2029 United Kingdom general election

The 2029 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 June 2029. It gave the Conservative Party, under the leadership of incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson, their most decisive election victory since 1983.

Johnson's second term as Prime Minister, from 2024 to 2029, had been marked by a rapid economic recovery from the inflation crisis of 2021-2022, and by 2027, the economy was growing at its fastest pace since 2005. This contributed significantly to the recovery of Johnson's and the Conservatives' popularity.

By the time Parliament was dissolved in May of 1983, nearly all opinion polls pointed towards a Conservative victory (with some suggesting that the Conservatives could win as many as 450 seats), and all major national newspapers, excluding the Daily Mirror, endorsed the re-election of the Conservative government. The subsequent election saw the Conservatives win their biggest victory of the post-war era (together with 1983), as well as winning the highest percentage of the popular vote for any party since Edward Heath's Conservatives won 46.4% in 1970.

The Liberal Democrats lost 2.5% of their previous popular vote share, but had a net increase of 8 seats compared to their 2024 result, bringing their seat total to 31, the best result for the party since 2010.

The Labour Party had been led by Andy Burnham since the resignation of former leader Keir Starmer in 2024, following his unexpected defeat in the prior election in May. Despite Burnham's high personal popularity, particularly in the North, which was a competitive region, his significant shift to the left since 2020 left many members of the British public viewing him to be too radical, a perception that was worsened after the publication of the Labour manifesto, which included a number of hard-left policies, such as the nationalisation of railways, banks, and other key industries, the abolition of the House of Lords, and the establishment of a devolved Parliament for the North of England. As a consequence, among other factors, Labour went down to its greatest electoral defeat since the 1920s.

Campaign and policies
The Conservatives emphasised the strong economy, and national defence, largely ignoring Burnham in favour of allowing attacks to come from so-called "surrogate Tories" in the newspapers and the media. A number of memorable campaign posters were produced for the Conservatives, such as a picture of a penny bank "overflowing" with money, with the caption "The Conservatives: Giving Back to Britain", and a subcaption of "The average family has had a 7% increase in real income since 2019". A party political broadcast by the Conservatives showed scenes of the British military, with a narration telling of the improvements to the military since 2019, with the hymn Land of Hope and Glory in the background.

Labour promised the implementation of a number of left-wing policies, including the nationalisation of a number of key industries, the abolition of the House of Lords, and the establishment of a devolved Parliament for Northern England. Although some of these policies were popular with the general public, the perception of Burnham as a dangerous, left-wing, radical dampened his appeal, and Conservative-associated newspapers warned that Labour's policies would result in a mass-exodus of businesses and a collapse in the pound's value.

The Liberal Democrats largely attacked the Conservatives on social issues, and the environment, claiming that the Liberal Democrats would "protect the environment, and the most disadvantaged members of society" whereas the Conservatives had "left both out in the dark". They proposed the legalisation of cannabis, and the introduction of protections for the LGBT community.

Endorsements
The following newspapers endorsed political parties running in the election in the following ways:

Results
The Conservatives led by Boris Johnson won a sixth consecutive election victory, and their third consecutive victory with a absolute majority. A number of reasons have been put forward for the Conservative victory, including the strong economy, the leftism of Burnham's policies, as well as media bias against Labour.

After the election, Burnham resigned, and was replaced by Wes Streeting, who sought to steer the party in a more moderate direction. In a number of southern constituencies, the share of the Labour vote fell dramatically, with most going to the Conservatives, not the Liberal Democrats as expected. Some notable losses include former Labour leader Ed Miliband, and Shadow Secretary of State for the Home Department Yvetter Cooper.

In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party continued to make gains against the formerly-dominant Democratic Unionist Party, in part due to continued backlash of the latter's part in Brexit, as well as its increasingly radical leadership and policy positions.