Number of seats won in the UK general election 2024
The Conservative party suffered a landslide defeat in the 2024 General Election, with the center-left Labour Party winning 412 seats, and the Conservatives just 121 seats. With 326 seats needed for a majority government, this was a crushing defeat for the Conservative Party, and the end of their 14 years in power.
Sunak unable to close the gap on Labour
When Rishi Sunak announced the date of the next general election on May 22, 2024 it ended months of speculation as to when the election would take place. Although Sunak likely hoped that more positive economic news regarding GDP growth and inflation would help him narrow the gap to Labour in the polls, this has not happened. While the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is also quite unpopular, Sunak is viewed more unfavorably, perhaps also due to his association with the chaotic reigns of his predecessors, Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.
Major stories of the campaign
The inability of the Conservative to close the gap on Labour has also not been helped by a series of unforced errors by the party. One of the main news stories at the start of June, for example, was Rishi Sunak leaving the D-Day commemorations in Normandy early, to attend a pre-planned interview. This has recently been overshadowed by an alleged insider betting scandal regarding Conservative election candidates and the date of the general election. Another key event has also been the return of Nigel Farage to mainstream UK politics, after he took over leadership of Reform UK early in the campaign. Farage's return gave the right-wing party a noticeable boost in the polls, mainly at the expense of the Conservatives.
