Sky News' live polling tracker shows that on average, the Conservatives are currently 18 points behind Labour in the polls, so trying to prevent a 1997-style result for the Tories will prove to be a challenge. However, in the run-up to the 1997 election, not only were the Conservatives in government during a time of economic uncertainty, they were also facing significant boundary changes - a situation similar to one the Tories are currently facing. With approximately 61% of all the MPs standing down at the next election being Conservative, this is just below the 1997 election figure, where 64% of the total number of MPs who didn't seek re-election were Tory. More recently, Boris Johnson's snap election in 2019 resulted in 41 Tory MPs standing down before the vote, however nine of them were expelled from the party three months before after rebelling against the government in a Brexit vote. In 1997, 75 Tory MPs stood down ahead of the general election which gave Labour the biggest parliamentary majority on record with 179 MPs, and ended the Conservatives' 18-year spell in power.Ī total of 22 Tory MPs stood down in 2001, 16 in 2005, and 35 in 2010. The data also shows more than three times the number of Conservative MPs are stepping aside compared to the 2017 election, and this number is likely to grow with the next election not expected to be held until autumn next year. So far, 44 Tory MPs have said they won't stand for re-election, which data from the House of Commons Library shows is more than any other election since Labour's landslide victory in 1997. More Conservative MPs have announced they are standing down at the next general election than at any poll since 1997.
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