The general election of 2024 was a record-breaking election. It was a contest that produced the highest swing in the post-war era, delivering a Labour landslide and reducing the Conservatives to their lowest ever level of parliamentary representation. This special edition of our journal, Parliamentary Affairs, explains how and why this remarkable electoral turnaround was achieved.
Britain Votes: The 2024 General Election brings together contributions from leading electoral scholars including Professor Sir John Curtice, Professor Tim Bale, Professor Eunice Goes, Professor Ailsa Henderson, Professor James Mitchell, Professor Justin Fisher, and Professor Philip Cowley. It is edited by Professor Alistair Clark, Dr Louise Thompson and Professor Stuart Wilks-Heeg.
A few chapters are free to read for a limited time below. You can purchase the book at all good bookshops or online from Oxford University Press.
The editors also discussed the book’s key findings on our podcast, which you can listen to below.
The best way to subscribe to our Parliamentary Affairs journal is through our Premium Membership offer.
Alistair Clark, Louise Thompson, and Stuart Wilks-Heeg (Editors)
A striking feature of the 2024 contest was the number of electoral records it established. Taken together, these paint a picture of remarkable volatility. The turnaround from an eighty-seat majority for one party to a majority of 174 for another was unprecedented. The 11% swing from the Conservatives to Labour is the highest in the post-war era. There were also far-reaching changes to the UK’s legal and institutional framework prior to the election and the election was also fought on a new set of constituency boundaries.
John Curtice
There is much to unpack about how Britain’s electoral system operated in 2024. Why did Labour secure well over 60% of the seats on barely more than one-third of the vote? How were the Liberal Democrats, hitherto the party that had lost out most and most often from the system, suddenly able to secure almost their proportionate share of the seats? And what are the implications of such an unprecedented outcome for the debate about electoral reform?
Lynn Bennie and Anders Widfeldt
In 2024 the two main parties received less than 60% of the vote for the first time since universal suffrage, and the spread of parliamentary seats amongst other parties was broader than ever before. Six independents, five Reform UK candidates and four Greens became MPs, contributing to this parliamentary diversity. Nigel Farage became an MP at the eighth attempt, the Greens quadrupled their seats, and the Labour party’s perceived position on the Israel-Hamas conflict cost it a handful of seats to independents.
Justin Fisher
The 2024 general election took place in the context of important legislative change related to party finance, together with Labour’s growing popularity ultimately being reflected in significant growth in its income as the election approached. The combination of increased campaign spending limits and Labour’s relative success in fundraising in the months leading up to the election meant that Labour was better able to exploit its ability to raise income and spend accordingly in the election campaign. By way of contrast, both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats were financially far worse off than they had been in 2019.
Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Alistair Clark and Louise Thompson (Editors)
General elections provide an important health check for any democracy. There were five features of the 2024 election that should be seen as causes for concern:
the extent to which candidates suffered from intimidation during the election;
the fall in turnout by 7.5 points to 59.8%, the second lowest since 1945;
the disproportionality of the election result;
the increased volatility of UK general elections; and
the role and reliability of opinion polling in an increasingly complex electoral environment.
A record-breaking election, Alistair Clark, Louise Thompson and Stuart Wilks-Heeg
The results: How Britain voted in 2024, Hannah Bunting
The electoral system: All a question of geography, John Curtice
‘Come, Armageddon, come’: The Conservatives, Sam Power, Paul Webb, and Tim Bale
The Labour Party under Keir Starmer: Plotting the route to a shallow landslide, Eunice Goes
Yellow fever returns: The 2024 Liberal Democrat campaign, David Cutts and Andrew Russell
Voices from the edge make breakthrough in British politics: : The Greens, Reform UK, and independents, Lynn Bennie and Anders Widfeldt
Shifting sands: Sources of voter volatility in the 2024 UK General Election in Scotland, Ailsa Henderson and James Mitchell
The 2024 UK General Election in Wales, Jac M. Larner and Richard Wyn Jones
Northern Ireland: Sinn Féin completes a hat-trick, Jonathan Tonge and Stuart Wilks-Heeg
Party finance: Labour exploits its advantage, Justin Fisher
The first TikTok election? Social media, generative AI, and data-driven campaigning in the 2024 UK General Election, Filip Biały and Rachel Gibson
There may be trouble ahead: Women’s representation, voters, and issues in the 2024 election campaign, Emily Harmer and Rosalynd Southern
Ethnic minority voters and the 2024 General Election, Nicole S. Martin
Tax, trip-ups, and transgressions: Reporting the 2024 UK General Election, David Deacon, David Smith, and Dominic Wring
Breweries, bricklaying, and bungee jumping: Understanding the 2024 campaign trail, Alia Middleton and David Cutts
An inexperienced parliament, Philip Cowley
A time to take stock, Stuart Wilks-Heeg, Alistair Clark and Louise Thompson
Join the Hansard Society and get cutting-edge research on the Westminster Parliament and other legislatures in the UK and around the world, delivered to your door in print and online, from one of the world's leading political research journals.
On the fourth anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Dr Sarah Whitmore will be speaking to us about how the Ukrainian Parliament has functioned under wartime conditions. 6:00pm-7:30pm on Tuesday 24 February 2026 at the Houses of Parliament, Westminster
Labour MP Neil Duncan-Jordan reflects on rebelling against the whip and calling for Keir Starmer to resign, as we assess the fallout from the Mandelson–Epstein affair and its implications for the Government’s legislative programme and House of Lords reform. We examine Gordon Brown’s sweeping standards proposals, question whether they would restore public trust, revisit tensions over the assisted dying bill in the Lord and discuss two key Procedure Committee reports on Commons debates and internal elections. Listen and subscribe: Apple Podcasts · Spotify · Acast · YouTube · Other apps · RSS
The Restoration and Renewal Client Board’s latest report once again confirms what Parliament has known for nearly a decade: the cheapest, quickest and safest way to restore the Palace of Westminster is for MPs and Peers to move out during the works. The “full decant” option was endorsed in 2018 and reaffirmed repeatedly since. Remaining in the building could more than double costs, extend works into the 2080s, and increase risks to safety, accessibility and security. With the Palace already deteriorating and millions spent each year on patchwork repairs, further delay would itself be an expensive course of action, one that defers decisions without offering a viable alternative.
With the Government investigating allegations of foreign influence in British politics, we are joined by John Pullinger, Chair of the Electoral Commission, to take stock of the health and resilience of the UK’s electoral system. Our discussion ranges widely over the pressures facing elections and campaigning today, and what issues Parliament may need to grapple with in a future elections bill.
Why do UK Prime Ministers seem to burn out so quickly? We are joined by historian Robert Saunders to examine why the role has become so punishing in recent years. From Brexit and COVID to fractured parties, rigid governing conventions and relentless media scrutiny, the discussion explores what has gone wrong – and what kind of leadership and political culture might be needed to make the job survivable again.
