2017 United Kingdom general election

United Kingdom general election, 2017

8 June 2017
All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Theresa May Leader Theresa May Jeremy Corbyn Party Conservative Labour Leader since 11 July 2016 12 September 2015 Leader's seat Maidenhead Islington North Last election 330 seats, 36.9% 232 seats, 30.4% Current seats 330 229 Seats needed 97   Leader Nicola Sturgeon Tim Farron Party SNP Liberal Democrats Leader since 14 November 2014 16 July 2015 Leader's seat Not contesting Westmorland and Lonsdale Last election 56 seats, 4.7% 8 seats, 7.9% Current seats 54 9 Seats needed N/A 317
Incumbent Prime Minister Theresa May Conservative

2005 election • MPs

2010 election • MPs

2015 election • MPs

2017 election • MPs

The United Kingdom general election of 2017 is scheduled to take place on 8 June 2017. Each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies can elect one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament.

In line with the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, an election had not been due until 7 May 2020, but a call for a snap election by Prime Minister Theresa May received the necessary two-thirds majority in a 522 to 13 vote in the House of Commons on 19 April 2017. The Conservative Party, which has governed since 2015, is defending a majority of 17 against the Labour Party, the official opposition. The third-largest party is the Scottish National Party, which won 56 of the 59 Scottish constituencies in 2015.

Negotiations following the UK's invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union in March 2017 are expected to dominate the election campaign.

Electoral system

See also: Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011

Each parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom elects one MP to the House of Commons using the "first past the post" system. If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government, with its leader as Prime Minister. If the election results in no single party having a majority, then there is a hung parliament. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition government.

The postponed Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, reducing the number of constituencies from 650 to 600, is due to report by 2018, one year after this general election. In 2016 each of the four parliamentary Boundary Commissions of the United Kingdom recommenced the review process.

No changes to boundaries were made prior to 2017, so candidates and polling can be compared directly with the results by constituency in 2015.

Voting eligibility

In order to vote in the general election, one must be:

• on the Electoral Register,
• aged 18 or over on polling day,
• a British citizen, a Commonwealth citizen (with leave to remain or not requiring it) or a citizen of the Republic of Ireland,
• a resident at an address in the UK (or a British citizen living abroad who has been registered to vote in the UK in the last 15 years), and
• not legally excluded from voting (for example a convicted person detained in prison or a mental hospital, or unlawfully at large if he/she would otherwise have been detained, or a person found guilty of certain corrupt or illegal practices).

Individuals must be registered to vote by midnight twelve working days before polling day (22 May 2017). Anyone who qualifies as an anonymous elector has until midnight on 31 May 2017 to register. A person who has two homes (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) may be able to register to vote at both addresses as long as they are not in the same electoral area, but can vote in only one constituency at the general election.

Date of the election

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 introduced fixed-term Parliaments to the United Kingdom, with elections scheduled every five years following the general election on 7 May 2015. This removed the power of the Prime Minister, using the royal prerogative, to dissolve Parliament before its five-year maximum length. The Act permits early dissolution if the House of Commons votes by a supermajority of two-thirds. Additionally, a vote of no confidence by a simple majority causes an early election if no new government can be formed within 14 days following the vote.

The referendum on EU membership resulted in a majority vote to leave the European Union. Many political commentators argued that it might be necessary to hold an early general election before negotiations began to leave the EU.

On 18 April 2017, the Prime Minister Theresa May announced she would seek an election on 8 June 2017. May had previously indicated she had no plan to call a snap election. A House of Commons motion to allow this was passed on 19 April, with 522 votes for and 13 against, a majority of 509, meeting the required two-thirds majority. The motion was supported by the Conservatives, Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens while the SNP abstained. Nine Labour MPs, one SDLP MP and three independents (Sylvia Hermon and two former SNP MPs, Natalie McGarry and Michelle Thomson) voted against the motion.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn supported the early election, as did Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron and the Greens. UKIP leader Paul Nuttall and First Minister of Wales Carwyn Jones criticised the timing of the election as opportunistic by May, motivated by the apparent weakness of the Labour Party in opposition.

Timetable

The key dates are:

Tuesday 18 April	Prime Minister Theresa May announced her intention to hold a snap election
Wednesday 19 April	MPs vote to dissolve Parliament
Thursday 27 April	Parliament prorogued
Tuesday 2 May	Dissolution of Parliament (the 56th) and 'short' campaigning officially begins
Thursday 4 May	Local elections (were already scheduled, are not part of the general election)
Thursday 11 May	Deadline for candidate nomination papers
Monday 22 May	Last day to register to vote
Tuesday 23 May	Last day to request a postal vote
Wednesday 31 May	Deadline for making an application for a proxy vote
Thursday 8 June	Polling Day

Parties and candidates

Most candidates are representatives of a political party, which must be registered with the Electoral Commission's Register of Political Parties. Candidates who do not belong to a registered party can use an "independent" label or no label at all. Parties in the tables below are sorted by their results in the 2015 general election.

Great Britain

The leader of the party commanding a majority of support in the House of Commons is the person who is called on by the Monarch to form a government as Prime Minister, while the leader of the largest party that is not in government becomes the Leader of the Opposition, with other parties also forming shadow ministerial teams. The leaders of the SNP and Plaid Cymru are not Members of Parliament, but instead members of their respective devolved legislatures, and so these parties have separate leaders in the House of Commons: Angus Robertson and Hywel Williams respectively.

Party/alliance		Party leader(s)	Leader since	Leader's seat	Last election
					%	Seats
width="1" bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Conservative Party	Theresa May	July 2016	Maidenhead	36.8%	330
bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour Party	Jeremy Corbyn	September 2015	Islington North	30.4%	232
bgcolor="Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color"|	Scottish National Party	Nicola Sturgeon	November 2014	None	4.7%	56
bgcolor="Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color"|	Liberal Democrats	Tim Farron	July 2015	Westmorland and Lonsdale	7.9%	8
bgcolor="Template:Plaid Cymru/meta/color"|	Plaid Cymru	Leanne Wood	March 2012	None	0.6%	3
bgcolor="Template:UK Independence Party/meta/color"|	UK Independence Party	Paul Nuttall	November 2016	None	12.7%	1
bgcolor="Template:Green Party of England and Wales/meta/color"|	Green Party of England and Wales	Caroline Lucas Jonathan Bartley	September 2016	Brighton Pavilion None	3.8%	1

The Conservative Party and Labour Party have been the two biggest parties since 1922, and have supplied all Prime Ministers since 1935. Both parties enter the election with different leaders since the 2015 election. David Cameron, who had been the leader of the Conservative Party since 2005 and Prime Minister since 2010, was replaced in July 2016 by Theresa May following the referendum on the United Kingdom's membership of the European Union. Jeremy Corbyn replaced Ed Miliband as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition in September 2015 and was re-elected leader in September 2016.

While the Liberal Democrats and their predecessors had long been the third-largest party in British politics, they returned only 8 MPs in 2015 – 49 fewer than at the previous election, far below the Scottish National Party (SNP) and with fewer votes than the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Tim Farron became the Liberal Democrat leader in July 2015, following the resignation of Nick Clegg. Led by First Minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, the SNP stand only in Scotland but won 56 of 59 Scottish seats in 2015, an increase of 50 MPs.

UKIP, then led by Nigel Farage and subsequently replaced by Diane James and then Paul Nuttall in 2016, won 12.7% of the vote in 2015 but gained only one MP, Douglas Carswell, who left the party in March 2017 to sit as an independent. Plaid Cymru is led by Leanne Wood and won 3 seats in 2015. The Green Party is led by Caroline Lucas and Jonathan Bartley, elected as co-leaders in September 2016.

Northern Ireland

Party/alliance		Leader(s)	Leader since	Leader's seat	Last election
					%	Seats
width="1" bgcolor="Template:Democratic Unionist Party/meta/color"|	Democratic Unionist Party	Arlene Foster	December 2015	None	25.7%	8
bgcolor="Template:Sinn Féin/meta/color"|	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	November 1983	None	24.5%	4
bgcolor="Template:Social Democratic and Labour Party/meta/color"|	Social Democratic and Labour Party	Colum Eastwood	November 2015	None	13.9%	3
bgcolor="Template:Ulster Unionist Party/meta/color"|	Ulster Unionist Party	Robin Swann	April 2017	None	16.0%	2
bgcolor="Template:Alliance Party of Northern Ireland/meta/color"|	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland	Naomi Long	October 2016	None	8.6%	0

In Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), Sinn Féin, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), who all won seats in 2015, and the Alliance Party (APNI), which contested all 18 Northern Irish seats, will likely contest the 2017 election. Sinn Féin is expected to continue its policy of abstentionism and not take any seats won at the election. Compared to the previous election, the DUP, SDLP, UUP and APNI are all led by new party leaders.

Candidates

Unlike in previous elections, the nature of the snap election has necessitated political parties to rapidly select candidates in just under three weeks to meet the 11 May deadline. For the Conservatives, local branches in target seats are being offered a choice of three candidates by the party's headquarters from an existing list of candidates without inviting applications; candidates in non-target seats are to be appointed directly; and MPs are to be automatically re-selected. Labour required sitting MPs to express their intention to stand by 5pm on 20 April, which all but 12 did. Labour advertised for applications from party members for the vacated 12 and all remaining seats by 23 April, with selections expected to be completed by 2 May. The SNP confirmed on 22 April that its 54 sitting MPs would be re-selected and that its suspended members Natalie McGarry and Michelle Thomson would not be nominated as SNP candidates; the party intends to also select candidates for the additional three Scottish seats not won in 2015. The Liberal Democrats had already selected 326 candidates in 2016 and over 70 before the snap election was called. Local party members from UKIP, the Greens and Plaid Cymru are to select their candidates.

Parties in Northern Ireland are not believed to have already selected candidates due to the Assembly elections in March. Prior to discussions with the DUP on 24 April, the UUP re-selected its two sitting MPs and indicated it will not contest three constituencies.

Campaign

Background

Prior to the calling of the general election, the Liberal Democrats won the Richmond Park by-election, a seat characterised by its high remain vote in the 2016 EU referendum. The Conservatives held the safe seat of Sleaford and North Hykeham in December 2016. In by-elections on 23 February 2017, Labour held Stoke-on-Trent Central while losing Copeland to the Conservatives, the first time a governing party had gained a seat in a by-election since 1982.

The general election comes soon after the Northern Ireland Assembly election on 2 March 2017. Talks on power-sharing between the DUP and Sinn Féin had failed to reach a conclusion, with Northern Ireland thus facing either another Assembly election or the imposition of direct rule. The deadline was subsequently extended to 29 June 2017.

Local principal authority by-elections held in 2016 had suggested increasing support for the Liberal Democrats, who gained a net 29 seats. The Conservatives lost a net 33 seats, while Labour and UKIP lost a net seven and three seats respectively. However, such by-elections often have low turnouts and sometimes focus predominantly on local issues, so they may not be an accurate indication of nationwide swings.

Local elections in England, Scotland and Wales are scheduled to take place on 4 May 2017. Initially scheduled for 4 May, the Manchester Gorton by-election was cancelled; the seat will be contested on 8 June.

Electoral alliances

Inter-party campaigning groups

Between the 2015 and 2017 elections, several non-partisan crowdfunding groups were formed in order to promote candidates of similar views standing for election, including More United. Arron Banks, a major UKIP donor, revealed plans in early 2017 to establish a "Patriotic Alliance" movement. A tactical voting spreadsheet showing how to keep the Conservative party out of government was shared widely on social media bringing together supporters from a variety of progressive parties. The data has now been compiled into a website. Gina Miller, who took the government to court over its plans not to consult Parliament before invoking Article 50, has also promised to tour marginal constituencies in support of pro-EU candidates.

Great Britain

On 19 April 2017, Green Party of England & Wales co-leaders Lucas and Bartley wrote to Corbyn and Farron, proposing a progressive electoral alliance against the Conservatives between Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens. On the same day, the Scottish National Party announced it was hoping to collaborate with the campaigns of Labour and the Liberal Democrats outside of Scotland in order to prevent a Conservative majority government.

In January 2017, Farron had ruled out an electoral pact between Labour and the Liberal Democrats, citing "electorally toxic" Corbyn, but refused to rule out a coalition with the Conservatives. Sir Vince Cable, the former Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills who was unseated in 2015 and will contest his former seat of Twickenham for the Liberal Democrats, told news outlets on 19 April 2017 that the Liberal Democrats would not enter into a coalition with Labour.

At a meeting of Labour's National Executive Committee on 19 April 2017, it was understood that Corbyn had "definitively" ruled out any electoral pact between Labour and the SNP, the Liberal Democrats or the Greens. However, it was reported that the Surrey Labour Party were considering not standing a candidate in South West Surrey, against the express wishes of the national party, in order to enable the Liberal Democrats to challenge the incumbent Conservative MP, Jeremy Hunt, who has been the Secretary of State for Health since 2012.

On 21 April 2017, UKIP sources indicated that the party would not submit candidates in some seats currently represented by strongly pro-Brexit Conservative MPs, especially where they face a close challenge from Liberal Democrats.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, which has a strong history of electoral alliances, the DUP and UUP are to hold talks about a possible electoral pact (which the DUP have indicated could include Fermanagh and South Tyrone and South Belfast). Margaret Ritchie of the SDLP initially opposed any electoral pact with Sinn Féin. However other non-unionist politicians, including Steven Agnew of the Green Party in Northern Ireland, have raised the possibility of an anti-Brexit coalition in Northern Ireland. Talks between Sinn Fein, the SDLP and the Greens about an anti-Brexit alliance followed. Alliance were also approached but declined to be involved.

Issues

Brexit is expected to be a key issue in the campaign. May said she had called the snap election in order to secure a majority for her Brexit negotiations, with the Liberal Democrats and the Greens both critical of Labour's support for Brexit negotiations and having called for a deal to keep the UK in the Single Market and a second referendum on any deal proposed between the EU and the UK. UKIP has appealed to voters seeking a "clean Brexit", which they assert that other parties are unable to deliver.

The question of Scotland's proposed independence referendum is also likely to influence the campaign. On 28 March 2017, the Scottish Parliament approved a motion for a second independence referendum, suggesting that there had been a "material change" in the terms of the failed independence referendum in 2014 as a result of the UK's vote to leave the European Union. The SNP hopes to hold a second independence referendum before the UK leaves the European Union; May has said her government would not approve an independence referendum before Brexit negotiations have finished.

Investigations are presently ongoing into campaign spending by the Conservative Party during the 2015 general election; the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is required to report on whether they will prosecute MPs before the election. They are considering charges related to 30 people. Some commentators and politicians have argued this was a factor in May choosing to go for an early election.

Although Labour and the Liberal Democrats have ruled out a pre-election pact, the Liberal Democrats have rejected a post-election coalition, and Labour have ruled out an electoral pact with the SNP or Greens, the Conservatives are expected to campaign on this theme. Similar messages against a potential Lib-Lab pact are credited with securing a Conservative win in the 1992 and 2015 elections. On 19 April, May warned against a Labour-SNP-Lib Dem pact that would "divide our country".

Television debates

Within hours of the election being announced, Corbyn, Farron and Sturgeon called for televised debates. The Prime Minister's office has opposed the idea of any televised debates during the campaign. Despite the opposition of the Prime Minister, on 19 April 2017, both the BBC and ITV announced that they planned to host Leaders' Debates, as they had done in the 2010 and 2015 elections, and will do so whether or not May takes part. May however has expressed interest in taking part in a Q&A with a live studio audience.

Broadcaster	Date	Venue	Moderator
BBC	TBC	TBC	TBC
ITV	TBC	TBC	TBC

Week 1

Theresa May launched the Conservative campaign with a focus on Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn focused on public spending and argued that services were being underfunded, particularly education.

Nigel Farage, former UKIP leader, after some speculation, announced that he would not be standing, saying he can be more effective continuing as an MEP. Douglas Carswell, elected in 2015 as a UKIP MP but having left the party in March 2017, announced he would not stand again and would vote Conservative. Bob Marshall-Andrews, a former Labour MP from 1997 to 2010 and Corbyn ally, announced he would support the Liberal Democrats on 20 April.

Within a few days of the campaign being announced, Theresa May's press secretaries Lizzie Loudon and Katie Perrior resigned, leaving the election campaign mostly in the hands of May's former Home Office aides Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy. May was also reported to have hired Sir Lynton Crosby, campaign manager for the Conservatives in the 2015 general election, on 18 April 2017.

An early issue in the campaign was the question of Farron's views regarding gay sex. After initially declining to state whether he thought it was a sin, Farron later affirmed that he did not believe that being gay was sinful. Unlike previous Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg, Farron did not have a voting record in favour of LGBT rights upon becoming leader; however, since becoming party leader he has been more pro-LGBT in his outlook.

Endorsements

Main article: Endorsements in the United Kingdom general election, 2017

Various newspapers, organisations and individuals are expected to endorse parties or individual candidates for the election.

House of Commons before the election

The results of the 2015 election and the subsequent changes and by-elections:

Affiliation		Members
		At 2015 election	At dissolution
style="width: 4px" style="background-color:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color;"|	[[Conservative Party (UK)|Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/shortname]]	330	330
	Labour	232	229
	SNP	56	54
style="width: 4px" style="background-color:Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color;"|	[[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/shortname]]	8	9
	DUP	8	8
style="background-color:Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color"|	Independent	1	5
	Sinn Féin	4	4
	Plaid Cymru	3	3
	SDLP	3	3
	UUP	2	2
	Green	1	1
style="background-color:Template:Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom)/meta/color"|	Speaker	1	1
	UKIP	1	0
Vacant seats		0	1
Total		650	650
Government majority		12	12

Notes

• See here for a full list of changes during the fifty-sixth Parliament.
• In addition to the parties listed in the table above, the Co-operative Party is also represented in the House of Commons by Labour MPs sitting with the Labour Co-operative designation. The number of these MPs was 24 after the general election, and is currently 26.
• The actual government majority is calculated as Conservative MPs less all other parties. This calculation excludes the Speaker, Deputy Speakers (two Labour and one Conservative) and Sinn Féin (who follow a policy of abstentionism).

↓

style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; width:50.8%;" | 330	24	style="background:Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color; width:1.2%;" | 9	style="background:Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color; color:black; width:8.6%;" | 54	style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width:35.7%;" | 229
Conservative		L D	SNP	Labour

Members of Parliament not standing for re-election

Members of Parliament not standing for re-election

MP	Seat	Party		Date announced
Graham Allen	Nottingham North	width="1" bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	22 April 2017
Dave Anderson	Blaydon	width="1" bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	20 April 2017
Tom Blenkinsop	Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	18 April 2017
Andy Burnham	Leigh	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	19 April 2017
Sir Simon Burns	Chelmsford	bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Conservative	8 January 2016
Douglas Carswell	Clacton	bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color"|	Independent (UKIP in 2015)	20 April 2017
Jim Dowd	Lewisham West and Penge	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	19 April 2017
Michael Dugher	Barnsley East	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	20 April 2017
Pat Glass	North West Durham	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	28 June 2016
Sir Gerald Howarth	Aldershot	bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Conservative	20 April 2017
Alan Johnson	Hull West and Hessle	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	18 April 2017
Fiona Mactaggart	Slough	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	20 April 2017
Rob Marris	Wolverhampton South West	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	19 April 2017
George Osborne	Tatton	bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Conservative	19 April 2017
Sir Eric Pickles	Brentwood and Ongar	bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Conservative	22 April 2017
John Pugh	Southport	bgcolor="Template:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color"|	Liberal Democrats	19 April 2017
Andrew Smith	Oxford East	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	19 April 2017
Gisela Stuart	Birmingham Edgbaston	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	19 April 2017
Michelle Thomson	Edinburgh West	bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color"|	Independent (SNP in 2015)	22 April 2017
Dame Angela Watkinson	Hornchurch and Upminster	bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Conservative	19 April 2017
Iain Wright	Hartlepool	bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color"|	Labour	19 April 2017

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the United Kingdom general election, 2017

Following the 2015 general election, polling companies, which had underestimated the Conservative Party vote and overestimated the Labour Party vote and so failed to predict the result accurately, started making changes to polling practices, with recommendations from a review by the British Polling Council likely to see further alterations.

UK opinion polling for the 2017 election including polls which started on or before 18 April 2017 (moving average is calculated from the last ten polls)

4

External links

• UK Government – Register to vote