What is the first past the post voting system and how does it work?

The UK is divided into 650 areas, called constituencies, and each of these elects a single MP to represent its residents at Westminster.

Voters put a cross against the name of their preferred candidate on their ballot paper. The candidate with the most votes – or the “first past the post” – wins.

They do not need to get the majority of the votes cast in that constituency, only more than any other candidate.

There is no reward for the person who comes second, even if they lose by just one vote.

In turn, the party with the most MPs wins the election.

If that party has more MPs than all the other parties put together – called a Commons majority – it forms the government.

The party leader automatically becomes prime minister.

That is what happened at the last general election in 2019, when the Conservatives won 365 seats, giving the party a majority of 80, and Boris Johnson continued as PM.

In 2010, unusually, no party won a majority, so the Conservatives – who had the most MPs after the election – invited the Liberal Democrats to share power in a coalition government.