Voters in the United Kingdom (UK)—which includes the constituent countries of England, Scotland, and Wales along with the territory of Northern Ireland—will head to the polls on July 4, 2024, for the country’s next general election. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the election in late May, surprising analysts who expected the vote to be held later in 2024. Sunak’s Conservative Party, which has held power since 2010, has trailed considerably in polls behind the opposition Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer. The far-right Reform UK Party, the centrist Liberal Democrats, and the left-wing Green Party will also contest constituencies nationwide for the 650-seat House of Commons.

In the years after Brexit, in which the UK voted to leave the European Union (EU), the country has experienced considerable political, social, and economic strains. Sunak, who became prime minister in October 2022, is the fifth Conservative leader since the 2016 EU referendum. The UK, which briefly entered a recession in 2023, continues to suffer from a cost-of-living crisis driven by high inflation on energy prices, groceries, and other consumer goods. Debate over immigration has also become a key election issue. The government’s highly controversial plan to detain certain asylum seekers and deport them to authoritarian Rwanda has sparked ongoing legal and human rights concerns, and is opposed by Starmer.

The UK is a stable democracy that regularly holds free elections and hosts a vibrant media sector. Elections in the UK are credibly overseen by the independent Electoral Commission, a nonpartisan body. Under voter identification (ID) regulations implemented in May 2023, this will be the first general election where voters are required to present a photo ID before casting a ballot in person. While the government generally enforces robust protections for political rights and civil liberties, recent years have featured new restrictions on the right to protest as well as rising Islamophobia and anti-immigrant sentiment.

The country has a score of 88 out of 100, with 100 being the most resilient to digital election interference, on Freedom House’s Election Vulnerability Index, which is based on a selection of key electoral indicators. While certain factors remain a concern for the UK’s political system, the score reflects the country’s longstanding democratic tradition, backed by strong rule of law protections.

Freedom House has identified the following as key digital interference issues to watch ahead of election day: 

• Online harassment: Women public officials and political candidates often face harassment and abuse online, at times undermining their physical safety. Certain women Members of Parliament have reported receiving death threats and other dehumanizing comments via social media and email. One study conducted in the leadup to the 2019 general election, for example, found that women politicians frequently received online comments denigrating their physical appearance or intellectual capabilities, and that such abuse often intersected with race and social class. Such harassment, which could discourage women’s participation in politics, will likely continue around this year’s general election.
• Information manipulation: There are concerns that this year’s election will feature content manipulation. In June, the BBC documented the existence of more than 50 potentially inauthentic social media accounts that posted content in support of Reform UK—though it noted that the accounts may belong to real users. The government has raised concerns about the role of generative artificial intelligence within disinformation campaigns; in June, the Cabinet Office published updated guidance for how candidates and election officials should respond to false and misleading information generated by the technology. The issue has also been prevalent during previous votes. During the 2019 general election, both Conservative and Labour politicians were found to use social media to spread false and misleading content.
• Cyberattacks: The UK is one of the most-targeted countries in the world for cyberattacks by Russian and Chinese state and state-affiliated threat actors. In August 2023, the Electoral Commission disclosed that a cyberattack that began in August 2021 led to the breach of the name and address of everyone in Great Britain registered to vote between 2014 and 2022—amounting to around 40 million people. In March, the British government publicly attributed the attack to a Chinese state-linked actor. Further cyberattacks could seek to compromise the personal data of British voters and could reduce access to websites and other online resources that provide important information to voters in the lead up to, during, and after the election.

The UK is rated Free in Freedom in the World 2024, with a score of 91 out of 100 with respect to its political rights and civil liberties, and Free in Freedom on the Net 2023, with an internet freedom score of 79 out of 100. To learn more about these annual Freedom House assessments, please visit the UK country reports in Freedom in the World and Freedom on the Net.