United Kingdom - July 2024

On 4 July, the United Kingdom held a general election in which 650 seats for the House of Commons, the lower parliamentary house, were contested. The Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a majority of 411 seats with a vote share of 33.7 per cent. The Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, secured 23.7 per cent of the vote and only 121 seats, lower than in any general election since 1832, according to the House of Commons Library. The Liberal Democrats became the third largest party with 72 seats and a share of 12.2 per cent of the vote. Voter turnout was 59.8 per cent, a notable drop compared to the turnout of 67.3 per cent in the 2019 general election. A record of 263 women MPs were elected (40 per cent of total), an increase from 226 women (34.8 per cent) in the previous legislature.

Sources: House of Commons, Reuters, BBC

On 29 July, children attending a Taylor Swift-themed dance class were attacked in Southport, northern England. Three young girls were killed, and eight more children and two adults were injured. After a peaceful vigil for the victims, a violent riot broke out near the scene of the attack, resulting in injuries to nearly 40 police officers. The 17-year-old boy arrested in connection with the knife attack at the dance class was initially not named due to his age. Online dis- and misinformation circulated about the name and identity of the attacker, with some falsely claiming the perpetrator was a Muslim asylum-seeker. Riots marked by extremist violence broke out across the UK, including the vandalisation of businesses owned by ethnic and religious minorities and attacks on hotels housing migrants. The government responded with a crackdown, leading to the arrest of multiple rioters.

Sources: New York Times, The Loop, BBC, Merseyside Police, The Guardian, ECRE