On Thursday 10 October 1974, the October 1974 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 635 members of the House of Commons, with 516 constituencies being in England.

It was the second general election held that year. This election was held just seven months after the previous general election, held in February 1974, had led to a hung parliament. Following the inconclusive nature of coalition talks between the Conservatives and other parties such as the Liberals and the disaffiliated Ulster Unionists, the Labour Leader Harold Wilson had gone on to form a minority government. After 8 months, Wilson felt he had demonstrated enough progress to win a majority, and called a second election. It was also the first year in which two general elections had been held in the same year since 1910; and the first time that two general elections had been held less than a year apart from each other since the 1923 and 1924 elections, which took place 10 months apart.

Across the United Kingdom, the election resulted in a narrow victory for the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, which won a wafer-thin majority of three seats, the narrowest in modern British history.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the February 1974 general election in England.

Affiliation Candidates Labour Party 516 Conservative Party 515 Liberal Party 515 National Front 89 Campaign for a More Prosperous Britain 24 Communist Party of Great Britain 17 Independent 17 United Democratic Party 13 Workers Revolutionary Party 9 Other 51Total 1,766

Analysis

Conservatives and Labour

While the Labour Party led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson clinched an overall narrow majority of 3 seats in the House of Commons, the Labour Party won just two seats over the opposition Conservative Party led by Edward Heath in England. Overall, although Labour gained 18 seats, the party, fell short of winning a majority of seats in England by four seats. Between the Conservative Party and Labour, Labour won Birmingham Selly Oak, Bolton West, Bristol North West, Bury and Radcliffe, Hemel Hempstead, Ilford North, Ipswich, Leicester South, Lichfield and Tamworth, Nelson and Colne, Oxford, Peterborough, Rochester and Chatham, Rossendale, Southampton Test and Welwyn Hatfield.

Amongst the two candidates who were not party of major parties, the election saw each lose their seats. Independent Labour Member of Parliament (and former Labour MP) Eddie Milne lost the seat of Blyth Valley. Similarly, in Lincoln, former Labour MP and leader of the Democratic Labour Party Dick Taverne lost his seat also to the Labour Party.

As a result of these seat changes amongst the major parties, the Conservative Party lost a total of 15 seats, with the Labour gaining a total of 18 without any losses. Notable figures who entered Parliament in English seats included Margaret Beckett in Lincoln and Bryan Gould in Southampton Test for the Labour party.

This remains the last general election in which a party won an overall majority in the Commons without winning a majority of seats in England. Since this election, the Labour Party has only won more seats in England on four other occasions following this election: 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2024.

Liberal Party

The Liberal Party, which had seen a large resurgence in the England, as well as in the rest of the United Kingdom, also sa some changes. It won Truro from the Conservatives, however lost Bodmin and Hazel Grove to the Conservative Party as well.

The party otherwise held North Cornwall, with Leader of the Liberal Party Jeremy Thorpe retaining North Devon, Isle of Wight and Berwick-upon-Tweed, Isle of Ely, Colne Valley and Rochdale. The Liberals therefore decreased by only one seat in England.

Results +PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 255 18 0 18 49.4 9,695,051 40.1 2.4 253 2 17 15 49.0 9,414,008 38.9 1.3 8 1 2 1 1.6 4,878,792 20.2 1.1 0 0 0 — 113,757 0.5 0.2 0 0 1 1 — 30,578 0.1 0 0 1 1 — 13,714 0.1 0 0 0 — 7,032 0.0 0.1 0 0 0 — 6,227 0.0 0.1   United Democratic 0 colspan=3 — 4,810 0.0 0 0 0 — 4,407 0.0 0 0 0 — 2,977 0.0 0 0 0 — 2,646 0.0 0 0 0 — 2,558 0.0 0.1   Irish Civil Rights 0 colspan=3 — 2,381 0.0 0 0 0 — 1,996 0.0 0 0 0 — 1,335 0.0   Marxist–Leninist (England) 0 colspan=3 — 1,245 0.0   United English National 0 colspan=3 — 793 0.0 0 0 0 — 723 0.0   Whig 0 colspan=3 — 719 0.0   Labour and Democrat 0 0 0 — 558 0.0   Independent English Nationalist 0 colspan=3 — 547 0.0   World Middle Classes Party 0 colspan=3 — 457 0.0   Independent British Nationalist 0 colspan=3 — 451 0.0   The Christian Party 0 colspan=3 — 408 0.0 0 0 0 — 384 0.0  Go To Blazes Party 0 colspan=3 — 351 0.0   Women's Rights 0 colspan=3 — 298 0.0   Anti-EEC 0 0 0 — 287 0.0   People Power 0 colspan=3 — 266 0.0   UK Front 0 0 0 — 256 0.0   Gay Liberal 0 colspan=3 — 223 0.0   Labour Conservative Coalition 0 colspan=3 — 192 0.0   Protest Party 0 colspan=3 — 171 0.0   Anti-Party System 0 colspan=3 — 148 0.0   Social Credit 0 0 0 — 137 0.0 0 colspan=3 — 118 0.0   Air Road Public Safety 0 colspan=3 — 68 0.0 Total 516 0 100.0 24,191,069 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 33,341,372 72.6 6.4

By region

Note: the following tables indicate the results according to the regions of England which were established in 1994. These regions were not used at the time for the purposes of this election.

East Midlands

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 21 2 0 2 53.8 42.2 1.5 18 0 1 1 46.2 38.5 2.3 0 0 0 0.0 18.0 1.2   Others 0 0 1 1 0.0 1.4 0.4 Total 39

East of England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 31 0 4 4 68.9 51.5 0.9 13 4 0 4 28.9 31.9 3.1 1 0 0 2.2 15.8 3.9   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.2 Total 45

Greater London

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 51 1 0 1 55.4 39.6 3.4 41 0 1 1 44.6 46.0 0.2 0 0 0 0.0 17.0 3.7   Others 0 0 0 0.0 1.8 0.6 Total 92

North East England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 26 1 0 1 83.9 53.9 1.5 4 0 0 12.9 28.1 5.3 1 0 0 3.2 16.4 4.0   Others 0 0 1 1 0.0 1.6 0.2 Total 31

North West England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 55 4 0 4 67.1 44.5 3.0 26 0 3 3 31.7 37.2 1.3 1 0 1 1 1.2 17.9 1.4   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.4 0.3 Total 82

South East England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 61 0 3 3 87.1 46.7 0.1 8 3 0 3 11.4 28.5 3.3 1 0 0 1.4 24.3 3.2   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.6 0.2 Total 70

South West England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 35 1 0 1 76.1 43.6 0.2 8 0 1 1 17.4 28.7 2.3 3 0 0 6.5 27.3 2.2   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.4 Total 46

West Midlands

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 35 2 0 2 62.5 43.9 0.8 21 0 2 2 37.5 37.5 3.3 0 0 0 0.0 17.8 2.9   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.8 0.3 Total 56

Yorkshire and the Humber

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 38 0 0 69.1 46.4 1.7 16 0 0 29.1 32.6 2.6 1 0 0 1.8 20.2 0.7   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.8 0.2 Total 55

See also October 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland October 1974 United Kingdom general election in Scotland October 1974 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Notes

References

Further reading Butler, David E.; et al. (1975), The British General Election of October 1974