Lib Dems in 2024: on cusp of electoral breakthrough?

Anti-Conservative sentiment could see Ed Davey's party winning '30 to 40 seats' at next election

Photo montage of Ed Davey, Lib Dem supporters and Westminster
Ed Davey has called for the reintroduction of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act to prevent the timing of an election from being a political choice
(Image credit: Illustrated / Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak appears to have all but ruled out a May general election but the Liberal Democrats could attempt to force the prime minister's hand. 

Speaking at a rally in the Surrey town of Guildford, Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said his party would put forward legislation to reinstate the Fixed-term Parliaments Act – introduced by the coalition government in 2011 but repealed by Boris Johnson in 2022 – which would force a general election on 2 May.

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 Sorcha Bradley is a writer at The Week and a regular on “The Week Unwrapped” podcast. She worked at The Week magazine for a year and a half before taking up her current role with the digital team, where she mostly covers UK current affairs and politics. Before joining The Week, Sorcha worked at slow-news start-up Tortoise Media. She has also written for Sky News, The Sunday Times, the London Evening Standard and Grazia magazine, among other publications. She has a master’s in newspaper journalism from City, University of London, where she specialised in political journalism.