UK general election in numbers

Here are some key numbers as UK voters go to the polls in a general election:

**650 seats**  
The number of seats up for grabs across England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. A party needs to secure 326 seats to have a majority in parliament.

**4,515 candidates**  
The total number of candidates from 98 different political parties — a record. Of them, 459 are independents and 30% are women. At least 29 joke candidates, including 22 running for the "Official Monster Raving Loony Party". The most common name among candidates is David, with over 100 candidates. The youngest candidates are 18-year-olds Pedro Da Conceicao and Adam Wayne Joseph Gillman, and the oldest is 86-year-old John Hugh Morris. A new national fault line has emerged to rival the 52-48% Brexit vote split: a 52-48% split in favour of non-chocolate over chocolate biscuits among candidates.

**46 million voters**  
There were over 46 million voters registered in the UK in December 2023. This number is likely to have risen closer to the election, which was called on May 22. For the first time this year, British citizens who have lived outside the country for more than 15 years are eligible to vote.

**40,000 polling stations**  
There are around 40,000 polling stations across the country. Any space can be used as a polling station as long as it meets certain criteria, like being accessible for people with disabilities. Several pubs are used, with this year's election also promising polling at a ship, a beehive centre, a cricket field, and a fossil museum among others.

**15 Tory ministers under threat**  
At least 15 Conservative candidates who are ministers in Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's cabinet have been projected to lose their seats, including finance secretary Jeremy Hunt, defence secretary Grant Shapps, and Commons leader Penny Mordaunt. This means just under half of Sunak's cabinet members face the chop, with 27 ministers gunning for re-election — not including Sunak himself.

**£13 million in donations**  
In the first three weeks of election campaigning, around £13 million was donated to political parties. The Conservatives received around £1.2 million, while Labour received a whopping £8.4 million.

**Seven water stunts**  
Ed Davey, leader of the smaller opposition Liberal Democrats, has taken part in seven campaign stunts involving water. On Windermere, England's biggest lake, he fell off a paddleboard into the water five times in 15 minutes. Davey, who has taken part in a water aerobics class, sped down water slides, and rode an aqua-bike, is promising to clean up Britain's polluted waterways.

**12% trust**  
Only 12% of Britons said they trusted political parties in a government survey from last year, down from 20% in 2022. At least 27% said they trusted the government, with less than a quarter trusting the House of Commons. Just under half said they had little or no trust in their own ability to participate in politics. Levels of public distrust can be an indicator for turnout on election day, with lower trust in politicians often translating into lower turnout. Turnout was 67.3% at the last election in 2019.