Journal

Britain Votes 2017

1 Nov 2018
Britain Votes 2017 cover image

'Britain Votes 2017' offers a comprehensive analysis of one of the most extraordinary general elections ever.

'Britain Votes 2017' contains dedicated chapters on the results; the fortunes of each of the major parties; the campaign and outcomes in each part of the UK; the Brexit context; campaign finance; party campaigning and digital strategies; engagement, disengagement and populism; women voters; young voters; the role of the media; and much more.

The latest in a distinguished series of volumes on each general election, produced by the Hansard Society and Oxford University Press, 'Britain Votes 2017' is edited by Jonathan Tonge, Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Stuart Wilks-Heeg and features the work of a range of leading academics, including Tim Bale and Paul Webb on the Conservatives; John Curtice on the outcome; Eunice Goes on Labour; Matthew Flinders on engagement, disengagement and populism; Emily Harmer and Rosalynd Southern on women voters; James Dennison on UKIP; Sarah Harrison on young voters; and Sara Hagemann on the Brexit context.

'Britain Votes 2017' is essential reading for anyone interested in the campaign, outcome and consequences of the 2017 General Election.

  • Introduction: The Mislaying of a Majority – Jonathan Tonge, Cristina Leston-Bandeira, Stuart Wilks-Hee

  • The Results: How Britain Voted, David Denver

  • How the Electoral System Failed to Deliver - Again, John Curtice

  • 'We Didn't See it Coming': The Conservatives – Tim Bale and Paul Webb

  • 'Jez We Can!': Labour's Campaign; Defeat with a Taste of Victory – Eunice Goes

  • The Liberal Democrats: Green Shoots of Recovery or Still on Life Support? – David Cutts and Andrew Russell

  • The Rug Pulled from Under Them: UKIP and the Greens – James Dennison

  • Referendums as Critical Junctures? Scottish Voting in British Elections – Ailsa Henderson and James Mitchel

  • The Election in Wales: Campaign and Party Performance – Jonathan Bradbury

  • Northern Ireland: Double Triumph for the Democratic Unionist Party – Jonathan Tonge and Jocelyn Evans

  • The Brexit Context – Sara Hagemann

  • Party Finance – Justin Fisher

  • Digital Campaigning: The Rise of Facebook and Satellite Campaigns – Katharine Dommett and Luke Temple

  • Out with the Old, In with the New? The Media Campaign – Stephen Ward and Dominic Wring

  • The (Anti-)Politics of the Election: Funnelling Frustration in a Divided Democracy – Matthew Flinders

  • More Stable than Strong: Womens Representation, Voters and Issues – Emily Harmer and Rosalynd Southern

  • Young Voters – Sarah Harrison

  • Conclusion: An Election that Satisfied Few and Solved Little – Jonathan Tonge, Cristina Leston-Bandeira and Stuart Wilks-Heeg

Blog / Assisted dying bill: What will happen at Second Reading on Friday 19 September?

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - the Bill to legalise assisted dying - has passed through the House of Commons and now reached the House of Lords. A rare two-day Second Reading debate began on Friday 12 September and is due to resume on Friday 19 September. In this blog, we explain what happened during the first day of debate and what to expect when it resumes. We outline each of the key motions and amendments on which the House will vote, and how these votes may shape the character of later stages.

17 Sep 2025
Read more

News / Parliament Matters Bulletin: What’s coming up in Parliament this week? 15-19 September 2025

Peers will vote on the assisted dying bill’s Second Reading, while MPs will question the new Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood MP and Lord Chancellor David Lammy MP. The Commons will debate the Employment Rights, English Devolution and Community Empowerment, and Sentencing Bills, as Peers examine the Planning and Infrastructure and Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bills. Committees will hear evidence on arms exports to Israel and the Online Safety Act. MPs will also debate an e-petition on SEND support and consider a Ten Minute Rule Bill on child poverty strategy, including removing the two-child limit for Universal Credit. The youngest minister in nearly two centuries will make his first appearance before a Select Committee. ❓ We value your thoughts. Please click here to let us know what you think of the Parliament Matters Bulletin in our reader survey.

14 Sep 2025
Read more

News / Assisted dying bill - special series #16: The Bill makes its debut in the House of Lords - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 106

As Peers embark on a marathon two-day Second Reading debate on the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill – the measure that would legalise assisted dying in England and Wales – we are joined by former Clerk of the Parliaments, Sir David Beamish, to decode the drama. With more than two hundred members of the House of Lords lining up to speak, Sir David explains why, despite the intensity of the arguments, no one expects the Bill to be rejected at this stage. Instead, the real fight will come later, after Peers get into the clause-by-clause detail and see what defects can be remedied. Please help us by completing our Listener Survey. It will only take a few minutes.

13 Sep 2025
Read more

Briefings / The assisted dying bill: A guide to the legislative process in the House of Lords

Having passed through the House of Commons, the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - the Bill to legalise assisted dying in England and Wales - must now go through its legislative stages in the House of Lords. This guide explains the special procedures for legislation in the House of Lords, and for Private Members’ Bills in particular. It answers some frequently asked questions, including how Peers might block the Bill, and gives an explanation of each stage of the process, from Second to Third Reading.

10 Sep 2025
Read more

Briefings / Delegated powers in the assisted dying bill: Issues for the attention of the House of Lords

Like many pieces of primary legislation, the assisted dying bill leaves much of the practical and policy detail to be worked out later by Ministers through regulations. After the Bill’s Second Reading in the House of Commons, we published a briefing which drew attention to two of its delegated powers. But since then the Bill has been heavily amended, prompting new questions: how have its delegated powers evolved, do these changes strengthen or weaken the approach to the delegation of ministerial power, and are further amendments needed and if so, why?

29 Aug 2025
Read more