General election 2024 – more candidates than ever before - UK in a changing Europe (2024)

DATE

20 Jun 2024

AUTHORS

THEME

Politics and Society

A finalised list of candidates standing in the UK general election was released on 10 June. Using data from Democracy Club, Hannah Bunting assesses the numbers of candidates standing and what this means for voter choice.

Overall, there are 4,379 candidates standing in 2024. That’s 981 more than in 2019, when 3,398 stood. It’s the most candidates ever, the previous record being 2010 where 4,093 were fielded.

Once thought to be a positive for pluralistic democracy, this may have counterintuitive consequences. Polling from Ipsos MORI shows 45% of people may still change their mind on who to vote for before polling day. There is some evidence that more choice makes it more difficult for the electorate to decide, which could lead to fewer people voting at all and therefore reducing turnout.

This increase in candidate numbers is spread across almost all constituencies, therefore impacting nearly all voters in Great Britain. All seats have at least five candidates, and nearly half have eight or more. Comparing this with 2019 highlights the extent of the increase between the two general elections. At the previous contest, just 32 constituencies had eight or more names on the ballot paper, and 60% had five or fewer.

This means that voters in 77% of constituencies have more candidates competing for their vote than they did in 2019. In a plurality of seats, there’s an increase of just one additional candidate. However, a fifth of constituencies will see an increase of two or three.

One reason for this is the breakdown of party alliances that were made in 2019. During that Brexit-focused election, a ‘Unite to Remain’ pact was agreed between the Liberal Democrats, Greens and Plaid Cymru in 60 seats, fought on the constituency boundaries of the time. They agreed that only one party would stand in these areas to maximise the anti-Leave vote around a single candidate.

Similarly, Reform UK’s predecessor The Brexit Party stood down their candidates that were running in Conservative marginal constituencies so that the pro-Leave vote wasn’t split. The absence of pacts in 2024 means candidates from those four parties are standing in more seats across the country, competing with those they formerly stood down for, and boosting the difference in numbers.

Unsurprisingly, the seats of the two men who may be Prime Minister after the election are those with the most candidates. As both party’s leaders have changed since the last election — and thus their constituencies – it’s these seats that have seen the biggest change in the number of candidates standing since 2019.

Rishi Sunak’s defence in Richmond and Northallerton sees him face 12 other challengers. This includes Count Binface, The Monster Raving Looney Party, and four independents. It’s typical for this to happen in the PM’s seat, partly for the iconic photo at the count on election night. The difference of -4 candidates in Boris Johnson’s old seat, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, is likely to be because it’s no longer being defended by a PM. Five more candidates than in 2019 are standing in Keir Starmer’s seat, of Holborn and St Pancras, with this his first general election as leader of the Labour party.

Yet there are many seats where name recognition – and the possibility of a good photo opportunity – doesn’t explain the change in the number of candidates standing. Changes are also evenly split between those that are Conservative-held, and those with Labour incumbents. In some of the seats – such as Oxford East, that has 12 candidates, and Leeds North East that has eleven (up five from last year) – local parties orientated around grassroots campaigns for area-specific issues are standing, leading to a lengthy ballot paper.

Others, like Bexhill and Battle, simply have the full breadth of the ideological spectrum all appearing on the same ballot. Voters here will have the option to support Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, Green, Reform, UKIP, the Party of Women or one of two Independents on 4 July.

Most of the constituencies with the biggest increases in candidate numbers have incumbents with sizeable majorities. The exception to this is East Renfrewshire in Scotland. It’s one of the few that hasn’t undergone boundary changes and the Conservatives came second to the SNP here in 2019. The SNP have less than a 10% majority, so new parties entering the race could be disruptive. Labour are in third place, yet some polling suggests they could take the seat. If both the SNP and Conservatives lose votes to new candidates, including to Independence for Scotland (an SNP challenger) and Reform for the Tories, it makes that Labour gain more likely.

The majorities are much smaller in seats that have fewer candidates compared to 2019. That same disruption can occur here. For instance, in Broxtowe an estimated 7.2% of voters opted for Anna Soubry in 2019 who stood for The Independent Group for Change (Change UK). Those voters will need to opt for a different party this time, and if enough of them back Labour, alongside others who were perhaps Conservative supporters in 2019, then the seat could turn red for the first time since under Blair and Brown.

There are five parties contesting 90% of the seats in Great Britain at this election. In addition, the SNP are standing in all Scottish constituencies and Plaid Cymru in all of Wales. There are 54 candidates from local parties, such as the Yorkshire Party and the South Devon Alliance, and over 900 from other parties or independent candidates.

Ultimately this presents voters with more choice than ever before. Once thought to be a positive, both for pluralistic democracy and for participation in elections, there is some evidence that too much choice in politics has negative consequences.

A growing body of research shows that a greater number of candidates means citizens are more likely to abstain from voting. Without strong ties to political forces, the electorate now has to put in more effort to make a decision for polling day. The more parties the more conflicting campaign messages and information to digest. This fuels uncertainty and can leave citizens without a clear choice, meaning they choose not to participate at all.

ByDr Hannah Bunting, Lecturer in Quantitative British Politics, University of Exeter, and co-director of The Elections Centre.

For more insights into the 2024 general election, visit The Elections Centre website.