What happens after the General Election?

After the votes are counted, the party with the most seats is invited to form a government.

Thursday 04 July 2024 10:00 BST

What happens next depends on the results across the 650 constituencies and whether any party has managed to form a majority (PA) (PA Archive)

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When the polling stations close at 10pm on Thursday July 4, voters will have set the wheels in motion to determine the next parliament.

What happens next depends on the results across the 650 constituencies, whether any party has managed to form a majority, and if there is to be a new prime minister.

Votes counted

Once every person still in the polling station queue at 10pm has voted, the presiding officer seals the ballot box and delivers it to the local count centre.

Votes are first verified, with the number of votes in the ballot box checked against the paperwork from polling stations. Blank and spoiled papers, and those on which the voter’s intention is unclear, are removed. Votes from the ballot box are mixed with postal votes before they are counted.

The first constituency results are expected to be announced within a couple of hours. In recent years, a Tyne-Wear derby has developed in the north-east of England, with constituencies racing to be the first to declare. Newcastle upon Tyne Central (now replaced by Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West under new boundaries), declared at 11.27pm in 2019, ahead of Houghton and Sunderland South.

Meanwhile, politicians will be digesting the predictions of the exit poll. The results, broadcast at 10pm as the polling booths close, give the country the first idea of what to expect as the night progresses.

Exit polls are conducted throughout election day by asking thousands of people who they voted for at strategically chosen polling stations. In recent years, exit polls have given a reasonably accurate view of the choices the electorate has made.

The day after

By the early hours of Friday July 5, the vast majority of constituencies will have declared, and the country is likely to know which party has won the most seats.

What happens next depends on whether one party has earned a majority – 326 of the 650 seats. In reality, a working majority requires fewer seats because the Speaker and the three deputy speakers do not vote, and Sinn Fein MPs opt not to take their seats in Westminster.

If no party has a majority, then it becomes a hung parliament. In that case, the incumbent prime minister remains in power and is given the first chance to form a government – if they cannot form a government which commands the support of the majority of the House of Commons, they must resign to allow the King to invite someone else to try.

Governments without majorities can form coalitions with other parties, as was the case when the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats joined forces in 2010. Or they could lead as a minority government, as happened to the Conservatives in 2017 when they governed with the support of Northern Ireland’s Democratic Unionist Party, an arrangement known as confidence and supply.

This process can take time: following the 2010 general election, Tories and Lib Dems spent days in negotiations before finalising an agreement to form a government. Five days after the election, Labour leader Gordon Brown resigned as prime minister.

If one party wins a majority of seats, events move more quickly. That party will form the new government, and its leader will become the next prime minister.

If a new prime minister is to be appointed, the incumbent will visit the King and tender their resignation. The incoming prime minister arrives next and is formally asked by Charles to form a government.

The Opposition

The Opposition is formed of the second largest party in the House of Commons, determined by number of seats, and the leader of that party becomes Leader of the Opposition.

Their role is to scrutinise the work of the government, and they appoint a shadow cabinet to match each of the key portfolios. The Leader of the Opposition asks the most prominent questions during Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) every Wednesday while Parliament is sitting.

Prime minister

Once a new prime minister is appointed, they travel to Downing Street, where they can be expected to give a speech in front of the famous Number 10 door. They will then enter the building – traditionally applauded in by staff – and will meet the Cabinet Secretary, the most senior Civil Service adviser to the prime minister and cabinet.

A number of briefings will follow, covering a diverse range of topics: living arrangements for the new premier and family, the process for appointing ministers, urgent decisions on key policies, as well as security and intelligence information. The prime minister writes letters to the commanders of the four nuclear submarines which provide the UK’s at-sea deterrent, with instructions for what to do in the event of a nuclear strike that wipes out contact with the UK.

The prime minister will also start appointing their cabinet, typically inviting them into Number 10 to offer ministerial roles – anyone offered a position will have to meet with the propriety and ethics team to discuss potential conflicts of interest.

This process will continue over several days as more junior ministers, party whips and parliamentary private secretaries, are appointed, and will come interspersed with calls from world leaders, congratulating them on their new position.

Parliament and the King’s Speech

Parliament is due to resume on July 9, for the election of the Speaker. This process is led by the Father of the House – the chamber’s longest standing MP. If he is re-elected, this will be Sir Peter Bottomley, who has been in the House of Commons continuously since 1975.

All MPs have to declare an oath of allegiance to the Crown before they can take part in parliamentary business, a process known as swearing in.

Meanwhile, the government will be preparing for the King’s Speech, which is scheduled to follow the State Opening of Parliament on July 17.

In the King’s Speech – which is delivered by the monarch but written by the government – policies and proposed legislation for the coming parliamentary session will be revealed.

The speech is then debated in the House of Commons for several days. Passing the King’s Speech is the first big test of support in the government – unlikely to be an issue if one party has won a large majority.

The next key test in the Commons for the prime minister is the scrutiny they will face at PMQs. The hour-long session sees leaders of the other parties and MPs from across the chamber challenge the prime minister on a range of topics of interest to the country or specific to their constituencies.

A summer recess for the House of Commons is expected to start in late July. Last year it ran from July 20 to September 4, although the dates for the Commons to sit for the remainder of 2024 will not be announced until the winning party names its Leader of the House, who decides when the business of the parliament is carried out.

Foreign affairs

A couple of international summits are already scheduled for the prime minister’s early weeks. A Nato summit in Washington DC between July 9 and 11 is expected to be attended by the prime minister and the foreign and defence secretaries.

The prime minister will also host the European Political Community meeting at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire on July 18, with around 50 European political leaders expected to attend.