As Prime Minister Liz Truss stepped down on Thursday many people called for a general election. As she became the UK's shortest serving PM in history, her departure came following a turbulent few weeks.
The past weeks have seen Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng leaving after delivering a mini-budget of which the majority was later scrapped by new Chancellor Jeremy Hunt. Then on Wednesday Suella Braverman criticised Ms Truss’ “tumultuous” premiership in a letter as she resigned from her post as Home Secretary claiming the governent had broken "key pledges" including on immigration policy.
Just hours earlier The PM vowed to stick with the job telling people she was a "fighter not a quitter". But in a shock statement she has now said she will resign, reports the Manchester Evening News.
She quit following a meeting with Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 backbench committee earlier in the day. Among those calling for a general election are Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey who posted on Twitter: "We don't need another Conservative Prime Minister lurching from crisis to crisis. We need a General Election now and the Conservatives out of power."
Sir Keir Starmer has also called for a general election "now" following the departure of Ms Truss after just 45 days. He said: “The Conservative Party has shown it no longer has a mandate to govern."
But if no general election is called when is the next one?
When is the next UK general election?
UK Prime Ministers and their respective parliaments can only serve a term of five years from the day on which they first meet. The current parliament met on December 17 2019 and is set to dissolve on December 17 2024.
Polling Day would be expected to take place 25 days later - so the next general election would be held in January 2025. However, no official date has yet been set.
Unusually, there have been three general elections in recent years, with the last taking place on December 12, 2019, which saw Boris Johnson move into Number 10. Before that, there was one on June 8 2017 and May 7 2015, seeing Theresa May and David Cameron take office respectively.
But for an early general election to be called, it is typically up to the Prime Minster themselves to make the decision. This hasn’t always been the case though, as in 2011, a law was passed that removed the PM’s power to call an early election.
Instead, it was the House of Commons that made the decision under certain conditions, such as two-thirds agreeing to a vote. This law was reversed in 2019 though, with the Tories introducing a new law called the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022, reports the Mirror. After this was passed, Prime Ministers once again had the power to call a general election when they decide.
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