The British politics have been marked by open conflicts and turbulence in recent years. At the same time, many Brits have struggled to make ends meet.
Now, many are hoping for a less chaotic government, which seems to give Labour an advantage in the election.
The Brits' confidence in the ruling Conservative Tory party – which has had four prime ministers in just a few years – has declined. After 14 years of conservative rule, the opposition party, the social democratic Labour, has instead gained an advantage in the polls.
Labour leader Keir Starmer has been described as correct, boring, and predictable, qualities that are not considered negative for him and the party ahead of Thursday's election. Starmer has instead emerged as the favourite for the prime minister's post since stability is now seen as an advantage that can take him all the way to Downing Street.
High inflation
In recent years with high inflation, it has become difficult for many Brits to manage their private economy. This is reflected in opinion polls ahead of the election, where the question of living costs is cited by many voters as the most important election issue, especially among those who plan to vote for Labour.
If Starmer gets to govern the country, he promises, among other things, to get both businesses' and workers' economies in order, reduce waiting times in healthcare, and get a grip on immigration – but not continue the current government's path of sending asylum seekers to Rwanda.
Voters over 65
Sitting Conservative Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has targeted voters over 65 years old in his election campaign, including by promising an increase in the state pension. He has also presented plans for all 18-year-olds to do a year of civil or military national service. The idea is, according to opinion polls, not popular among young people, but has support among older voters.
Sunak's Conservative Tory party has also had to handle the challenge of getting voters not to cast their votes for the populist Reform party. Party leader Nigel Farage, who previously announced that he would not stand in Thursday's election, made a U-turn in early June and announced that he would stand after all and return to leading the party.
According to opinion polls from July 1, Farage's Reform party gets 13-19 per cent of the votes, Sunak's Conservative party 15-25 per cent, while Starmer's Labour gets 35-45 per cent.
The UK is divided into 650 constituencies. Each constituency elects a member of parliament to represent its population for up to five years. Most candidates represent a political party, but some stand as independents.
Voters vote only for their local member of parliament.
The political party that wins the most seats in the House of Commons, which has 650 seats, usually forms the government. The party leader then becomes prime minister.
Constituencies have been redrawn ahead of the 2024 election to better reflect changes in the population.
A parliament can sit for a maximum of five years from the day it first convened. The current parliament met for the first time on December 17, 2019, and would have automatically dissolved on December 17 this year if it had not been dissolved earlier.
The British parliament consists of two chambers, the elected House of Commons and the non-elected House of Lords, which has limited political power.
