When is the next general election?

Prime Minister Liz Truss has resigned after just six weeks in the job.

She has become the UK's shortest-ever PM after delivering an extraordinary statement outside Number 10. It comes just 24 hours after she declared 'I'm a fighter, not a quitter'.

Her resignation came after Ms Truss met with Sir Graham Brady, chair of the 1922 backbench committee, in Downing Street on Thursday. There have been weeks of turmoil in government, which included former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng being sacked.

Just days later, newly-appointed Chancellor Jeremy Hunt delivered a fiscal statement in which the government scrapped the majority of policies set out in Mr Kwarteng's mini-budget. The chaos came to a head on Wednesday and saw Suella Braverman lash out at Ms Truss’ “tumultuous” premiership in her resignation letter.

She accused the government of “breaking key pledges” including on immigration policy. Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey lead calls for a general election.

Taking to Twitter, he said: "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."

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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