Should there be an automatic General Election if a Prime Minister resigns mid-term?
Keir Starmer resigned as Prime Minister in June 2026 following poor local election results for Labour. Andy Burnham became Labour leader unopposed in July 2026 and was appointed Prime Minister on 20 July without triggering a general election, since Labour retains its 2024 parliamentary majority. A petition demanding mandatory elections upon a PM's removal, resignation or death closed on 16 September 2026; the government rejected changing the rules to preserve stability during transitions under the five-year parliamentary term set by the Dissolution and Calling of Parliament Act 2022.
7 Opinions
Prime Ministers don’t only resign the post (and it can be for many reasons) they can also die, become physically incapacitated or mentally ill. None of which should be a reason for a change of government, or an attempt thereof … eh ?
Nobody votes for the PM only MP's to represent them.... which you have to be an MP to be a PM.(or in house of lords but this hasn't happend since Salisbury's third term ended when he resigned in 1902) Could you imagine the annual bill for holding elections would be if we had one every year or so ... they are a lot more expensive than local council and by-elections and with how many we had this year the publics bill is around £45 to £55 million. And we have more to do
PM is not an electorate elected post, it’s an appointment of the leading party from the MPs (who we do vote for). We could do with a revised electorate system (e.g. transferable vote) , but I don’t think we’d benefit from a voted president construct.
Whilst we do only vote for the MP, most people vote for the MP based on the Leader of the party. Hence why Corbyn & Sunak lost. When the leader changes so does the party, so the electorate should be allowed to decide if they have faith in the leadership. Starmer quit rather than lose at the election & Burnham is going to try and hold on until the election, which will damage the Union further.
I do get the argument in favour of it and I've certainly wished for a general election at many of the PM changes we've had recently. However, our electoral system votes in MPs to a party and the leader of the majority party assumes the role of PM. Mandating elections with a new PM just guarantees even more behind the scenes party coups and even more instability.