2001 United Kingdom general election

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The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media. There was little change at all outside Northern Ireland (which mostly has different parties and a different electoral landscape from the rest of the UK although a few UK-wide parties stand with minimal success). 620 out of 641 seats remained with the same party as they had been in 1997. The elections were marked by apathy from the voting public, with turnout falling to 59%, the lowest since the Coupon Election of 1918. Throughout the election the Labour Party had maintained a significant lead in the opinion polls and the result was deemed to be so certain that some bookmakers paid out for a Labour majority before the election day. Labour retained almost all of its support and the only region where the Conservatives overtook Labour in terms of votes was Eastern England; which Labour had marginally taken in 1997. In Southern parts of England Conservative support increased but only marginally.

The election had been expected in May, to coincide with local elections, but both were postponed because of rural movement restrictions imposed in response to a foot and mouth outbreak. One of the more noted events of a quiet campaign was when a countryside protester Craig Evans threw an egg at Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott in Rhyl; Prescott then punched him and a struggle ensued, in front of television cameras. The 2001 Election also saw the rare election of an independent. Dr. Richard Taylor of Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern (usually now known simply as "Health Concern") unseated a government minister. There was also a high vote for British National Party leader Nick Griffin in Oldham, in the wake of recent race riots in the town.

Labour enjoyed its second landslide victory in a row, maintaining its position from the previous election. Tony Blair became the first Labour prime minister to win enough seats to have a full second consecutive term in office. Labour won a majority of 167 overall (previously 179) and 247 over the Conservatives (previously 254).

The Conservatives netted a gain of only 1 seat after their crushing defeat of 1997 (gaining a few seats from Labour, but losing to the Liberal Democrats). Conservative leader William Hague resigned immediately, becoming the first Conservative leader since Austen Chamberlain to leave office without becoming Prime Minister. The Liberal Democrats, under Charles Kennedy, made a gain of 6 more seats from their already historical high of 1997. With 52 seats, the Lib Dems pushed open even more the door to genuine 'three party politics', having the best third party result since the 1920s.

In Northern Ireland, the election was far more dramatic and marked a move by unionists away from support for the Good Friday Agreement, with the moderate unionist Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) losing to the more hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). This polarisation was also seen in the nationalist community, with the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) vote losing out to the hardline republican Sinn Féin. It also saw a tightening of the parties as the small UK Unionist Party lost its only seat.

Results

File:Blair at the European Parliament 26-10-05.jpg

Tony Blair, Labour leader and incumbent Prime Minister.

File:Hague.commons.jpg

William Hague leader of Conservative and incumbent Leader of the Opposition.

Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrats leader.

UK General Election 2001

Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	412	2	8	−6	62.5	40.7	10,724,953	−2.5%
	Conservative	166	9	8	+1	25.2	31.7	8,357,615	+1.0%
	Liberal Democrats	52	8	2	+6	7.9	18.3	4,814,321	+1.5%
	SNP	5	0	1	−1	0.8	1.8	464,314	−0.2%
	UKIP	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.5	390,563	1.2%
	UUP	6	1	5	−4	0.9	0.8	216,839	0.0%
	Plaid Cymru	4	1	1	0	0.6	0.7	195,893	+0.2%
	DUP	5	3	0	+3	0.8	0.7	181,999	+0.4%
	Sinn Féin	4	2	0	+2	0.6	0.7	175,933	+0.3%
	SDLP	3	0	0	0	0.5	0.6	169,865	0.0%
	Green	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.6	166,477	+0.3%
	Independent	0	0	1	−1	0.0	0.4	97,070	+0.3%
	Scottish Socialist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.3	72,516	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	57,553	N/A
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	57,288	0.0%
	BNP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	47,129	+0.1%
	Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	28,999	−0.1%
	Health Concern	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.1	28,487	N/A
	Liberal	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	13,685	0.0%
	UK Unionist	0	0	1	−1	0.0	0.1	13,509	+0.1%
	Prolife Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	9,453	−0.1%
	Legalise Cannabis	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	8,677	N/A
	People's Justice	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	7,443	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	6,655	0.0%
	PUP	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	4,781	0.0%
	Mebyon Kernow	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	3,199	0.0%
	NI Women's Coalition	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,968	0.0%
	Scottish Unionist Party (modern)	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,728	N/A
	Rock 'n' Roll Loony	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,634	N/A
	National Front	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,484	0.0%
	Workers' Party	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,352	0.0%
	Neath Port Talbot Ratepayers	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,960	N/A
	NI Unionist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,794	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,454	0.0%
	Reform 2000	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,418	N/A
	Isle of Wight	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,164	N/A
	Muslim	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,150	N/A
	Communist	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,003	0.0%
	New Britain	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	888	0.0%
	Free Party	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	832	N/A
	Left Alliance	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	770	N/A
	New Millennium Bean Party	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	727	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	607	0.0%
	Tatton	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	505	N/A

Total votes cast: 26,368,204. All parties with more than 500 votes shown.

The seat gains reflect changes on the 1997 general election result. Two seats had changed hands in by-elections in the intervening period. These were as follows:

• Romsey from Conservative to Liberal Democrats. This seat stayed Liberal Democrat in 2001.
• South Antrim from Ulster Unionists to Democratic Unionists. This seat reverted to the Ulster Unionists in 2001.

See also

• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 2001
• 2001 UK foot and mouth crisis

Manifestos

• Labour (Ambitions for Britain)
• Conservative (Time for Common Sense)
• Liberal Democrat (Freedom, Justice, Honesty)
• UK Independence Party

External links

• BBC News: Vote 2001 - in depth coverage.