Blog

Mock Elections 2024: The results are in!

4 Jul 2024
©

Results are in for the Hansard Society's nationwide Mock Elections. Thousands of pupils have cast their ballots and the results show that Labour has won the election among pupils across the country, with 27.3% of the vote.

39,312 pupils right across the country have cast a vote in the nationwide Mock Election campaign, giving many of them a first taste of civic participation and learning vital lessons about the way the UK's democratic processes work.

The results of the Mock Election are quite different from the picture that is emerging of the General Election:

  • Labour: 10,340 (27.3%)

  • Green: 8,714 (23.0%)

  • Reform: 7,020 (18.6%)

  • Lib Dem: 4,872 (12.9%)

  • Conservative: 3,617 (9.6%)

  • Scottish National Party (SNP): 310 (0.8%)*

  • Plaid Cymru: 159 (0.4%)*

  • Other: 2,788 (7.4%)**

  • Spoilt Ballots: 1,492

*The SNP and Plaid Cymru results should be treated with caution. The timing of the school holidays in Scotland and Wales meant that only a few schools took part. ** Some schools required candidates to set up their own non-established parties. A portion of the vote for other parties therefore comes from schools where none of the main parties were fielding a candidate.

2024 Mock Election results • The proportion of votes cast for each party standing in the mock elections

One of the oldest civic education projects anywhere in the world, Mock Elections has been run by the Hansard Society at every UK General Election for over 50 years.

In 2024, the Hansard Society again made available a free download of all the resources teachers and pupils needed to run a mock poll.

Research has shown that participating in citizenship-related activities at school, such as mock elections, makes young people more likely to have positive attitudes towards political participation as adults and more likely to engage in political activity. This applies even when controlling for other relevant factors, such as higher levels of formal education.

News / Parliament Matters Bulletin: What’s coming up in Parliament this week? 19-23 May 2025

Stella Creasy MP and Richard Tice MP will lead a backbench debate on the EU–UK summit. The Foreign Affairs Committee will hold a joint session with its Ukrainian counterpart on Russian misinformation. MPs will question the Defence Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Northern Ireland Secretary. Scrutiny of seven Government bills will continue in both Houses. Debate topics in the Commons will include an e-petition on transgender self-identification, and support for local pubs. On the Committee corridor, highlights include sessions on the security of undersea cables and the accessibility of the parliamentary estate. Michael Gove will be formally introduced to the House of Lords as its newest member.

18 May 2025
Read more

Submissions / Status and rights of independent MPs in Parliament – Our evidence to the House of Commons Procedure Committee

Our evidence on the status and rights of independent MPs has been published by the House of Commons Procedure Committee. Our submission summarises the direct and indirect references to political parties in the Standing Orders and whether they might apply to groupings of independent MPs, analyses whether small parties and independent groupings face disadvantages, particularly in relation to committee membership, and considers whether parliamentary publications should distinguish between the many different kinds of independent MP.

12 May 2025
Read more

Blog / The Planning and Infrastructure Bill: What happens when detail is deferred?

The Hansard Society has long raised concerns about the Government's increasing tendency to present undeveloped legislation that lacks detailed policy and grants ministers broad delegated powers to fill in the gaps later. This practice undermines effective parliamentary scrutiny, by preventing MPs and Peers from fully assessing how powers may be used, (or misused), in the future. The weak system for overseeing delegated legislation—especially in the Commons—exacerbates the problem. Several powers in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill currently before Parliament highlight these ongoing issues.

14 May 2025
Read more

News / Assisted dying bill: Special series #12 - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 93

Is Kim Leadbeater's Assisted Dying Bill now "over the hump?" The Bill's supporters got it though its first day of Report Stage consideration in the House of Commons unscathed, with comfortable majorities in every vote. So, with debate on the most contentious set of amendments disposed of, will it now coast through its remaining scrutiny days in the Commons? Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.

17 May 2025
Read more

Submissions / Evidence to the House of Commons Modernisation Committee: Priorities and strategic aims

In response to the Modernisation Committee's call for views on 17 October 2024, we submitted evidence outlining key areas we believe the Committee should prioritise. Our submission recommended a focus on: strengthening legislative scrutiny, with particular emphasis on reforming the delegated legislation system; enhancing financial scrutiny, especially in relation to the Budget and the Estimates; addressing strategic gaps in parliamentary scrutiny; making more effective use of parliamentary time; and reviewing the Standing Orders, language and rituals of the House of Commons.

01 Apr 2025
Read more