January 2025 General Election
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All 10 seats in the House of Commons 6 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 24 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 95.8% ( 32.20 pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The January 2025 General Election was held from the 1 January to the 5 January 2025.
The incumbent Prime Minister of Great Britain, Thomas Carew, advised the early calling of a general election, in line with the tradition of an immediate election upon the accession of a Sovereign, with George VII acceding to the throne on the 1 January 2025. The Dissolution of Parliament and the Writ of Election were published on the same day. It resulted in a hung parliament of 10 Members of Parliament, split evenly between the British Workers' Party and the joint Heron-Unionist Coalition. Of the 12 candidates running, only two failed in their bids for election: Sarah Forsyte and more shockingly, the Coalition Leader and former PM, August Carew.
It is the second election in a row to see the defeat of a Party Leader, with the prior November Election seeing the defeat of returning candidates Charles Wright and Anastasia Nelson, who were previously Leaders of the BWP and the now-abolished Labour Party.
It was the first election to see the confirmation of two female Members of Parliament since the March 2024 General Election, with Josephine Carew and the aforementioned Anastasia Nelson both securing wins in their constituencies of East Devon and South Norfolk respectively. It was the first election since July 2023 to not have Thomas Carew, the incumbent Father of the House, on the ballot, a record of more than a calendar year in Parliament.
Background
The results of the November 2024 General Election are given below, alongside the numbers in the House of Commons at dissolution. Seats changed via one merger, one dissolution, but no by-elections, the second Session in a row to have no Parliamentary Resignations.
| Affiliation | Members | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Elected November 2024 |
At Dissolution January 2025 |
Difference | |
| Unionist Party | 2 | 3 | 1
|
| Conservative Party | 2 | 0 |  2
|
| Heron Party | 2 | 2 | 
|
| Labour Party | 1 | 0 | 1
|
| British Workers' Party | 0 | 1 | 1
|
| Independent | 0 | 1 | 1
|
| Vacant | 0 | 0 |
|
| Total | 7 | 7 |
|
The earliest development in the Session was the resignation of the Conservative PM, Matthew Somerset, due to time constraints. This meant his Unionist Deputy Prime Minister, Thomas Carew, was summoned to form a Government on the 6 December 2024. The Conservative Party soon dissolved, following Somerset's defection to the Unionist Party, leaving its sole member, Nicholas Burke, to dissolve the party and return to his most common position as an Independent Member of Parliament. Despite the fact that, due to this dissolution, the Government did not have a technical majority, Carew was widely respected enough to be able to oversee Government for the remainder of the term.
On the 8 December 2024, the Labour Party merged with the British Workers' Party, creating by far the largest membership bloc in the political scene, under the leadership of former Unionist and Heron MP, Noa de Carteret. This was in part due to the shock dissapointment of the two parties' performances in the November Election, where both leaders of the parties lost their seat in the House of Commons. The sole Labour MP, Philip Costeau, subsequently spent the remainder of the term under the BWP banner.
No response was forthcoming from either the Heron Party or the Unionist Party, who many observers believed would not enter a coalition with each other due to animosity stemming from the August 2024 General Election. However, August Carew, The Baron Calder did announce his intentions to run as a Prime Ministerial Candidate against Mr. De Carteret.
Electoral System
General elections in the Empire of Great Britain are organised using the Romefeller Method, as established by the Representation of the People Act 2024. In this system, there are no set number of seats up for election, with any candidate getting over 50% approval returned to Westminster. So far, under this system, no candidate has failed to be returned to Parliament, each having at least the confidence of half the electorate.
Date of the Election
As per the Parliament Act 2024, the latest an election can be is 9 weeks after the State Opening of Parliament, placing the election no later than around the early weeks of March. However, it is customary for a General Election to be called almost immediately after the accession of a new monarch: Charles III and Elizabeth III both dropped Writs of Election soon after their accession, and upon George VII's accession on the 1 January 2025, a Writ and the Dissolution of Parliament were both published.
This had been announced prior to George VII's accession, in a statement by the then Prince of Wales. This was announced on the 22 December.
Timetable
| Date | Day | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 22 December 2024 | Sunday | Announcement of a General Election |
| 1 January 2025 | Wednesday | Issuance of the Writ of Election and Opening of the Registration Period |
| 3 January 2025 | Friday | Closure of the Registration Period, Deadline for Campaign Publication, Start of the Campaign Period, and Dissolution of Parliament |
| 4 January 2025 | Saturday | Conclusion of the Campaign Period and Opening of Election Ballot |
| 5 January 2025 | Sunday | Closure of the Election Ballot & Publication of Results, and Opening of Runoff Ballot (if needed) |
| 6 January 2025 | Monday | Closure of the Runoff Ballot & Publication of Results |