On Thursday 28 February 1974, the February 1974 United Kingdom general election was held in Wales, to elect all 635 members of the House of Commons, with 36 constituencies being in Wales.

When combined with results from across the UK, the election resulted in a hung parliament, the first since 1929. Labour, led by Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister Harold Wilson, ended up as the largest party, but seventeen short of an overall majority. The Conservatives, led by incumbent Prime Minister Edward Heath, lost 28 seats (though they polled a higher share of the vote than Labour). Heath sought a coalition with the Liberals, but the two parties failed to come to an agreement and so Wilson became prime minister for a second time, his first with a minority government. Wilson called another early election in September, which was held in October and resulted in a slim Labour majority.

Boundary Review

As part of the second periodic review of Westminster constituencies, the boundaries were changed in Wales, with the number of constituencies being unchanged in number to those used between 1955 and 1970. There were also boundary changes to many of the 38 constituency boundaries in Wales, and more widely across the United Kingdom.

As a result, the Conservative Party notionally held 8 seats in England compared with Labour's 26 on a notional basis (one change between the two major parties). The Liberal Party was, in essence, unaffected in terms of seats.

Candidates

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

Affiliation Candidates Labour Party 36 Conservative Party 36 Plaid Cymru 36 Liberal Party 31 Communist Party of Great Britain 6 Independent Liberal 1 Workers Revolutionary Party 1 Independent 1Total 148

Analysis

The election saw the Labour Party win the most votes and seats in Wales. Labour gained Merthyr Tydfil from the seat being previously held by Independent Labour MP S. O. Davies. Davies passed away in 1972, leading to Labour retaking the seat in the 1972 Merthyr Tydfil by-election.

Labour, although gaining one seat via a retention from the by-election, lost four seats. These included Caernarvon and Merionethshire to Plaid Cymru. These were the first seats Plaid had won at a general election and outside a by-election, with Dafydd Wigley entering Parliament in Caernarvon, and Dafydd Elis-Thomas entering in Merionethshire.

Labour also lost the seat of Cardiganshire to the Liberal Party, with Geraint Howells entering Parliament in the seat. The Liberal Party also retained Montgomeryshire. The MP was Emlyn Hooson. Much like in the rest of the United Kingdom, the Liberal Party stood a far greater number of candidate than it had in previous decades, seeing a large universal swing in favour of the Liberal Party from the Conservatives and Labour.

Labour also lost a seat by way of the redistribution of the second periodic review, with Rhondda being created from Rhondda West and Rhondda East. Alec Jones, who had represented Rhondda West, won the new seat. Elfed Davies retired from the House of Commons following the abolition of Rhondda East, thereby constituting a loss.

The Conservative Party gained the newly created seat of Cardiff North West. It retained the seats of Pembrokeshire, Barry, Cardiff North, West Flintshire, Denbigh, Conway and Monmouth. Therefore, the Conservative Party managed to increase its seat from seven to eight, despite the slight drop in vote share.

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the February 1974 general election in Wales.

+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%) 24 1 3 2 66.7 745,547 46.8 4.8 8 0 0 22.2 412,535 25.9 1.8 2 1 0 1 5.6 255,423 16.8 9.2 2 2 0 2 5.6 171,372 10.8 0.7 0 0 0 — 4,293 0.3 0.1 0 colspan=3 — 3,800 0.2 0 colspan=3 — 711 0.0 0 colspan=3 — 160 0.0   Other 0 colspan=2 1 — 0 0.0 Total 36 0 100.0 1,593,843 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 1,993,516 80.0 2.6

See also February 1974 United Kingdom general election in England February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Scotland February 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland List of MPs for constituencies in Wales (February 1974–October 1974)

Notes

References