1966 United Kingdom general election

United Kingdom general election, 1966

31 March 1966
All 630 seats in the House of Commons 316 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath Jo Grimond Party Labour Conservative Liberal Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965 5 November 1956 Leader's seat Huyton Bexley Orkney and Shetland Last election 317 seats, 44.1% 304 seats, 43.4% 9 seats, 11.2% Seats won 364* 253 12 Seat change 48 52 3 Popular vote 13,096,629 11,418,455 2,327,457 Percentage 48.0% 41.9% 8.5% Swing 3.9% 1.5% 2.7%
PM before election Harold Wilson Labour Subsequent PM Harold Wilson Labour

1959 election • MPs

1964 election • MPs

1966 election • MPs

1970 election • MPs

February 1974 election • MPs

The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs. Wilson's hope that he would be returned to office with a larger majority had been encouraged by the government's victory in a by-election in Kingston upon Hull North. In the end the hope was vindicated: the Labour government was returned with a much larger majority of 96.

Prior to the general election, in 1965, Labour had actually performed poorly in local elections, and lost at a crucial by-election, cutting their majority to just 2. Labour ran its campaign with the slogan "You know Labour government works".

Shortly after the local elections, Sir Alec Douglas-Home was replaced with Edward Heath, as leader of the Conservative party.

The Conservative campaign, although more professional than previously, had not really had time to prepare, and with Heath only having just settled in the year before, there had been little time for him to become well known among the British public. As for the Liberals money was an issue, 2 elections in the space of just 2 years had left the party in a tight financial position.

The election night was broadcast live on the BBC, and was presented by Cliff Michelmore, Robin Day, Robert McKenzie and David Butler. The election was replayed on the BBC parliament channel on the 40th anniversary of the event.

Timeline

The Prime Minister Harold Wilson announced on 28 February that Parliament would be dissolved on 10 March, for an election to be held on 31 March. The key dates were as follows:

Thursday 10 March	Dissolution of the 43rd parliament and campaigning officially begins
Monday 21 March	Last day to file nomination papers; 1,707 candidates enter to contest 630 seats
Wednesday 30 March	Campaigning officially ends
Thursday 31 March	Polling day
Saturday 1 April	The Labour Party wins with an improved majority of 96
Monday 18 April	44th parliament assembles
Thursday 21 April	State Opening of Parliament

National opinion poll summary

Research Services : 3% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 101)
National Opinion Polls : 3.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 115)
Gallup : 4.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 150)
Express (known as Harris): 7.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of in excess of 255)

Results

United Kingdom general election 1966
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	622	364	49	1	+ 48	57.78	48.04	13,096,629
	Conservative	629	253	0	52	- 52	40.16	41.88	11,418,455	-1.5
	Liberal	311	12	5	2	+ 3	1.9	8.54	2,327,457
	SNP	23	0	0	0	0		0.47	128,474
	Ind. Republican	5	0	0	0	0		0.23	62,782
	Communist	57	0	0	0	0		0.23	62,092
	Plaid Cymru	20	0	0	0	0		0.22	61,071
	Independent	15	0	0	0	0		0.13	35,039
	Republican Labour	1	1	1	0	+ 1	0.16	0.10	26,292
	Nationalist	1	0	0	0	0		0.08	22,167
	Independent Liberal	3	0	0	0	0		0.02	5,689
	British National	3	0	0	0	0		0.019	5,182
	Ind. Conservative	4	0	0	0	0		0.015	4,089
	Union Movement	4	0	0	0	0		0.015	4,075
	Independent Labour	1	0	0	0	0		0.004	1,031
	Fellowship	1	0	0	0	0		0.003	906
	National Democratic	1	0	0	0	0		0.003	769
	National Teenage	1	0	0	0	0		0.002	585
	Ind. Labour Party	1	0	0	0	0		0.002	441
	Socialist (GB)	2	0	0	0	0		0.001	333
	Radical Alliance	1	0	0	0	0		0.001	163
	Patriotic Party	1	0	0	0	0		0.000	126

All parties shown. The Conservative figure includes Ulster Unionists and National Liberals.

Government's new majority	98
Total votes cast	27,264,747
Turnout	75.8%

Votes summary

Popular vote Labour   48.04% Conservative and Allies   41.88% Liberal   8.54% Independent   0.4% Others   1.14%

Headline Swing: 2.70% to Labour

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Labour   57.78% Conservative and Allies   40.16% Liberal   1.9% Others   0.16%

Seats changing hands

From Conservative to Labour (46 seats): Aberdeen South, Bebington, Bedford, Bedfordshire South, Berwick and East Lothian, Billericay, Birmingham Perry Barr, Bradford West, Brentford and Chiswick, Bristol North East, Bristol North West, Cambridge, Cardiff North, Chislehurst, Conway, Croydon South, Eton and Slough, Exeter, Hampstead, Harrow East, High Peak, Hornchurch, Ilford South, Lancaster, Lewisham North, Lewisham West, Middleton and Prestwich, Monmouth, Norwood, Nottingham South, Oxford, Plymouth Sutton, Portsmouth South, Preston North, Reading, Rugby, Rushcliffe, Sheffield Heeley, Smethwick, Southampton Test, Stretford, The Wrekin, Uxbridge, Walthamstow East, Yarmouth and York
From Conservative to Liberal (4 seats): Aberdeenshire West, Cheadle, Cornwall North, and Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles
From Labour to Liberal (1 seat): Colne Valley
From Liberal to Labour (2 seats): Cardiganshire and Caithness and Sutherland

Televised declarations

(From BBC Parliament Replay.) These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected".

Constituency	Winning party 1964		Constituency result 1966 by party						Winning party 1966
			Con	Lab	Lib	PC	SNP	Others
Cheltenham style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	22,683	19,768				style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Wolverhampton North East style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	12,965	21,067				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Wolverhampton South West style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	21,466	14,881				style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Salford West style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	13,257	19,237				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Salford East style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	9,000	18,409				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Exeter style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	18,613	22,189	4,869			style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Devon North style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal	15,631	6,127	16,797			style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal hold
Smethwick style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	14,550	18,440				508 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Nelson and Colne style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	13,829	18,406				5,117 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Leyton style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	18,157	26,803	3,851			441 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour recovery
Huyton style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	20,182	41,132				585 style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Billericay style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	38,371	40,013	7,587			style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Preston South style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour	17,931	20,720				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour hold
Bexley style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	26,377	24,044	4,405			style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Brentford and Chiswick style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	14,031	14,638	2,063			style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain
Aberdeenshire West style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	13,956	6,008	15,151			style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFD700;" data-sort-value="Liberal Party (UK)" |	Liberal gain
Taunton style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	22,359	19,216	5,460			style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative hold
Monmouth style="width: 2px; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" |	Conservative	25,654	28,619				style="width: 2px; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" |	Labour gain

• The 5,117 votes polled for the "Others" in Nelson and Colne were all polled for Patrick Downey, uncle of Lesley Ann Downey who had been murdered by the Moors Murderers. Downey advocated the return of hanging.

See also

• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1966

References

• F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987
• United Kingdom election results - summary results 1885-1979

Manifestos

• Action Not Words: The New Conservative Programme - 1966 Conservative manifesto.
• Time for Decision - 1966 Labour Party manifesto.
• For All the People: the Liberal Plan of 1966 - 1966 Liberal Party manifesto.