When is the next UK general election? Voters attend polls in 2024
Millions of Britons are voting on Thursday (July 4) after polling booths opened at 7am.
Prime Minister and Conservative leader Rishi Sunak was the first of the party leaders to vote — attending his Richmond and Northallerton constituency not long after doors opened.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer is expected to arrive at his Holborn and St Pancras polling booth around 9.30am.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey and Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer are set to come for their respective votes one hour later.
You can follow our live election day blog here for the latest coverage.
Check out ‘how to vote on election day’ here.
For the first time, voters should ensure they have the correct photo identification before heading to a polling station.
This year is the first time in the UK that everybody wanting to vote in person in a general election must show ID before receiving a ballot paper.
You can also take your dog along but be sure to send us your best photos!
When is the next UK general election?
Today! Thursday, July 4 is when the UK is going to the polls.
Polls are open between 7am and 10pm.
When was the last UK general election?
The last general election was on December 12, 2019, when the Conservative Party — led by Boris Johnson — won an 80-seat majority.
Before that, the Conservative Party won both the 2015 and 2017 elections.
In 2010, the Tories were the largest party in a power-sharing agreement with the Liberal Democrats.
When can a UK general election be held?
The Government of the day can decide when to call a general election.
The Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022 revived the power of the monarch to dissolve Parliament, at the request of the prime minister of the day.
On March 24, 2022, the Government repealed the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act 2011, which had created five-year periods between elections and allowed earlier elections only in specific circumstances. The UK thus reverted to the previous situation, when the prime minister could ask the King to dissolve Parliament so a general election could be held.
When the act was repealed, the then-minister for the Cabinet Office, Michael Ellis, said: “The Fixed-Term Parliaments Act was not fit for purpose, causing constitutional chaos in 2019 and delaying the Government acting on people’s priorities.
“At critical moments, we must trust the British public’s good judgement. Elections give the public a voice, and it’s right that we return to a tried-and-tested system that allows them to take place when needed.”
Why is the UK general election on a Thursday?
There is no statutory requirement for parliamentary elections to be held on Thursdays; by law, they can be held on any weekday.
However, using Thursdays has become an election tradition. Since 1935 every general election has been held on a Thursday.
It was suggested that this would encourage more people to vote. It has been thought that elections on a Friday would have had lower turnouts given people’s desire to begin their weekends.
Saturday and Sunday were believed to have been ruled out given the need to pay extra for polling staff (typically local council employees) to work on weekends.
