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If he becomes PM, Burnham has already ruled out an early election, telling an online forum last week: “I’m going to work to the 2024 manifesto.”<\/p>\n
By September at the latest, the UK will have had seven prime ministers in the past decade.<\/p>\n
Four prime ministers took over mid-term without having fought and won a general election: Theresa May in 2016, Boris Johnson in 2016, and Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, both in 2022. <\/p>\n
In each of these cases, there have been questions from opposition parties about their legitimacy in office. <\/p>\n
But the next prime minister, like their predecessors, is under no obligation to call a general election before the scheduled end of the Parliament in 2029.<\/p>\n
The current system sees the electorate vote for their MPs and a party, and those MPs and that party choose their leader.<\/p>\n
The last general election was held on 4 July 2024, with Labour winning a landslide majority, meaning the next election must legally be held by August 2029, though a prime minister can choose to call one at any point before this.<\/p>\n
A PM calling an early election depends on a number of factors – how the party is performing in the polls, and whether the prime minister wants to seek a new mandate from the electorate to set out his own agenda in government.<\/p>\n
So while Burnham has ruled out an immediate election, there may still be one before the end of 2029. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n