This is an overview of United Kingdom general election results since 1922. The 1922 UK general election was the first election in the new United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, after the creation of the Irish Free State removed Southern Ireland from the UK.
Summary
The table below gives a summary of the results of each general election since 1922 for the main political parties. Those with the highest vote share and the most seats at each election are indicated in bold. More comprehensive detail showing all parties that fielded candidates is provided in subsequent sections. Party -->Conservative LabourLiberal Democrats SNP/PC N.Ireland Other% TurnoutTotal seatsYear% voteSeats% voteSeats% voteSeats% voteSeats% voteSeats% voteSeats1922 38.534429.714228.8115Included in
Other
(no seats won)Ulster Unionist included with
Conservative3.01473.0615192338.025830.719129.71581.6871.1615192446.841233.315117.8402.11277.0615192938.126037.128723.6591.2976.36151931 60.752230.6526.5322.2976.46151935 53.342938.01546.7212.01171.1615194539.621048.03939.0123.42572.8640195043.429946.13159.191.4283.9625195148.032148.82952.560.7382.6625195549.734546.42772.761.2276.8630195949.436543.42585.961.3178.7630196443.430444.131711.291.3077.1630196641.925348.03648.5121.6175.8630197046.433043.12887.561.711.3572.06301974 (Feb)37.929737.230119.3142.592.3120.8278.86351974 (Oct)35.827739.231918.3133.5142.4120.8072.8635197943.933936.926913.8112.042.2121.2076.0635198342.439727.620925.4231.542.5170.6072.7650198742.237630.822922.6221.762.2170.5075.3650199241.933634.427117.8202.472.3171.2077.7651199730.716543.241916.8462.5102.5184.3171.3659200131.716640.741318.3522.593.1183.7159.4659200532.419835.235622.1622.492.6185.3361.4646201036.130729.025823.0572.392.3187.3165.16502015 36.833130.42327.885.3592.31817.4266.4650201742.331840.02627.4123.5392.5184.3168.8650201943.636532.220311.5114.4522.5185.8167.3650202423.712133.741212.2722132.81825.31559.9650
Notes i. Includes: Ulster Unionists up to and including the 1970 election; the autonomous Unionist Party in Scotland until 1964; and the Liberal National Party (and joint candidates) from 1945 to 1966.
ii. Liberal Party up to 1979; SDP–Liberal Alliance in 1983 and 1987; Liberal Democrats from 1992.
iii. Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) combined. Prior to 1970, these are included in the Other column.
iv. Northern 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.
v. In 1922, the Liberals were split between the main Liberal Party (18.9%, 62 seats) and the National Liberals (9.9%, 53 seats).
vi. In 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.
vii. In 2015, Other included record vote shares for both the UK Independence Party (12.6%) and the Green Party (3.8%), each winning just one seat.
2015–2019 The period from 2015 to 2019 was one of the most turbulent in British electoral history. Following the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition, the Conservatives, led by David Cameron, won the 2015 UK general election with a small majority, having promised to hold a referendum on continued membership of the European Union. This election saw the Liberal Democrats' vote fall from 23% to 8%, and the number of elected Lib Dem MPs dropped from 57 to 8. In terms of the popular vote, they were replaced as the third party by the UK Independence Party, who achieved a 13% vote share, although they won only one seat. The Green Party also achieved their best ever result with 4% of the popular vote. In Scotland, the Scottish National Party 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 held in June 2016, which resulted in a majority of 52:48 to leave, Cameron resigned as Prime Minister and was replaced by Theresa May. She called a snap election in June 2017, but the Conservatives lost their overall majority and had to rely on the support of the ten MPs from the Democratic Unionist Party to continue in Government. The following two years were dominated by attempts to pass through Parliament a negotiated deal on the terms for leaving the EU, but these were opposed by both Brexiteers and Remainers in the Conservative Party, as well as the opposition parties. May eventually resigned and Boris Johnson 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 that Labour had held since at least 1945. The United Kingdom formally left the European Union on 31 January 2020. Party201920172015Popular vote(%)SeatsPopular vote(%)SeatsPopular vote(%)SeatsAdvance Together0.00 – – – –Alliance (NI)0.410.200.20Alliance for Green Socialism0.000.000.00Animal Welfare Party0.000.000.00Aontu0.00 – – – –BNP0.000.000.00Christian0.000.000.00Christian Peoples Alliance0.000.000.00Communist – – – –0.00Communities United0.00 – – – –Conservative Party43.636542.331736.2330Democratic Unionist Party0.880.9100.68English Democrats Party0.000.000.00Green Party of England and Wales2.611.613.81Green Party of Northern Ireland0.00 – – – –Gwlad Gwlad0.00 – – – –Independents0.800.510.31Independent Group for Change0.00 – – – –Justice and Anti-corruption0.00 – – – –Labour Party32.220340.026230.4232Liberal Democrats11.5117.4127.88Liberal Party0.000.000.00Libertarian0.00 – – – –Mebyon Kernow0.00 – –0.00Monster Raving Loony0.000.000.00National Front – – –0.00National Health Action – –0.100.10North East Party0.00 – – – –Peace Party0.00 – – – –People Before Profit0.00 – – – –Plaid Cymru0.540.540.63RESPECT The Unity Coalition – – – –0.00Scottish Family Party0.00 – – – –Scottish Green Party0.100.000.10Scottish National Party3.9483.0354.759Scottish Socialist Party – – – –0.00Sinn Féin0.670.770.64SDLP0.420.300.33Social Democratic Party0.000.000.00Socialist Equality Party0.00 – – – –Socialist Labour – –0.000.00Socialist Party of GB0.00 – – – –The Brexit Party2.00 – – – –The Yorkshire Party0.10 – – – –Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition – – – –0.10Traditional Unionist Voice – –0.000.10Ulster Unionist0.300.300.42UK Independence Party0.101.8012.61Veteran and People's Party0.00 – – – –Women's Equality Party0.00 – – – –Workers' Party – –0.000.00Workers Revolutionary Party0.00 – – – –Yeshua0.00 – – – –Young People's Party0.00 – – – –
1979–2010 This period saw five prime ministers, with Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair the two longest serving UK premiers since the World War II (the others during this period were John Major, Gordon Brown and David Cameron). There was also a mini-revival of the Liberal Party which, after a merger with the Social Democratic Party 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 also won 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 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 since 1974. The victorious Conservative Party accepted the Liberal Democrats as their coalition partner. In Northern Ireland, the Good Friday Agreement has led to a reduction in conflict, though the traditional parties who gained power in the 1980s, such as the Ulster Unionist Party, have been replaced as the dominant powers by the likes of Sinn Féin and the Democratic Unionist Party. The elections of the 1990s and 2000s also saw a proliferation of smaller parties, with more parties standing in 2005 than ever before. Electoral commission report on 2005 election Voter turnout also fell during this period, with the 2001 election seeing a post-World War II low of 59.4%.
Party20102005200119971992198719831979 Popular vote(%) Seats Vote % Seats Vote % Seats Vote % Seats Vote % Seats Vote % Seats Vote % Seats Vote % SeatsAlliance (NI) 0.1 1 0.1 0 0.1 0 0.2 0 0.2 0 0.2 0 0.2 0 0.3 0Alliance for Green Socialism 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 - - - - - - - - - -BNP 1.9 0 0.7 0 0.2 0 0.1 0 0.1 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 - -Christian 0.1 0Christian Peoples0.000.00 - - - - - - - - - - - -Communist 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 0 0.0 0 0.1 0Community Action Party - - 0.0 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - Conservative 36.1 306 32.4 198 31.7 166 30.7 165 41.9 336 42.2 376 42.4 397 43.9 339Dem. Unionist 0.6 8 0.9 9 0.7 5 0.3 2 0.3 3 0.3 3 0.5 3 0.2 3 Eng. Dems 0.2 0 0.1 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - Green Party of England and Wales / Green 0.9 1 1.0 0 0.6 0 0.3 0 0.5 0 0.3 0 0.2 0 0.1 0Independents0.21 0.5 1 0.4 0 0.1 1 0.1 0 - - 0.1 0 - - Independent Conservative - - - - - - 0.0 0 0.1 0 - - 0.0 0 0.0 0IKHHC 0.1 0 0.1 1 0.1 1 - - - - - - - - - - Independent Labour - - - - - - 0.0 0 0.1 0 - - 0.1 0 0.1 1 Independent Liberal / Ind. Lib. Dem. - - - - - - 0.0 0 - - 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 Ind. SDLP - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0.0 0Irish Independence - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0.1 0 Labour 29.0 258 35.2 356 40.7 412 43.2 418 34.4 271 30.8 229 27.6 209 36.9 269 Legalise Cannabis - - 0.0 0 0.0 0 - - - - - - - - - -Lib Dems/ SDP–Liberal Alliance/ Liberal 23.0 57 22.1 62 18.3 52 16.8 46 17.8 20 22.6 22 25.4 23 13.8 11Liberal (1989) 0.0 0 0.1 0 0.1 0 0.1 0 0.2 0 - - - - - -Mebyon Kernow0.000.000.000.000.000.000.00 - -Monster Raving Loony 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0.1 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 - -National Front0.000.000.000.000.100.000.100.60 Nation. Dem. - - - - - - 0.0 0 - - - - - - - - Natural Law - - - - - - 0.1 0 0.2 0 - - - - - - People's Justice - - - - 0.0 0 - - - - - - - - - -Plaid Cymru 0.6 3 0.6 3 0.7 4 0.5 4 0.5 4 0.4 3 0.4 2 0.4 1 Prog. Unionist - - - - 0.0 0 0.1 0 - - - - - - - - ProLife - - - - 0.0 0 0.1 0 - - - - - - - -Protestant Unionist - - - - - - - - - - 0.0 0 - - - - Referendum - - - - - -2.6. - - - - - - - -RESPECT The Unity Coalition 0.1 0 0.3 1 - - - - - - - - - - - - Scot. Green 0 0.1 0.1 0 - - - - - - - - - - - - Scot. Labour - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0.1 0 Scot. Militant Labour - - - - - - - - 0.1 0 - - - - - - SNP 1.7 6 1.6 6 1.8 5 2.0 6 1.9 3 1.3 3 1.1 1 1.6 2Scottish Socialist Party 0.0 0 0.2 0 0.3 0 0.0 0 - - - - - - - -Sinn Féin / Indep. Rep. 0.6 5 0.6 5 0.7 4 0.4 2 0.2 0 0.3 1 0.3 1 0.1 1SDLP 0.4 3 0.5 3 0.6 3 0.6 3 0.5 4 0.5 3 0.4 1 0.4 1Social Dem. 0.0 0 - - - - - - 0.1 0 See SDP–Liberal Alliance - - Soc. Labour 0.0 0 0.1 0 0.2 0 0.2 0 - - - - - - - - Soc. Alliance - - 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 - - - - - - - - TUSC0.10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Traditional Unionist Voice0.10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - -Ulster Popular Unionist / Indep. Ulster Unionist - - - - - - - - 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1 0.1 1Ulster Unionist / Ulster Conservatives and Unionists - New Force 0.3 0 0.5 1 0.8 6 0.8 10 0.8 9 0.8 9 0.8 1 0.8 5Unionist Party - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0.0 0United Ulster Unionist - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0.1 1 UKIP 3.1 0 2.3 0 1.5 0 0.3 0 - - - - - - - - UK Unionist / Real Unionist - - - - 0.1 0 0.1 1 - - 0.1 0 - - - -Veritas - - 0.1 0 - - - - - - - - - - - Workers' - - 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.1 0 0.1 0 0.0 0 0.1 0
1955–1974