General Election 2017

Coverage of the 2017 UK General Election which took place on 8th June 2017. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act a general election was not due to be held until May 2020, however Prime Minister Theresa May called for a snap election, which was ratified by the necessary two-thirds vote. Opinion polls had consistently shown strong leads for the Conservatives over Labour. From a 21-point lead, the Conservatives’ lead began to diminish in the final weeks of the campaign.

In a surprising result, the Conservative Party made a net loss of 13 seats with 42.4% of the vote (its highest share of the vote since 1983), whilst Labour made a net gain of 30 seats with 40.0% (its highest share since 2001). This was the closest result between the two major parties since February 1974, and their highest combined vote share since 1970. The Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats, the third- and fourth-largest parties, both lost vote share; media coverage characterised the election as a return to two-party politics.

Recordings will be added to this page as soon as possible.

The Campaign