2024: The Year Our Party System Finally Broke – UK Politics Podcast on Britain Votes 2024, Labour Landslide, Conservative Collapse, Reform & Greens Rise, and Westminster Turmoil

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2024: The year our party system finally broke? - Parliament Matters podcast, Episode 118

5 Dec 2025

This week we spotlight our new book Britain Votes 2024, featuring research by leading political scientists such as public opinion expert Professor Sir John Curtice. We explore how Labour secured a landslide on just a third of the vote, why the election broke so many records, and what these reveal about the fragility of UK democracy. We also cover the Budget fallout, the role of the Treasury Committee in the appointment of the new head of the OBR, more backbench dissent, ex-MPs shifting to the Greens and Reform, and a brewing row over delayed mayoral elections.

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This week we focus on the Hansard Society’s new book, Britain Votes 2024, which brings together a powerhouse team of leading political scientists - including Professors Sir John Curtice, Phil Cowley and Tim Bale - and many other distinguished experts to dissect every facet of a record-breaking general election. The 2024 contest delivered the largest post-war swing, a Labour landslide, and the Conservatives’ lowest-ever parliamentary representation. This volume, a special edition of our Parliamentary Affairs journal, explains how and why such a dramatic turnaround came about.

We talk to the editors Alistair Clark, Louise Thompson and Stuart Wilks-Hee to unpack how Labour won a landslide on just a third of the vote, why the 2024 contest shattered so many electoral records, and what this says about the resilience – or fragility – of UK democracy. We explore the extraordinary disproportionality of the result, the historically low turnout, and the sense of voters “fishing around” for alternatives in a system under strain.

This week we also discuss another turbulent week in Westminster, from the Budget fallout and the sudden resignation of OBR chair Richard Hughes to the unusual constitutional power Parliament holds over his post via the Treasury Committee. We explore the politics of abstention versus rebellion inside a government with a huge majority, and what to expect as the Finance Bill and a separate National Insurance Contributions (Employer Pension Contributions) Bill reach Parliament before Christmas.

We also examine the afterlives of ex-MPs: Lloyd Russell-Moyle’s move from Labour to the Greens, the flow of former Conservatives into Reform, and what these shifts say about deeper tensions on the right. Plus, we dig into a row over local democracy as the government delays new mayoral elections in parts of Sussex, Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Hampshire, prompting cross-party accusations that Labour is “cancelling democracy” and confusion about whether other local contests will still go ahead.

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Our guests

Professor Alistair Clark

Professor Alistair Clark

Alistair is Professor of Political Science at Newcastle University, where he teaches modules on Parliamentary Studies, UK Political Parties and Elections, and Public Policy. His research focuses on electoral integrity and administration, standards in public life, political parties, and devolution. He is co-editor of Parliamentary Affairs, the Hansard Society’s journal, and author of Political Parties in the UK (Palgrave). He is frequently invited to give evidence to parliamentary committees and in 2021 served as an adviser to the House of Commons Standards Committee during its review of the MPs’ Code of Conduct and in 2019 he was an adviser to the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Constitution Committee in its scrutiny of the Referendums (Scotland) Bill. Alistair’s other editorial work includes co-editing the European Consortium for Political Research Political Data Yearbook (2018–2022) and serving as deputy editor of the British Journal of Politics and International Relations (2009–2015). He has also been a trustee and executive member of the UK Political Studies Association.

Dr Louise Thompson

Dr Louise Thompson

Louise is a Senior Lecturer in Politics at the University of Manchester, where she teaches modules on Parliamentary Studies, Contemporary Issues in Politics and Law, and Research Methods in Politics. Her own research focuses on the UK Parliament, with a particular focus on the legislative process, committees, political parties, and public engagement. As well as co-editing the Hansard Society’s Parliamentary Affairs journal, she is co-editor of the textbook Exploring Parliament (OUP, 2025) and the author or co-author of seven other books, including The End of the Small Party? Change UK and the Challenges of Parliamentary Politics (2020) and Making British Law: Committees in Action (2015). In 2022, she was an adviser on the BBC Radio 4 political drama Whipped, and in 2024–2025 she served as a UK Parliament POST Academic Fellow with the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. She has also held leadership roles within the discipline, including Academic Secretary to the Study of Parliament Group (2018–2022) and convenor of the Political Studies Association’s Parliaments Specialist Group (2014–2019).

Professor Stuart Wilks-Heeg

Professor Stuart Wilks-Heeg

Stuart is recognised as a leading expert on the UK democratic process, particularly with regard to issues associated with the mechanics of the electoral process. He served as Special Adviser to the House of Lords Select Committee reviewing the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013. He joined the University of Liverpool in 2002 as a Lecturer in Social Policy, became a Senior Lecturer in 2010, and moved to the Department of Politics in 2014, where he served as Head of Department from 2014 to 2017. He was appointed Reader in Politics in 2014 and promoted to Professor of Politics in 2022. A regular commentator on UK politics, Stuart provides analysis for regional, national, and international newspapers and broadcasters, and writes for several leading political blogs.

Resources

Britain Votes 2024: The 2024 UK General Election (Oxford University Press)

Transcript

Please note, this transcript is automatically generated. There may consequently be minor errors and the text is not formatted according to our style guide. If you wish to reference or cite the transcript copy below, please first check against the audio version above.

Intro: [00:00:00] You are listening to Parliament Matters, a Hansard Society production supported by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. Learn more at hansardsociety.org.uk/pm.

Ruth Fox: Welcome to Parliament Matters, the podcast about the institution at the heart of our democracy, Parliament itself. I'm Ruth Fox.

Mark D'Arcy: And I'm Mark D'Arcy.

And coming up this week.

Ruth Fox: The budget ramifications continue to ramificate, as the boss of the budget watchdog departs.

Mark D'Arcy: The lowliness of the ex-MP, why the casualties of last year's general election keep showing up in other political parties.

Ruth Fox: And we've got a new book out. No, not Mark and I, but the Hansard Society, looking back at the 2024 electoral earthquake, just in time for Christmas. The ideal gift for the election nerd in your family.

Mark D'Arcy: And Ruth, we've gotta start really with the scandal that's still rolling forward. A week on from last week's budget, the departure of [00:01:00] the head of the Office for Budget Responsibility. The budget watchdog that's supposed to keep the Chancellor's statistics properly kosher, has not ended all the controversy around the pre leaking of the OBR's assessment of Rachel Reeves' latest production. Full transcript →

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