With the announcement that Liz Truss has become the new Prime Minister, the fourth in just six years this afternoon we look at when the UK can expect to go to the polls so the whole country can vote for who leads the country.
The last general election took place on 12th December 2019.
The maximum term of a UK Parliament is five years from the day on which it first met, in this case Tuesday 17th December 2019.
This means that unless the current parliament is dissolved by the Queen, a very unlikely move, or Liz Truss chooses to call an early general election, it will automatically dissolve on Tuesday 17th December 2024.
Polling day would then be expected to take place 25 days later, and should be held no later than Tuesday 24th January 2025.
Should she wish to, Liz Truss can decide to call an early general election, according to parliament.uk, the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, which received Royal Assent on 24th March 2022, “enable Governments, within the life of a Parliament, to call a general election at the time of their choosing”.
The last two parliaments did not run for a full term. Theresa May called an early election in 2017 and Boris Johnson then called another early election in 2019.
