August 2024 General Election
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 10 seats in the House of Commons 6 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered | 31 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 64.51% ( 22.59 pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4
0
The August 2024 General Election was held on the 24 August 2024, resulting in a hung Parliament. Persistent and divisive negotiations began regarding the future of the Government, with both major parties conceding that neither party leader could form the next Government. Ultimately, following the defecting support of the only Independent Candidate in the Commons, James Spencer, Thomas Carew, The Viscount Sidmouth recieved a 6-4 majority in the Commons in order to form a Government made up of members from all parties, that Carew coined "The National Government", with reference to the coalitions of the 1930s. The ten Parliamentarians made up the 34th Parliament of Great Britain. It was the fourth general election held under the electoral system known as the "Romefeller Method", though the outcome of a hung parliament led to calls and discussions for its replacement or appeal.
Following the midterm resignation of Josephine Carew-Grey, The Baroness Wilton as Prime Minister and Unionist Party Leader, the political scene had been plunged into uncertainty. James Forsyte, The Duke of Warwick was elected as Party Leader and invited to form a Government, but uncertainty remained following high-profile defections, a Leadership election fiasco, and the surprising return of the Heron Party. Other high-profile resignations throughout the conclusion of the term, such as the Leader of the Opposition and noted backbenchers meant that in mid-August, the Prime Minister advised the King to dissolve Parliament call a General Election, some two weeks before it was due.
Campaigning took on a noted nature of division and controversy. The Polls opened on the 23 August 2024 at 22:30 BST, closing exactly 24 hours later on the 24 August.
The recently reformed Heron Party, under the guidance of William Somerset, The Earl of Durham, secured their position as the largest party in the 10-man strong Commons (the first Parliament in four sessions not to include a woman), while the Unionist Party suffered a loss of two seats to finish as the second largest party. However, the Unionist Party had secured a powerful coalition with the Socialist, left-wing bloc of the electorate by gaining the endorsement of the British Workers' Party and the Organisation of Workers' Labour, whom altogether formed the Unionist-Workers' Front. The Heron Party also had an undisclosed confidence-and-supply agreement with an Independent Candidate in the result that such an advantage was needed.
It was the first time the Unionist Party failed to win the popular vote or the largest vote share, that privilege going to the Heron Party. It was the first time the Heron Party ran in a general election and failed to form a Government: they also equalled their highest ever tally of MPs, also achieving 4 in January 2024.