The United Kingdom general elections overview is an overview of

United Kingdom general election This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, ...

results since 1922. The 1922 election was the first election in the new

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, after the creation of the

Irish Free State The Irish Free State ( ga, Saorstát Éireann, , ; 6 December 192229 December 1937) was a state established in December 1922 under the Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 1921. The treaty ended the three-year Irish War of Independence between th ...

removed

Southern Ireland Southern Ireland, South Ireland or South of Ireland may refer to: *The southern part of the island of Ireland *Southern Ireland (1921–1922), a former constituent part of the United Kingdom *Republic of Ireland, which is sometimes referred to as ...

from the UK.

Summary

Table

The table below gives a summary of the results of each general election since 1922 for the main political parties. Parties with the highest vote share and the most seats at each election are highlighted in bold. More comprehensive detail showing all parties which fielded candidates are shown in the subsequent sections. Please refer to notes below the table.

Notes

¹Includes

Ulster Unionists The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

up to and including the 1970 election, and the autonomous Unionist Party in Scotland until 1964. Also includes the Liberal National Party (and joint candidates) from 1945 to 1966. ²

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 ...

up to 1979; SDP-Liberal Alliance in 1983 and 1987; Liberal Democrats from 1992. ³

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from ...

and

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 ...

(Party of Wales) combined. Prior to 1970, these are included in the Other column. ⁴Northern Ireland parties: up to 1970, party affiliations largely followed those of the rest of the UK (with Ulster Unionists included with the Conservatives); from 1974, Northern Ireland had a completely independent party system and the vote share and seats listed represent the totals for Northern Ireland. ⁵In 1922 the Liberals were split between the main Liberal Party (18.9%, 62 seats) and the National Liberals (9.9%, 53 seats). ⁶In 1931 and 1935 the figures for the Conservatives relate to National Government candidates and comprise Conservative, National Labour, Liberal National and National vote share and seats. ⁷In 2015, Other included record votes shares for both the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest par ...

12.6% and the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

(3.8%), each winning just 1 seat.

Graphs

2015–2019

The period from 2015 to 2019 was one of the most turbulent periods in British electoral history. Following the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition, the

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 ...

, led by

David Cameron David William Donald Cameron (born 9 October 1966) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2005 to 2016. He previously served as Leader o ...

, won the 2015 general election with a small majority, having promised to hold a referendum on continued membership of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. This election saw the Liberal Democrats vote fall from 23% to 8% and MPs elected from 57 to 8. In terms of the popular vote, they were replaced as the third party by the

, who achieved 13%, although they won only 1 seat. The

also achieved their best ever result with 4% of the popular vote. In Scotland, the

gained 50% of the popular vote, winning all but three of the 59 seats, mostly at the expense of the Labour Party. Following the

EU referendum This is a list of referendums related to the European Union, or referendums related to the European Communities, which were predecessors of the European Union. Since 1972, a total of 48 referendums have been held by EU member states, candidate st ...

held in June 2016, which resulted in a majority of 52:48 to leave, David Cameron resigned as

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 is not ...

and was replaced by

Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Lady May (; née Brasier; born 1 October 1956) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served in David Cameron's cab ...

. In June 2017, May called a snap election; but the Conservatives lost their overall majority and had to rely on the support of the 10 MPs from the

Democratic Unionist Party The Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) is a unionist, loyalist, and national conservative political party in Northern Ireland. It was founded in 1971 during the Troubles by Ian Paisley, who led the party for the next 37 years. Currently led by J ...

to continue in Government. The following two years were dominated by attempts to pass through

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

a negotiated deal on the terms for leaving the EU, but these were opposed by both

Brexiteer In the wake of the referendum held in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2016, many new pieces of Brexit-related jargon entered popular use.Al Jazeera. (2018)''Brexit jargon: From backstop to no deal, 17 key terms explained'' (Al Jazeera) Retrieved 2 ...

s and

Remainer In the wake of the referendum held in the United Kingdom on 23 June 2016, many new pieces of Brexit-related jargon entered popular use.Al Jazeera. (2018)''Brexit jargon: From backstop to no deal, 17 key terms explained'' (Al Jazeera) Retrieved 2 ...

s in the Conservative Party, as well as the

Opposition parties Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. This article uses the term ''government'' as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning ''th ...

. Eventually, Mrs May resigned and

Boris Johnson Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson (; born 19 June 1964) is a British politician, writer and journalist who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2019 to 2022. He previously served as F ...

became Prime Minister. After further government defeats, a general election was held in December 2019 - the first December election since 1923 - which resulted in an 80-seat majority for the Conservatives, gaining many seats which Labour had held since at least

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

. The United Kingdom formally left the European Union on 31 January 2020.

1979–2010

This period saw five

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 is not ...

s, with

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

and

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

the two longest serving post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

prime ministers in the UK (the other

s during this period being

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. He previously served as Chance ...

and

). There was also a mini-revival of the

which, after a merger with the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

became the Liberal Democrats and increased their seats in parliament from 11 in the 1979 election to 62 in 2005. Following their victory in 1979, the Conservatives were also successful in the subsequent three general elections, resulting in 18 years of continuous power. The newly formed Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party contested the 1983 and 1987 elections as the SDP-Liberal Alliance. Although the combined parties achieved a popular vote of 22.6% in 1983, they initially failed to make a breakthrough in terms of seats, winning 22. The Labour party won a

landslide victory A landslide victory is an election result in which the victorious candidate or party wins by an overwhelming margin. The term became popular in the 1800s to describe a victory in which the opposition is "buried", similar to the way in which a geol ...

in 1997 and were also successful in 2001 and 2005. The now merged Liberal Democrats also improved their seat count in this period. The outcome of the 2010 election brought about the first

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 legisl ...

since 1974. The victorious Conservative Party accepted the Liberal Democrats as their coalition partner. In

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

, the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

has led to a reduction in conflict, though the traditional parties who gained power in the 1980s, such as the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule movem ...

, have been replaced as the dominant powers by the likes of

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

and the

. The elections of the 1990s and 2000s (decade) also saw a proliferation of smaller parties, with more parties standing at the 2005 general election than ever before.

Voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...

also fell during this period, with the 2001 election seeing a post-World War II low of 59.4%.

1955–1974

The elections of this period took place in the context of the

decolonialisation Decolonization or decolonisation is the undoing of colonialism, the latter being the process whereby imperial nations establish and dominate foreign territories, often overseas. Some scholars of decolonization focus especially on independence ...

of the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

and the UK's declining status as a

Great Power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...

. It also saw the UK enter the

and some periods of high

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 (human activity), w ...

. The early years of the period saw Conservative consolidation of power, before

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

's two general election wins in 1964 and 1966. There was then a series of close fought elections, including two in 1974. This period was also the one in which the Liberal Party was at its all-time low, never having more than 14 seats (though it had been in 1951 when they'd had their lowest ever percentage of the vote). The

dominated in Northern Ireland, whilst the

and

became major players for the first time, the SNP gaining 11 seats in 1974. This period also saw the demise of the autonomous Unionist Party in Scotland and the National Liberal Party, which both merged with the Conservative Party.

1929–1951

This era saw massive social change in the UK, going through the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

of the 1930s, resulting in a National Government; the

Coalition Government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

led by

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

; and the

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

Labour government of

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

. This was also the period of the Liberal Party's major collapse and the completion of Labour's rise to power. The 1929 election resulted in the Labour Party having the greatest number of seats and they formed a Government under

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

with the support of the Liberals. As a result of the growing economic crisis, McDonald formed a National Government in 1931 with the support of the Conservatives and Liberals, which was not however backed by the majority of Labour MPs. This was followed by a general election at which the National coalition, dominated by the Conservatives, won a landslide victory, with the opposition Labour Party reduced to a rump of 52 seats. It also led to a permanent split in the Liberal Party, with the National Liberals eventually joining the Conservatives. Although Labour recovered somewhat, the (notional) National Government won the 1935 election. General elections were suspended during the Second World War, when all three major parties entered into a coalition under Churchill. The Labour party gained a

in 1945. Although they won a small majority in the 1950, they were defeated by the Conservatives in 1951, with Churchill returning to power.

1922–1924

In the years after the secession of the

, the

led 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. ...

, followed by a surging Labour Party and a declining Liberal Party. The

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

also enjoyed their most prolonged period of success, though still failed to have more than 1 MP at any time. The 1922 election was won by the Conservatives, with the Labour party in second place and the Liberals split. In 1923, the Conservatives lost their majority and the Labour Party were put into office for the first time with the support of the re-united Liberals. However, this minority government only lasted 10 months and the 1924 election saw the return of the Conservatives with a large majority and the Liberal Party reduced to a rump of 40 MPs, from which they never really recovered. {, class= "wikitable sortable" , - ! rowspan=2 , Party ! colspan=2,

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

! colspan=2, 1923 ! colspan=2,

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

, - ! Popular vote(%) ! Seats ! Popular vote(%) ! Seats ! Popular vote{{nbsp(%) ! Seats , - ,

Agricultural Party The Agricultural Party was a minor political party in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1931 as the Norfolk Farmers' Party but changed its name one week after its formation.F. W. S. Craig, ''Minor Parties at British Parliamentary Elections' ...

, - , , - , , - , , - , , 0.2 , , 0 , - ,

Belfast Labour Party The Belfast Labour Party was a political party in Belfast, Ireland from 1892 until 1924. It was founded in 1892 by a conference of Belfast Independent Labour Party, Independent Labour activists and trade unionists. Labour ran the Ulster Unionis ...

, 0.2 , , 0 , , - , , - , , - , , - , - ,

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

, 0.2 , , 1 , , 0.2 , , 0 , , 0.2 , , 1 , - ,

Constitutionalist Constitutionalism is "a compound of ideas, attitudes, and patterns of behavior elaborating the principle that the authority of government derives from and is limited by a body of fundamental law". Political organizations are constitutional ...

, 1.2 , , 7 , , 0.1 , , 0 , , 0.1 , , 1 , - ,

Conservative 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 i ...

, 46.8 , , 412 , , 38.0 , , 258 , , 38.5 , , 344 , - ,

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

, 0.2 , , 2 , , 0.3 , , 2 , , 0.8 , , 3 , - , Independent Conservative , 0.0 , , 0 , , 0.1 , , 0 , , 0.9 , , 3 , - , Independent Labour , 0.0 , , 0 , , 0.2 , , 0 , , 0.1 , , 1 , - , Independent Liberal , - , , - , , 0.1 , , 1 , , 0.1 , , 1 , - , Independent Nationalist , - , , - , , - , , - , , 0.1 , , 0 , - ,

Irish Nationalist Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cu ...

, 0.0 , , 1 , , 0.4 , , 3 , , 0.4 , , 3 , - , Labour Party , 33.3 , , 151 , , 30.7 , , 191 , , 29.7 , , 142 , - , Labour Party (Northern Ireland) , 0.1 , , 0 , , - , , - , , - , , - , - ,

, 17.8 , , 40 , , 29.7 , , 158 , , 18.9 , , 62 , - ,

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A seri ...

, - , , - , , - , , - , , 9.9 , , 53 , - , Scottish Prohibition , 0.1 , , 1 , , 0.1 , , 1 , , 0.1 , , 1 , - ,

, 0.2 , , 0 , , - , , - , , - , , -

References

External links

House of Commons Library: "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2019 - A century of elections"