The 1929 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 30 May 1929 and resulted in a

hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing coalition (also known as an alliance or bloc) has an absolute majority of legisla ...

. It stands as the fourth of six instances under the secret ballot, and the first of three under

universal suffrage Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stan ...

, in which a party has lost on the popular vote but won the highest number (known as "a plurality") of seats versus all other parties (the others are 1874, January 1910, December 1910,

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and February 1974). In 1929, Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party won the most seats in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for the first time. The

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

led again by former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...

regained some ground lost in the 1924 general election and held the balance of power. Parliament was dissolved on 10 May. The election was often referred to as the "

Flapper Flappers were a subculture of young Western women in the 1920s who wore short skirts (knee height was considered short during that period), bobbed their hair, listened to jazz, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered accepta ...

Election", because it was the first in which women aged 21–29 had the right to vote (owing to the

Representation of the People Act 1928 The Representation of the People (Equal Franchise) Act 1928 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This act expanded on the Representation of the People Act 1918 which had given some women the vote in Parliamentary elections for the ...

). (Women over 30 had been able to vote since the 1918 general election.) The election was fought against a background of rising

unemployment Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...

, with the memory of the

1926 general strike The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governme ...

still fresh in voters' minds. By 1929, the Cabinet was being described by many as "old and exhausted". The Liberals campaigned on a comprehensive programme of public works under the title "We Can Conquer Unemployment". There was anticipation of a potential revival of the Liberal Party after the reunification of Independent Liberals and National Liberals under Lloyd George's leadership in 1928 and following some victories in a series of by-elections after 1926. The incumbent

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

campaigned on the theme of "Safety First", with Labour campaigning on the theme of "Labour & the Nation". This was the first general election to be contested by the newly formed Welsh nationalist party

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

. It stood as the last time when a third party polled more than one-fifth of the popular vote until

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning ...

. The Liberals performed more successfully than at the previous general election in 1924, but could not regain its pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

status as a party of government. The next election thus ushered in five decades in which two-party politics dominated.

Results

Votes summary

Seats summary

Constituency results

Transfers of seats

* All comparisons are with the 1924 election. **In some cases, the change is owing to the MP having defected to the gaining party, and then retaining the seat in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a *. **In other circumstances, the change is owing to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a †. :¹ Previous MP had defected to the Conservatives by the 1929 election :² Previous MP had defected to the Liberals by the 1929 election

References

Sources

* *

External links

United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979

Manifestos

1929 Conservative manifesto1929 Labour manifesto1929 Liberal manifesto
{{British elections

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

General election General election United Kingdom general election Ramsay MacDonald Stanley Baldwin David Lloyd George