Coming full circle: The 2017 UK general election and the changing electoral map

Abstract

After a period of little change, the United Kingdom's electoral map changed markedly in the last decades of the twentieth century and the first decade of the twenty‐first. The three most recent elections – in 2010, 2015 and 2017 – witnessed further very substantial change, in part reflecting changes to the party system and the geography of party competition. This commentary explores those recent changes, showing how changes in support for parties other than the two largest – Conservative and Labour – have resulted in major alterations to the country's electoral geography, with major implications for government formation.