to remain (ILR) or permanent residency (PR) is an immigration status granted to a person who does not hold the right of abode in the United Kingdom (UK), but who has been admitted to the UK without any time limit on their stay a ...
or pre-settled status
The European Union Settlement Scheme (the EU Settlement Scheme or EUSS) is an immigration regime of the United Kingdom introduced by the Home Office in 2019, under the new Appendix EU of the UK's Immigration Rules, in response to the Brexit si ...
to stand as candidates.
Reforms post-devolution in Wales
The voting age in Wales for elections to the Senedd
The Senedd (; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees certain taxes and scrutinises the Welsh Gov ...
(Wales' devloved Parliament, also called the Welsh Parliament in English) was lowered from 18-years-old to 16-years-old with the passing of the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020
The Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 (anaw 1) ( cy, Deddf Senedd ac Etholiadau (Cymru) 2020) is an Act of the National Assembly for Wales that was given royal assent on 15 January 2020. It was first detailed in February 2019 by way of an Ex ...
in November 2019, before receiving Royal Assent on 15 January 2020, making it official law. The Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill passed its final stage in the Senedd in November 2020 and was given Royal Assent on 20 January 2021, lowering the voting age from 18 to 16 years old for local elections in Wales. Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) elections are a reserved matter, meaning it is not within the Senedd/Welsh Parliament's power to lower the voting age for these elections but held by Parliament of the United Kingdom, of which the voting age remains 18. In summary, only PCC and UK Parliament elections in Wales retain a voting age of 18, while local elections in Wales and Senadd elections both have a voting age of 16.
Current issues
Electoral reform
Proportional representation
There are British political parties, campaign groups and campaigners that have long argued that the current first-past-the-post
In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...
voting system used for Parliamentary elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
should be replaced with a proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...
electoral system
An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and Referendum, referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political ...
. The introduction of proportional representation has been advocated for some time by the Liberal Democrats and the Green Party of England and Wales, and by some pressure groups such as Charter 88
Charter 88 was a British pressure group that advocated constitutional and electoral reform and owes its origins to the lack of a written constitution. It began as a special edition of the ''New Statesman'' magazine in 1988 and it took its name ...
, Unlock Democracy
Unlock Democracy is a British pressure group, based in London. The organisation campaigns for a more participatory democracy in Britain, founded upon a written constitution. Unlock Democracy works to promote democratic reform across the politica ...
and the Electoral Reform Society
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...
. In 1998 and 2003 independent commissions were formed to look into electoral reform
Electoral reform is a change in electoral systems which alters how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:
* Voting systems, such as proportional representation, a two-round system (runoff voting), instant-ru ...
. After the 2005 election, in which Labour was elected with the lowest share of the national vote for any single party majority government in British history, more public attention was drawn to the issue. The national newspaper ''The Independent
''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'' started a petition for the introduction of a more proportional system immediately after the election, under the title "Campaign For Democracy".
After the UK 2010 general election
The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom unde ...
, the new coalition government agreed to hold a referendum on voting reform. United Kingdom Alternative Vote referendum took place on 5 May 2011: voters were given the choice of switching to the Instant-runoff Vote system or retaining the current one. The country voted against AV, with 32% in favour and 68% against.
In 2015, the non-profit venture Make Votes Matter
Make Votes Matter is a political pressure group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns for replacing the first-past-the-post voting system with one of proportional representation for elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...
was formed to campaign for proportional representation. It makes the point that some 68 per cent of votes were ineffective and hence 'wasted' in the UK general election of 2015.
A 2015 poll found that 57% of the public agree with the principle that "the number of seats a party gets should broadly reflect its proportion of the total votes cast" – compared to only 9% who disagree. The poll, which was scientifically weighted, also found that 51% of the population said they were "unhappy with the current electoral system and want it to change" compared to only 28% who want to keep first-past-the-post (FPTP).
A Redfield and Wilton poll conducted in July 2020 showed 54% of respondents supported switching to a Proportional Representation system, with 16% opposed. Results from a YouGov
YouGov is a British international Internet-based market research and data analytics firm, headquartered in the UK, with operations in Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. In 2007, it acquired US company Polimetrix, and sinc ...
poll of 1,799 adults in Great Britain
Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
, conducted on 29 August 2022, placed those supporting proportional representation at 46%, don't know at 28%, and those supporting first-past-the-post at 26%.
Parliamentary and party positions
After its inaugural meeting on 29 November 2016 and until September 2017, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Electoral Reform was a cross-party group consisting of 150 MPs who support electoral reform, chaired by Richard Burden
Richard Haines Burden (born 1 September 1954) is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Birmingham Northfield from 1992 to 2019. He served as a Shadow Transport Minister from 2013 to 2016 and again from 2016 ...
and latterly Chuka Umunna
Chuka Harrison Umunna (; born 17 October 1978) is a British retired politician who served as Member of Parliament (UK), Member of Parliament (MP) for Streatham (UK Parliament constituency), Streatham from 2010 United Kingdom general election, ...
.
Labour pledged in its manifesto for the 1997 general election to set up a commission on alternatives to the first-past-the-post system for general elections and to hold a referendum on whether to change the system. The Independent Commission on the Voting System, headed by Lord Jenkins of Hillhead and known as the Jenkins Commission, was established in December 1997. It reported in October 1998 and suggested the Alternative vote top-up
The alternative vote plus (AV+), or alternative vote top-up, is a semi-proportional voting system. AV+ was devised by the 1998 Jenkins Commission which first proposed the idea as a system that could be used for elections to the Parliament of ...
or AV+ system.
The government had expected a recommendation which could have been implemented within the Parliament, and decided that it would be impractical to have a general election using First Past the Post (FPTP) after a referendum decision to adopt a different system, and therefore delayed the referendum until after the next general election. Those elements within the Labour Party opposed to any change persuaded the party not to repeat the pledge for a referendum in the 2001 manifesto, and therefore none was held once the party was re-elected.
After the 2005 election, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer said there was "no groundswell" for change, although a Cabinet committee was given the task of investigating reform. John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott (born 31 May 1938) is a British politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and as First Secretary of State from 2001 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, he w ...
was appointed as chair; given his known opposition to change, proponents were critical and dismissive of the move. Several prominent Labour MPs expressed a desire for investigating electoral reform, including Peter Hain
Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of State ...
(who argued in the House of Commons in March 2004 for the Alternative Vote
Instant-runoff voting (IRV) is a type of Ranked voting, ranked preferential Electoral system, voting method. It uses a Majority rule, majority voting rule in single-winner elections where there are more than two candidates. It is commonly referr ...
), Patricia Hewitt
Patricia Hope Hewitt (born 2 December 1948) is an Australian-born British government adviser and former politician who served as Secretary of State for Health from 2005 to 2007. A member of the Labour Party, she previously served as Secretar ...
, Tessa Jowell
Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, (; 18 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Dulwich and West Norwood, previously Dulwich, from 199 ...
and Baroness Amos
Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...
.
As mentioned above, in January 2008 the government produced a "desk-bound" review of the experience to date of new voting systems in the United Kingdom since Labour came to power in 1997. This review was non-committal as to the need for further reform, especially as regards reform of the voting system used in Parliamentary Elections
A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...
.
The Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
in the 2005–2010 parliament were predominantly in favour of retaining FPTP. Although the Conservative Party would have won significantly more seats in the 2005 election if some form of proportional representation had been used, some in the party felt it might find itself politically isolated on the right
Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of Liberty, freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convent ...
, and face Labour/Lib Dem coalition governments. Electoral reform, towards a proportional model, was desired by the Liberal Democrats, the Green party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
, and several other small parties.
The Liberal Democrats, Green Party of England and Wales, Scottish National Party, and the Brexit Party
Reform UK is a Right-wing populism, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded with support from Nigel Farage in November 2018 as the Brexit Party, advocating hard Euroscepticism and a no-deal Brexit, and was bri ...
have all "signed a declaration calling for the first-past-the-post method for Westminster elections to be replaced by a proportional system".
Proposed reversal to first-past-the-post system in some English and Welsh elections
In 2021, the Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
government proposed that the voting system for English mayoral and English and Welsh Police and Crime Commissioner elections be reverted to the first-past-the-post system. These elections currently use the supplementary vote system in which the winner requires at least 50%+1 of the votes after preferences to win. The proposed move was heavily criticised by other parties, which said the Tories "demonstrated their breathtaking arrogance and their utter disdain for devolution
Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territories h ...
". The Electoral Reform Society
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...
said the government was seeking to return to "a discredited, outdated and broken voting system".
Low turnout
As in many Western democracies, voter apathy
In political science, voter apathy is a lack of interest among voters in the elections of representative democracies. Voter apathy or lack of interest is often cited as a cause of low turnout among eligible voters in jurisdictions where vo ...
is a current concern, after a dramatic decline in election turnout around the end of the 20th century. Turnout in UK General Elections fell from 77% in 1992
File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
, and 71% in 1997
File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...
, to a historic low of 59% in 2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
. It has, however, increased since, to 61% in 2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...
, 65% in 2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
, 66% in 2015
File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
and 69% in 2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...
. In other elections turnout trends have been more varied. At the referendum on Scottish independence
A referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was, "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or "No". The "No" side w ...
in 2014, turnout exceeded 84.5% - the highest in a large-scale poll since the introduction of universal suffrage - and some local authorities recorded turnouts of over 90%. Conversely, the Police and Crime Commissioner elections
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state, with the aim to enforce the law, to ensure the safety, health and possessions of citizens, and to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their lawful powers include arrest and th ...
in November 2012 saw a record low turnout of just 15%, and the Parliamentary by-election in Manchester Central also had a record low peacetime by-election turnout of 18%. Parliamentary by-election turnout is usually around 30-50%, while local government elections typically see turnouts of around 30% when they are not held alongside higher profile contests such as General or European elections.
See also
*British Polling Council
The British Polling Council (BPC) is an association of market research companies whose opinion polls are regularly published or broadcast in media in the United Kingdom.
The BPC was established in 2004, twelve years after the perceived failure ...
*Electoral register
An electoral roll (variously called an electoral register, voters roll, poll book or other description) is a compilation that lists persons who are entitled to vote for particular elections in a particular jurisdiction. The list is usually broke ...
*Electoral calendar
This national electoral calendar for 2022 lists the national/federal elections held in 2022 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included.
January
* 16 January: Se ...
*Election Day (United Kingdom)
Election Day in the United Kingdom is by tradition a Thursday. Polls in the United Kingdom open at 7:00 and close at 22:00.
General elections
It has been suggested that this tradition arose as the best of several circumstances: Friday pay-packets ...
*Electoral system
An electoral system or voting system is a set of rules that determine how elections and Referendum, referendums are conducted and how their results are determined. Electoral systems are used in politics to elect governments, while non-political ...
*Election agent
An election agent in elections in the United Kingdom, as well as some other similar political systems such as elections in India, is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is ...
**Polling agent
In elections in the United Kingdom, Singapore and Malaysia, a polling agent is someone appointed by either the election agent of a candidate standing for election, or where there is no election agent the candidate personally, to oversee conduct ...
**Counting agent
A counting agent is a type Electoral observer and may be self-nominated, appointed by either the candidate standing for election or the candidate's election agent to oversee the counting at the election count. In the United Kingdom there is no ...
*List of United Kingdom general elections
This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland ...
(for election results)
*United Kingdom national and local elections
Scotland
* Scottish Parliament elections
**1999 Scottish Parliament election
** 2003 Scottish Parliament election
** 2007 Scottish Parliament election
**2011 Scottish Parliament election
** 2016 Scottish Parliament election
**2021 Scottish Parlia ...
*List of UK by-elections
The list of by-elections in the United Kingdom is divided chronologically by parliament:
Parliament of the United Kingdom
*List of United Kingdom by-elections (1801–1806)
* List of United Kingdom by-elections (1806–1818)
* List of United King ...
(for by-election results)
* List of UK parliamentary election petitions
*Referendums in the United Kingdom
Referendums in the United Kingdom are occasionally held at a national, regional or local level. Historically, national referendums are rare due to the long-standing principle of parliamentary sovereignty. There is no constitutional requirement t ...
*Political campaign
A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referend ...
ing on election practicalities.
* Historical anomalies of the British electoral system
** University constituency
A university constituency is a constituency, used in elections to a legislature, that represents the members of one or more universities rather than residents of a geographical area. These may or may not involve plural voting, in which voters ar ...
** Rotten borough
A rotten or pocket borough, also known as a nomination borough or proprietorial borough, was a parliamentary borough or constituency in England, Great Britain, or the United Kingdom before the Reform Act 1832, which had a very small electorat ...
* Marginal constituencies in the United Kingdom
*Electoral Administration Act 2006
The Electoral Administration Act 2006 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed on 11 July 2006.
Among its main provisions, the Act:
* Provides a legislative framework for setting up a "Coordinated Online Record of Electors", kn ...
*Electoral Reform Society
The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an independent campaigning organisation based in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the single t ...
* Electoral Commission
*Parliament Week
UK Parliament Week, previously called Parliament Week, is an annual series of events in the United Kingdom that aim to inspire interest in parliament, politics and democracy and encourage young people and the public to engage with the UK’s demo ...
*United Kingdom Election Results
''United Kingdom Election Results'' is a website and e-book written by David Boothroyd, published in 1994. Boothroyd also wrote ''The History of British Political Parties'', published in 2001. The website includes material about elections in t ...
*Women's suffrage in the United Kingdom
A movement to fight for women's right to vote in the United Kingdom finally succeeded through acts of Parliament in 1918 and 1928. It became a national movement in the Victorian era. Women were not explicitly banned from voting in Great Britai ...
References
External links
British Election Campaign Material from the University of Salford site
* ttp://www.nsd.uib.no/european_election_database/country/uk/ NSD: European Election Database - UK
Adam Carr's Election Archive
The Electoral Commission
Statutory organisation that regulates electoral practices
*Make My Vote Count
Guardian Special Report - Electoral Reform
*
Elections and voting
UK Parliament website
UK Parliament website
Voting systems in the UK
House of Commons Library Note
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elections In The United Kingdom