| 54th United Kingdom General Election |
Website Links For Next |
Information About54th United Kingdom General Election |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT NEXT UNITED KINGDOM GENERAL ELECTION | |
| united kingdom general elections | |
| 2009-10 | |
|
Under the provisions of the Parliament Act 1911 , the next United Kingdom general election must be held on or before 3 June , ''' 2010 '''. The previous election in the UK was the General Election Of 2005 held on 5 May , 2005 . The Queen may, at the request of the Prime Minister , order the Dissolution of Parliament at any time within five years of the date of the previous general election, although typically at least four years elapse before a new election is considered. It is possible that it may be held on June 11 , 2009 in order to coincide with elections to the European Parliament ; combining elections dates is a common practice in the UK with the intention of reducing costs and increasing turnout. In England, the elections for County Councils are on a four-year cycle and are set for 2009. Loacl elections are also due in Northern Ireland in 2009, although this is subject to the Northern Ireland Review of Public Administration. This would be keeping in line both with the recent practice for four-year terms, and the convention of holding parliamentary elections on a Thursday. The General Election will take place in all Constituencies of the United Kingdom, for seats in the House Of Commons . There are currently 646 seats in the house, although the number of constituencies and their boundaries will change from those used at the previous general election, especially in England And Wales where a ten-year review is due for completion in 2007 . ''See also Constituencies In The Next United Kingdom General Election '' OVERVIEW The governing Labour Party will be looking to secure a fourth consecutive term in office and to maintain its majority. The Conservative Party will seek to regain its dominant position in politics against losses in the 1990s , and to replace Labour as the governing party. The Liberal Democrats will hope to make gains from both sides. Bookmakers are already taking bets and as of January 2006 predictions suggest Labour will still be the largest party with a lead of around twenty seats over the Conservatives; the bookmakers' predictions are based on boundary changes and applying the uniform swing toward the Conservatives that was seen in the 2001 and 2005 elections. Given that elections are influenced mainly by events that happen after the last one, these predictions may be wholly inaccurate. LEADERSHIP OF THE PARTIES David Cameron became Conservative leader in December 2005 . Sir Menzies Campbell replaced Charles Kennedy as leader of the Lib Dems in March 2006 . Tony Blair has declared his intention to stand down before the next general election, with Chancellor Gordon Brown widely expected to replace him as leader of the Labour Party and Prime Minister . All three main political parties will therefore go into the election with new leaders. This last happened in the 1979 General election, when James Callaghan , Margaret Thatcher and David Steel led the three main parties. That election saw the return of the Conservatives to government with a clear majority after five years of a troubled Labour government, while the Liberal Party vote collapsed. As well as impacting on the popularity of each party at the polls, it can be said that the leadership of each party may have implications in the event of a Hung Parliament and the need to form a coalition government. Whereas Tony Blair was known to have courted the Lib Dems for possible coalition in the 1997 Parliament even though Labour had a clear majority, Gordon Brown is thought to be more resistant to co-operation with the Lib Dems; David Cameron has already attempted to "poach" voters and MPs from the Lib Dems, which has created the impression that his policies are in tune with theirs, but may put the Lib Dems off coalition for fear of being subsumed. OTHER PARTIES Many seats will also be contested by other parties. Parties with representation at the previous general election at Westminster include the Democratic Unionist Party , Health Concern , Plaid Cymru , RESPECT The Unity Coalition , the Scottish National Party , Sinn Féin (who do not take their seats as they will not swear the Oath Of Allegiance to the Queen), the Social Democratic And Labour Party , and the Ulster Unionist Party . There was one independent member of Parliament, Peter Law , elected in the 2005 General election, who died in April 2006. Given vocal groups of opposition within both of the main parties, it is possible that the number of independent MPs will increase as members are expelled or resign. Parties expected to contest the election that won no representatives at Westminster in 2005, but had seats in the Devolved Assemblies and European Parliament , include the Alliance Party Of Northern Ireland , the United Kingdom Independence Party , the various national Green Parties , and the Scottish Socialist Party . ''See also List Of Political Parties In The United Kingdom '' BENCHMARKS The following benchmarks have been calculated on 2005 boundaries and assume a uniform swing across the country.
Governments can easily survive for a full parliamentary term on a majority of more than 20 seats over all other parties. Labour would be reduced to 25 on a swing to Con of 1.48% and the Conservatives would gain a 25 seat majority on a swing to Con of 7.01%. Below that level there is a danger of byelections and crossing the floor MPs reducing the government to a minority such that it would lose a vote of no confidence. Note that these figures do not take into account the performance of the Liberal Democrats, minor or nationalist parties. While parliamentary elections are rarely so close that the minor parties affect control of government, gains and losses by the Liberal Democrats have a greater degree of influence. BOUNDARY CHANGES IN ENGLAND, WALES AND NORTHERN IRELAND The Boundary Commission are required by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (as amended by the Boundary Commissions Act 1992) to conduct a general review of all the constituencies in England every eight to twelve years. The Commission completed their previous general review on 12 April 1995 , and are currently undertaking the latest one, which must complete after 11 April 2003 and before 12 April 2007 . The Commission’s recommendations throughout the review must by law be based on the numbers of electors on the electoral registers on that date. After completion, its recommendations will be sent to the Secretary Of State For Constitutional Affairs who puts it before Parliament. If Parliament approves, the new constituencies will be used in the next General Election. The changes made will be the first major ones to Parliamentary constituencies since the 1997 General Election. Constituencies in Wales are also reviewed every 8-12 years, but by the Boundary Commission For Wales , who have completed their latest review which was laid before Parliament on 14 December 2005. Scotland saw a large-scale review in 2004. Some new seats will be created, some will be absorbed into others and other changes in the size and shape of constituencies will occur. The majority of seats only have minor alterations. It is already clear that new seats are to be recommended by the commission in Hampshire , Bristol , Warwickshire , Lancashire and South Yorkshire , and that seats are to be abolished in Merseyside , North London and a combined region of Salford / Manchester and Trafford , but the list of created and abolished seats is always hard to confirm due to the nature of radical boundary alterations. In Oxfordshire and Cheshire , for example, only to very minor realignment of boundaries has been recommended. In Wales , the total number of seats is to remain at 40, although new seats have been recommended by radical redrawing of boundaries in Clwyd and Gwynedd ; Arfon and Dwyfor Meirionnydd could replace Caernarfon and Meirionnydd Nant Conwy respectively; Aberconwy could replace Conwy . Scotland had to have a drastic reduction in seats at the last general election following the re-establishment of the Scottish Parliament. Wales has not seen a drop in the number of constituencies, unlike Scotland in its 2002 boundary changes. Currently Welsh constituencies have on average 25,000 fewer people than their counterparts in England . The Northern Ireland Boundary Commission is currently analysing the results of public meetings concerning its review. Some assumed that the board would axe one of Belfast 's four seats, but the provisional recommendations extend the capital's constituencies into suburban areas whilst creating an extended Antrim Coast and Glens seat from the existing East Antrim constituency. The current list of confirmed constituencies in England, Scotland and Wales is in '' 347 (-9), Conservative 214 (+16), Liberal Democrats 60 (-2) and others -1. EXTERNAL LINKS http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/ Boundary changes |
|
|