Plan of the presentation

1. Background information – which factors

were leading to a General election
2. Major issues
3. Policies and manifestos of the three major
parties
4. Course of the campaign
5. Election results
6. Impact of the election
7. How was election reported/seen by the
media
 Quick presentation of 2017
general election
■ The 2017 British general election is held on June 8, 2017 to renew the 650 seats in the
House of Commons.

■ These are early elections - the ballot was originally scheduled for May 2020 - convened at
the request of Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May. They take place two years after
the previous ones when the Conservative Party, then led by David Cameron, won an
absolute majority. These elections take place one year after the referendum that approved
the principle of the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union and while
the withdrawal procedure has been initiated since March 29, 2017.

■ Although largely favored at the beginning of the campaign, the conservatives lose their
majority after the vote and are forced to negotiate an alliance with the Democratic Unionist
Party to stay in power. The Labor Party led by Jeremy Corbyn is progressing by 30 seats.
The background situation
■ In the May 2015 election, the Conservatives - then in power since 2010 in a coalition with the Liberal Democrats -
managed to win a majority in the House of Commons despite polls calling for a tighter vote. True to his party's
campaign promise, Prime Minister David Cameron negotiates new relations between his country and the European
Union and calls for a referendum on keeping the UK in the EU. The vote takes place on June 23, 2016: 52% of voters
vote for the withdrawal of the European Union. Supporter of maintenance, David Cameron resigns and is replaced on
July 13, 2016 by Theresa May15,16. The decision to leave the European Union creates a lot of uncertainty and it is
not until March 29, 2017, that the Prime Minister officially launches the withdrawal process.

■ Following the referendum on the European Union, Scottish Independence Premier Nicola Sturgeon, re-elected in
2016, announced that she would like to hold a second referendum on the independence of Scotland after the 2014
referendum. European Union creates a new context for the constituent nation18.

■ On the other hand, dissension between Unionists and nationalists in Northern Ireland led to the convening of early
elections in March 2017, without the possibility of a government being formed19.

■ Local elections are held in England, Scotland and Wales on May 4, 2017: they see the Conservatives progressing in
many local councils against Labor whose leader, Jeremy Corbyn appears highly contested by his own MPs.
Main issues of the campaign
■ Brexit The UK's withdrawal from the European Union was expected to be a key issue in the
campaign, but featured less than expected.

■ Security Two major terrorist attacks took place during the election campaign, with parties
arguing about the best way to prevent such events

■ Social care Social care became a major election issue after the Conservative Party's manifesto
included new proposals, which were subsequently altered after criticism

■ Scottish independence and the future of the UK The question of a proposed

Scottish independence referendum was also thought likely to influence the campaign in Scotland

■ University tuition fees Labour was thought to have attracted a significant number of
student voters with its pledge to abolish tuition fees, which stands at £9,000 a year in England, and
bring back student grants

■ Possible coalitions Although Labour and the Liberal Democrats both rejected election pacts
with each other and with the Greens and the SNP, and although the Liberal Democrats ruled out a
coalition deal with the Conservatives, the Conservatives campaigned on this theme, using the
phrase "coalition of chaos"
Conservatives party campaign

■ At the announcement of the elections, the personal popularity of Theresa May and a
divided Labour Party make the Conservatives the big favourites of the polls, a status
confirmed by their success in the May 4th local elections. The party is campaigning on
the theme of "strong and stable leadership" and promises in its program to increase the
funding of the health system but also to reduce the protection of the level of pensions, to
establish a maximum income for subsidies paid for heating homes, abolishing free
meals in schools in England, reducing immigration and including the value of home in
calculating care aids for the elderly. This last proposition, described as a "senility tax",
is very poorly received and is finally withdrawn.
Thus, during the campaign, these reversals and several blunders of the Prime Minister
start the advance of the Conservatives in the polls, gradually overtaken by Labour.
Labour party campaign

■ In 2016, following the victory of the leave in the referendum on the European Union, Jeremy Corbyn faces an
open rebellion of a majority of the Labour MPs who accuse him including having missed the campaign of the
party in favour of maintaining country in the EU. He is facing the resignation of most members of his shadow
cabinet but refuses to resign. A challenge procedure is launched and a new management election is held in
which Corbyn confronts Owen Smith. After the election in September 2016, Jeremy Corbyn remains at the
head of the Labour Party by collecting 62% of the vote but the party is divided and the image of his leader
degraded in the public opinion26.

■ The Labour Party, which started the campaign very late in the polls, campaigning on the theme "For the
many, not the few" and the themes of public services ( including police), housing and employee rights
Regarding the withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the Labour Party wants, unlike
the Conservatives, to negotiate the maintenance in the single European market and for a free trade agreement
Liberal-democrat party
campaign

■ One of the central themes of the liberal-democrat campaign is the promise of a second
referendum on the final agreement on the exit of the European Union and the wish that
the United Kingdom remain a member of the common market. The party intends to
target the constituencies that voted for the EU.
Scottish National Party
campaign
■ In 2015, the Scottish National Party had won all but two Scottish seats, making it the third-best-represented
party in the House of Commons, a position it intends to maintain.

■ He places at the centre of his campaign the need to protect the interests of Scotland during the negotiations
for Brexit. The SNP also calls for a referendum on the independence of Scotland at the end of the Brexit
procedure, proposes measures "anti-austerity" including a significant investment in public services,
promises an increase to 10 £ minimum hourly wage and claims that Scotland has control over its
immigration.

■ Nova Scotia Party Leader and Premier Nicola Sturgeon has declared her willingness to form alliances to
form a "progressive alternative" to a Conservative government
UKIP party campaign

■ The party approaches the poll in difficulty after losing the 145 seats it defended in the
local elections in June
■ The UKIP program targets British Muslims by promising to ban burqa and sharia and to
impose a moratorium on the opening of Muslim schools. The party also proposes to
achieve net migration of zero in five years
Course of the campaign

• 18th of April 2017: Theresa May announced her intention to hold a new General election
• 19th of April 2017: MPs voted to dissolve parliament (522 (Tories, Labour and Lib Dem) to 13
abstentions (SNP))
• 22nd of April 2017: start of ‘Pudrah’ (pre-election period)
• 3rd of May 2017: Formal dissolution of parliament=
• 22nd of May to 26nd of May: campaigns were interrupted because of the Manchester arena
bombing
• 3rd of June: After the London Bridge attack, all parties – except UKIP – interrupted their
campaign shortly
• 8th of June: General election
 England Scotland Wales North Ireland
(533 of 650 constituencies) (59 of 650 constituencies) (40 of 650 constituencies) (18 of 650 constituencies)
Turnout: 69,1% Turnout: 66,4% Turnout: 68,8% Turnout: 65,4%

• Labour won 21 ‘new’ • SNP won 35 • Labour strongest party (28 • 2015: 4 parties won
constituencies constituencies (59,3%) – of 40 constituencies (+3)) constituencies – 2017
• Conservatives lost 22 2015: 56 constituencies • Conservative won 8 only two:
constituencies (94,9%) -> main reason constituencies (-3) • DUP won 10 seats (+2)
• UKIP lost massively in might have been SNPs • Plaid Cymru won 4 • Sinn Féin won 7 seats
votes (12,1% to 2,1%) aim to hold another constituencies (+1) (+3)
• Green party lost independence referendum • Lib Dem lost their last • One constituency was
massively as well (4,2% • Conservative (+12 won constituency in Wales to won by an independent
to 1,9% constituencies), Labour Plaid Cymru candidate
(+6 Cons.) and Lib Dem
• Nick Glegg lost his (+3 Cons.)
constituency to the labour
candidate Jared O Mara • The former First Minister
• With Vince Cable, another Alex Salmond lost his
prominent Lib Dem constituency to the
politician won a conservative candidate
constituency
Impact of the election

■ Mays plan to strengthen her position in her party, in the parliament and in
the Brexit-Negotiations failed
■ May announced – after having lost her majority in parliament – that she
wanted to work together with the DUP
■ The Labour Party became much stronger, especially because of focusing
on young voters
How was election reported/seen by the media

■ Media considered Mays loss particulary as a result of her uninspired and disastrous
election campaign
■ Because of her weakened position after the election, the media discussed already about
the question, who could become her successor