First in a series of three. Admittedly a large amount of wish fulfilment on my part.
Labour's Back in Towns! Pt. 1
The September 2024 United Kingdom was held on 5th September 2024, to elect 650 members of the UK House of Commons. It was the first of two general elections that were held that year. Despite significant gains that were made by the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat parties at the expense of the incumbent Conservative government, no party was able to achieve an overall majority, resulting in a hung parliament.
After winning a clear victory at the 2019 Election, Boris Johnson’s government found itself increasingly beset by a range of problems. Britain’s exit from the European Union and the subsequent efforts to negotiate a new trading relationship with the bloc ran up against considerable challenges, and although a ‘no deal’ exit was averted through the signing of the EU-British Partnership (EUBP) at the end of 2020, the scope of this agreement was extremely limited, and failed to cover large sections of the UK economy. This was attributed as a significant factor behind the UK’s stagnant economic growth in 2020, and the significant downturn that took place during the recession of the early 2020’s, which hit the UK especially badly.
This, along with concerns about housing and the state of public services, enabled the opposition Labour Party to make a significant recovery under the leadership of Wigan MP, Lisa Nandy. Labour maintained consistent polling leads throughout the final three years of the parliament, causing the government to delay calling a snap election until September 2024, four months prior to the expiration of the five-year parliament.
The Labour campaign focused on reversing public sector cuts, creating jobs through investment in green industries, and addressing the UK’s ongoing housing shortage. This, along with the personal popularity of Nandy, who was widely judged to have outperformed Boris Johnson across two televised debates, enabled the party to retain it’s lead until polling day, which saw it pick up ninety-seven seats. Whilst many of these gains came from the so called ‘red wall’ of seats that Labour had lost to the Conservatives in 2019, a significant number of these remained in Conservative hands, with many of Labour’s remaining gains coming from traditional marginals in England and Wales, as well as in London, where the party recorded it’s strongest ever performance. The party also made six gains from the SNP in Scotland.
The Liberal Democrats, now led by Oxford West and Abingdon MP, Layla Moran, also recorded a strong result, tripling their number of seats from the notional total of nine following the 2021 Parliamentary Boundary Review, to twenty-seven. Many of these victories were achieved through the operation of localised electoral pacts with Labour and the Green Party of England and Wales.
The Conservatives also faced a significant challenge in some constituencies from Richard Tice’s Brexit Party, who campaigned in opposition to the EUBP, arguing that it did represent a ‘clean break’ from EU structures. However, despite winning 4.5% of the national vote share, they were unable to translate this into a single seat, and instead were believed to have largely acted as a spoiler against the Conservative’s, enabling other parties to win in several constituencies.
In the aftermath of the result, it soon became clear that no majority existed for a continued Conservative administration, and Nandy declared her intent to form a ‘progressive alliance’ government consisting of left wing and centrist parties. The arithmetic of the new parliament meant that such an arrangement would be dependent on the support of the SNP. However, talks between Labour and the Nationalists broke down after less than two days over the former’s refusal to grant permission to hold a fresh referendum on Scottish Independence.
By the beginning of October, it was clear that no majority existed in the Commons for any new government, causing Boris Johnson, who continued to occupy the office of Prime Minister on an interim basis, to call for a fresh election for December 12th. This gave the brief September to October Parliament of 2024 the distinction as the shortest serving parliament since the English Civil War, having only been in session for fifteen working days. It also marked the first time in exactly fifty years that two UK general elections have been held in the same year.
Significant figures who lost their seats included the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, as well as his predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, who were both defeated in their Surrey constituencies by Liberal Democrat opponents. Another notable defeat for the Tories came in Hillingdon and Ruislip, for which Boris Johnson had served as an MP during the outgoing parliament, before opting to stand in the safer Conservative seat of North East Essex, where he was comfortably re-elected.
The election of new MPs was shortly followed by the first submission of representatives to the newly created ‘House of the Union’ on the 19th September, with being delegates chosen by regional electoral colleges consisting of councillors, Mayors, and representatives from the devolved national parliaments. As with the House of Commons, Labour was able to secure the most representatives in the new upper chamber, but remained some way off of an overall majority.
Labour's Back in Towns! Pt. 1
The September 2024 United Kingdom was held on 5th September 2024, to elect 650 members of the UK House of Commons. It was the first of two general elections that were held that year. Despite significant gains that were made by the opposition Labour and Liberal Democrat parties at the expense of the incumbent Conservative government, no party was able to achieve an overall majority, resulting in a hung parliament.
After winning a clear victory at the 2019 Election, Boris Johnson’s government found itself increasingly beset by a range of problems. Britain’s exit from the European Union and the subsequent efforts to negotiate a new trading relationship with the bloc ran up against considerable challenges, and although a ‘no deal’ exit was averted through the signing of the EU-British Partnership (EUBP) at the end of 2020, the scope of this agreement was extremely limited, and failed to cover large sections of the UK economy. This was attributed as a significant factor behind the UK’s stagnant economic growth in 2020, and the significant downturn that took place during the recession of the early 2020’s, which hit the UK especially badly.
This, along with concerns about housing and the state of public services, enabled the opposition Labour Party to make a significant recovery under the leadership of Wigan MP, Lisa Nandy. Labour maintained consistent polling leads throughout the final three years of the parliament, causing the government to delay calling a snap election until September 2024, four months prior to the expiration of the five-year parliament.
The Labour campaign focused on reversing public sector cuts, creating jobs through investment in green industries, and addressing the UK’s ongoing housing shortage. This, along with the personal popularity of Nandy, who was widely judged to have outperformed Boris Johnson across two televised debates, enabled the party to retain it’s lead until polling day, which saw it pick up ninety-seven seats. Whilst many of these gains came from the so called ‘red wall’ of seats that Labour had lost to the Conservatives in 2019, a significant number of these remained in Conservative hands, with many of Labour’s remaining gains coming from traditional marginals in England and Wales, as well as in London, where the party recorded it’s strongest ever performance. The party also made six gains from the SNP in Scotland.
The Liberal Democrats, now led by Oxford West and Abingdon MP, Layla Moran, also recorded a strong result, tripling their number of seats from the notional total of nine following the 2021 Parliamentary Boundary Review, to twenty-seven. Many of these victories were achieved through the operation of localised electoral pacts with Labour and the Green Party of England and Wales.
The Conservatives also faced a significant challenge in some constituencies from Richard Tice’s Brexit Party, who campaigned in opposition to the EUBP, arguing that it did represent a ‘clean break’ from EU structures. However, despite winning 4.5% of the national vote share, they were unable to translate this into a single seat, and instead were believed to have largely acted as a spoiler against the Conservative’s, enabling other parties to win in several constituencies.
In the aftermath of the result, it soon became clear that no majority existed for a continued Conservative administration, and Nandy declared her intent to form a ‘progressive alliance’ government consisting of left wing and centrist parties. The arithmetic of the new parliament meant that such an arrangement would be dependent on the support of the SNP. However, talks between Labour and the Nationalists broke down after less than two days over the former’s refusal to grant permission to hold a fresh referendum on Scottish Independence.
By the beginning of October, it was clear that no majority existed in the Commons for any new government, causing Boris Johnson, who continued to occupy the office of Prime Minister on an interim basis, to call for a fresh election for December 12th. This gave the brief September to October Parliament of 2024 the distinction as the shortest serving parliament since the English Civil War, having only been in session for fifteen working days. It also marked the first time in exactly fifty years that two UK general elections have been held in the same year.
Significant figures who lost their seats included the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, as well as his predecessor, Jeremy Hunt, who were both defeated in their Surrey constituencies by Liberal Democrat opponents. Another notable defeat for the Tories came in Hillingdon and Ruislip, for which Boris Johnson had served as an MP during the outgoing parliament, before opting to stand in the safer Conservative seat of North East Essex, where he was comfortably re-elected.
The election of new MPs was shortly followed by the first submission of representatives to the newly created ‘House of the Union’ on the 19th September, with being delegates chosen by regional electoral colleges consisting of councillors, Mayors, and representatives from the devolved national parliaments. As with the House of Commons, Labour was able to secure the most representatives in the new upper chamber, but remained some way off of an overall majority.
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