European Parliament election, 1989 (United Kingdom)

United Kingdom European Parliament election, 1989

1984 ← 15 June 1989 → 1994

81 seats to the European Parliament

The European Parliament Election, 1989 was the third European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 15 June. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single Transferable Vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe. This election saw the best performance ever by the Green Party (UK) (formerly the Ecology Party), collecting over 2 million votes and 15% of the vote share. It had only received 70,853 as the Ecology Party in the previous election. However because of First Past the Post system, the Green Party received 0 seats, while the Scottish National Party received 1 seat with only 3% of the vote share. The SNP received almost double the amount of votes it received in the previous election, its vote share rose by 1%. The election also saw Labour overtake the Conservatives for the first time in any election since October 1974 and the first time ever in a European elections, winning 13 more seats.

• Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 36% (EU average: 59%)
• Overall votes cast: 15,896,078

England, Scotland and Wales

Source: UK Office of the European Parliament

Note: percentages are approximate

Party		Votes	Seats	Loss/Gain	Share of Vote (%)
	Labour	6,153,640	45	+13	37.11
	Conservative	5,331,077	32	-13	35
	Green	2,292,705	0	0	15
	Social and Liberal Democrats	944,861	0	0	6
	SNP	406,686	1	0	3
	Plaid Cymru	115,062	0	0	0.7
	Social Democrat	75,886	0	0	0.5
	Independent	12,724	0	0	0.1
	Independent Conservative	6,996	0	0	0.0
	Communist	4,420	0	0	0.0
	Monster Raving Loony	4,263	0	0	0.0
	Mebyon Kernow	4,224	0	0	0.0
	Wessex Regionalist	2,332	0	0	0.0
	International Communist	1,567	0	0	0.0
	National Front	1,471	0	0	0.0
	Humanist	1,349	0	0	0.0
	Socialist (GB)	919	0	0	0.0
	Corrective	707	0	0	0.0
	Communist League	323	0	0	0.0

Total votes cast - 15,361,267.

Northern Ireland

Source: Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive

Party		Candidate(s)	Seats	Loss/Gain	First Preference Votes
					Number	% of vote
	Democratic Unionist	Ian Paisley	1	0	160,110	30
	SDLP	John Hume	1	0	136,335	25
	Ulster Unionist	Jim Nicholson	1	0	118,785	22
	Sinn Féin	Danny Morrison	0	0	48,914	9
	Alliance	John Alderdice	0	0	27,905	5
	Conservative	Myrtle Boal	0	0	25,789	5
	Green	Malcolm Samuel	0	0	6,569	1
	Workers' Party	Seamus Lynch	0	0	5,590	1
	Labour Representation	Mark Langhammer	0	0	3,540	0
	Labour '87	Brian Caul	0	0	1,274	0

Total votes cast - 534,811.

Party Leaders in 1989

• Labour - Neil Kinnock
• Conservative - Margaret Thatcher
• Green - N/A (the Green Party did not have a leader)
• Liberal Democrat - Paddy Ashdown
• SNP - Gordon Wilson
• Plaid Cymru - Dafydd Elis Thomas
• DUP - Ian Paisley
• SDLP - John Hume
• UUP - James Molyneaux

See also

• Elections in the United Kingdom: European elections
• MEPs for the UK 1989 - 1994