2005 United Kingdom general election

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The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005. In it the Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with a reduced overall majority of 66 Members of Parliament (MPs).

For details by constituency, see 2005 general election results.

The general election took place in 646 constituencies across the United Kingdom, for seats in the House of Commons. All but one constituency polled on 5 May; the South Staffordshire vote was postponed and took place on 23 June due to the death of a candidate.

The election was held under the first-past-the-post system. Local elections in parts of England and in Northern Ireland were held on the same day. The polls were open for 15 hours, from 07:00 to 22:00 BST (06:00 to 21:00 UTC). The election came just over three weeks after the dissolution of Parliament on 11 April by Queen Elizabeth II, at the request of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

Overview

For events leading up to the date of the election, see article: Pre-election day events of the United Kingdom general election, 2005

A map showing the constituency winners of the UK General Elections by their party colours.

The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, was looking to secure a third consecutive term in office and to retain a large majority. The Conservative Party was seeking to regain seats lost to both Labour and the Liberal Democrats since the 1992 General Election, and move from being the Official Opposition into government. The Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both main parties, but especially the Conservative Party, with a "decapitation" strategy targeting members of the Shadow Cabinet. The Lib Dems had also wished to become the governing party, but more realistically hoped of making enough gains to become the Official Opposition and/or play a major part in a parliament lead by a minority Labour or Conservative government. In Northern Ireland the Democratic Unionist Party sought to make further gains over the Ulster Unionist Party in unionist politics, and Sinn Féin hoped to overtake the Social Democratic and Labour Party in nationalist politics. (Note that Sinn Féin MPs do not take their seats in the House of Commons -- they refuse to swear an oath of allegiance to the Queen as required.) The pro-independence Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru (Party of Wales) stood candidates in every constituency in Scotland and Wales respectively.

Many seats were contested by other parties, including several parties without incumbents in the House of Commons. Parties that were not represented at Westminster, but had seats in the devolved assemblies and European Parliament included the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom Independence Party, the Green Party of England and Wales, the Scottish Green Party, and the Scottish Socialist Party. The Health Concern party stood again as well. A full list of parties which declared their intention to run can be found on the list of parties contesting the UK general election, 2005.

All parties campaigned through such tools as party manifestos, party political broadcasts and touring the country in what are commonly referred to as battle buses.

Seats in Scotland

Several years after the Scottish Parliament had been established by the Scotland Act 1998, the target electorate (population) size of Westminster Parliamentary seats in Scotland was adjusted to bring it in line with England's constituencies. Before this reform Scotland had a smaller target electoral size per constituency resulting in more seats per head of population, which had been intended to compensate Scotland for its status as a nation, its lower population density (which causes very large constituencies geographically), its distance from the seat of Parliament in Westminster and finally, because prior to 1999 Scottish law had been wholly determined by the Westminster Parliament. These problems were perceived to have been addressed with the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999.

The effect of the Boundary Commission's reform and the 2005 general election upon Scottish seats

The Boundary Commission for Scotland therefore produced a plan in 2003 in which there would be 59 constituencies, reduced from 72. In 2004, the Government passed the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 which instituted these changes and broke the link between British and Scottish Parliamentary constituencies.

Three constituencies were left unchanged - the island seats of Orkney and Shetland, the Western Isles, though the latter changed its official name to the Gaelic "Na h-Eileanan an Iar", and Eastwood, which changed its name to "East Renfrewshire". Several other new constituency names were also implemented; in all these cases the new seats had altered boundaries.

Predicted result of redrawn boundaries

Although it was impossible to guarantee a wholly accurate prediction of the strength of the parties within the 59 new Scottish constituencies, estimates had been made prior to the poll on 5 May on the basis of a ward-by-ward breakdown of local council election results. An agreed set used by all media reports and most political commentators indicated that had the new boundaries been in effect in the 2001 election, Labour would have won 46 seats, the Liberal Democrats 9, the Scottish National Party 4, and the Conservatives none. This would have represented a loss of 10 seats for Labour and one each for the Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and the Conservatives. The arithmetic was however complicated by the fact that the boundary revision had produced some seats that were notionally highly marginal.

The results of the 2005 election showed some of the highest changes of the share of the vote for particular parties occurring in Scottish seats, leading some commentators to speculate that either the notional results were in error and/or they were unable to take into account factors such as tactical voting and people voting differently between General and Local Elections.

Actual result of redrawn boundaries

Labour in fact only won 41 seats, the Liberal Democrats 11, the SNP 6 and in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale the Conservatives won their only seat [1]. Compared to the actual results of 2001 this meant a loss of 14 seats for Labour, a gain of 1 seat for the SNP and Liberal Democrats, and no change for the Conservatives. [2]

See also the list of parties standing in Scotland.

The election in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the election was dominated in the unionist community by a battle between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). In the nationalist community, the contest was largely between the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Sinn Féin.

The DUP and Sinn Féin emerged as the largest unionist and nationalist parties respectively, at the expense of the more moderate UUP and SDLP. The UUP fared particularly badly, with leader David Trimble losing Upper Bann and the party's representation reduced to one seat, North Down, held by Sylvia Hermon. Although the UUP won more MPs at the 2001 General Election, the defection of Lagan Valley MP Jeffrey Donaldson to the DUP in January 2004 reversed the position. Other elections in the province have shown both a shift in votes towards the DUP but also a collapse of support for the cross-community Alliance Party which is likely to be more marked in a first past the post election and thus which may work in the UUP's favour. Shortly afterwards, on May 7, Trimble announced his resignation as party leader.

In the nationalist community, recent elections have shown a clear shift in support from the SDLP to Sinn Féin. Two of the three SDLP MPs elected in 2001 had retired, while all four of the Sinn Féin MPs stood again. Sinn Féin's victory over the SDLP in Newry and Armagh, giving it a fifth seat, will reduce the number of Northern Ireland MPs at Westminster as Sinn Féin members do not take their seats. The largest surprise in Northern Ireland came in South Belfast where the SDLP won the traditionally unionist seat, aided by a split between the two main unionist parties. This, together with their retention of two other seats did much to boost the SDLP's fortunes and morale when many commentators had been predicting a disaster as great as that which met the UUP.

See also the list of parties standing in Northern Ireland.

The ballot

A polling station situated inside a suburban library in the north of Cambridge. Two tellers, wearing party rosettes, are seated collecting voter registration numbers.

At the close of voting (2200 BST) the ballot boxes are sealed and returned to the counting centre where counting proceeds under the supervision of the returning officer who is obliged to declare the result as soon as it is known. There is serious competition amongst constituencies to be first to declare. Sunderland South has repeated its performance in the last three elections and in 2005 declared Labour incumbent Chris Mullin re-elected as MP with a majority of 11,059 at approximately 2245 BST (failing by two minutes to beat its previous best, but making it eligible for entry into the Guinness Book of World Records as longest consecutive delivery of first results). The vote itself represented a swing (in a safe Labour seat, in a safe Labour region) of approximately 4% to the Conservatives and 4.5% to the Liberal Democrats. This was somewhat below the prediction of BBC/ITV exit polls published shortly after 2200 BST.

Sunderland North was the next to declare, followed by Houghton & Washington East, both Labour holds but with reductions in the incumbent majorities of up to 9%. The first Scottish seat to declare was Rutherglen and Hamilton West — another safe Labour seat, it too was a hold, but with a reduced majority by 4%. The first seat to change hands was Putney, where Labour's majority of around 2500 fell to a strong Conservative challenge, with a total swing of about 5000 (or 6.2%). This was also the first seat to be declared for the Conservatives. The first Liberal Democrat seat to be declared was North East Fife, the constituency of LibDem party deputy leader Sir Menzies Campbell and a hold from 2001.

Exit polls

Following problems with exit polls in previous British elections, the BBC and ITV agreed for the first time to pool their respective data, using results from Mori and NOP. More than 20,000 people were interviewed for the poll at 120 polling stations across the country. The predictions were very accurate -- initial projections saw the Labour party returned to power with a majority of 66 (down from 160),[3] and the final result (including Staffordshire South, where the election was postponed due to the death of a candidate) would indeed be a Labour majority of 66. The Sky News network has refused to use exit polls since the 1980s, citing their previous inaccuracies.

The projected shares of the vote on mainland Britain were Labour 37% (down 5% on 2001), Conservatives 33% (unchanged), Liberal Democrats 22% (up 3%) and other parties 8% (up 2%) [4]. The Conservatives were expected to make the biggest gains, however — forty-four seats according to the exit numbers — with the Liberal Democrats expected to take as few as two. Whilst the exit-poll-predicted vote share for the Lib Dems was accurate (22.6% vs an actual 22.0%), they had actually done better in some Lib Dem-Labour marginals than predicted on the basis of the national share of the vote, producing a net gain of 11 seats.

Election results

• For results by constituency, see Results of the United Kingdom general election, 2005
• For details by MP, see MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005
• For full election results by constituency, see Wikisource:2005 UK general election

At 0428 BST, it was announced that Labour had won Corby, giving them 324 of the 646 seats in the House of Commons and an overall majority. This was despite polling only 35.2% of the popular vote, equating to approximately 22% of the electorate based on the estimated turnout of 61.3%. However, turnout rose from 59.2% in 2001, a change that has been mostly attributed to the extension and promotion of postal voting.

The results were interpreted by the UK media as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and in Prime Minister Tony Blair in particular. As expected, voter disenchantment led to an increase of support for the opposition parties, and caused many Labour voters to remain home on election day. Though ultimately Labour achieved a third successive term in office for the first time in their history. The reduction of the Labour majority from 163 to 67, (as it was before the declaration of South Staffordshire), was viewed by many across the political spectrum as a positive development, a counter to an alleged presidential style of government. Many, especially in the opposition, interpreted the results as a sign of just how skewed towards Labour the existing system is. After a Labour victory became clear, Michael Howard, the leader of the Conservative party, announced his plans to resign. The final seat to declare was the delayed poll in South Staffordshire, at just after 1 AM on Friday 24 June.

The election was also characterised by a number of smaller battles. In Bethnal Green and Bow, London, former Labour MP George Galloway, running as a candidate for the anti-war Respect, defeated Oona King (Labour), despite a previous majority of 10,000. Following the result, a hostile interview with Jeremy Paxman attracted press attention. In Blaenau Gwent, Peter Law, a former Labour politician, ran as an Independent in protest at the imposition of an all-female candidate shortlist by the national Labour Party. He successfully overturned a 19,313 Labour majority. In Enfield Southgate, Conservative David Burrowes ousted Labour Stephen Twigg, who had famously defeated Michael Portillo for that seat in the 1997 elections. Labour regained one of its by-election losses, Leicester South, but saw an increased Liberal Democrat majority in the other, Brent East.

Others were less fortunate. Robert Kilroy-Silk, a former BBC presenter who joined the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) and then set up his own party, Veritas, placed fourth in Erewash, receiving only 2,957 votes. The seat was taken by Labour's Liz Blackman. Lib-Dems' so-called decapitation policy of targeting Conservative front-benchers was also unsuccessful, removing only Tim Collins in Westmorland and Lonsdale. The election also saw regional surges in support for the British National Party. However, they failed to win any seats, their highest poll being 16.9% in the Labour stronghold of Barking, East London.

The election was followed by further criticism of the UK electoral system. Calls for reform came particularly from Lib Dem supporters, citing that they received only 10% of the overall seats with 20% of the popular vote. There have also been calls for reform by some in England, where the Conservative party polled 60,000 more votes than Labour yet received 90 fewer seats. In fact the only parties to win a higher percentage of seats than they achieved in votes were Labour, the regional Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, and Health Concern, which ran only one candidate.

Postal Votes have themselves been criticised amid fears that the present system is not secure enough and makes electoral fraud too easy.

Interpretation of result

File:2005 Titles.jpg

BBC Election 2005 Titles

The Labour Government claimed that being returned to office for a third term for the first time ever showed the remarkable achievements of New Labour and the continued unpopularity of the Conservatives. Nevertheless, Labour's vote declined to 35.2%, only 2.9% above the Conservatives. Although parties have previously won a majority and not the popular vote (such as 1951), in absolute terms Labour's share was the lowest ever percentage vote to achieve a majority of seats in the UK Parliament.

The Conservatives claimed that their increased number of seats showed disenchantment with the Labour government and was a precursor of a Conservative breakthrough at the next election. Following three consecutive elections of declining representation and then in 2001 a net gain of just one seat, 2005 was the first General Election since 1983 where the number of Conservative seats increased appreciably, although the Conservatives' vote share increased only slightly and this election did mark the third successive General Election in which the Conservatives polled below 35%.

The Liberal Democrats claimed that their continued gradual increase showed they were in a position to make further gains from both parties. They pointed in particular to the fact that they were now in second place in roughly 190 constituencies and that having had net losses to Labour in the 1992 General Election and having not taken a single seat off Labour in 1997, they had held their gains off Labour from the 2001 General Election and had actually made further gains off of them.

The Liberal Democrats increased their percentage of the vote by 3.7%, the Conservatives by 0.6%, and Labour's dropped by 5.5%. Most seats lost by Labour changed to the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats suffered a net loss of two seats to the Conservative Party, possibly because of Lib Dem voters' tactical unwind, due to worries about what Liberal Democrats would do in a Hung Parliament.

The election was the first time since 1929 that no party received more than 10 million votes. In addition, Labour won its overall majority with the lowest percentage vote ever achieved by any winning party in any United Kingdom General Election in history. In terms of overall shares of the vote, it was the most "three-cornered" election since 1923, though the Liberal Democrats failed to match the popular-vote success of the SDP-Liberal Alliance in the 1980s. Additionally, the total combined vote for Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats proved to be the lowest level ever recorded, with 10.2% of voters voting for minor parties.

England

The average Labour vote in England declined by approximately 7% and by varying amounts in every English Region, but with sharp variations locally. The Labour vote fell sharply in safe Labour seats and in areas with large Muslim populations, yet a few constituencies saw slight Labour increases. In particular, the Labour vote declined dramatically in North London, where 11% of voters abandoned Labour for other parties and the Respect Party managed narrowly to unseat Labour in what was formerly a safe Labour seat. Labour lost the fewest votes in Southwest England, only 2.5% -- but Labour's vote in Southwest England is historically poor. Notably, the Labour Party failed to take a single seat off another party. Despite getting about 60,000 fewer votes than the Conservatives in England, Labour still ended up with a 90-MP English plurality.

The Conservatives made gains in most regions of England, though their vote declined in some areas, notably East Midlands and Yorkshire (2% and 1.5% declines, respectively). However, even in regions where the Conservative vote declined, the Labour vote declined by a greater margin, allowing the Conservatives to make gains against Labour. Overall, the Conservatives gained approximately 1% of the vote in England from 2001.

The Liberal Democrats made modest gains in all regions of England, improving by at least 1% in every region. No particular region showed greatly expanded support for the Liberal Democrats though, continuing the trend of approximately equal showings in all regions of England for them.

Scotland

Results in Scotland for Labour were also down, though less so than in England. Labour lost approximately 4% of the vote in East Scotland and approximately 6% of the vote in West Scotland. Labour's vote declined the most in the Edinburgh area and in the north of Scotland (where Labour lost all of its rural seats).

The Conservative vote declined marginally in both East and West Scotland, but the Conservatives nonetheless managed to win a seat in the South (Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale), so maintaining their one Scottish seat in the Westminster Parliament. Having once been the largest party in Scotland (most recently in 1959), the 2001 and 2005 General Elections have done very little to reverse the downward trend that culminated in the 1997 loss of all 11 Conservative seats.

The Liberal Democrats made gains against Labour in both regions of Scotland and picked up a modest number of seats. On average, their vote rose approximately 5% across Scotland, though again this translated into few gains as the Liberal Democrat vote was not particularly concentrated.

The Scottish National Party's vote declined slightly across Scotland, but they managed to win one rural and one urban seat from Labour.

Wales

The Labour Party lost approximately 6% of the vote across Wales, with losses varying by region. However, Labour managed to mitigate their losses in losing only six seats. The Conservatives returned MPs from Wales for the first time since 1997 with three wins on a slightly increased share of the vote. The Liberal Democrats also improved their share of the vote slightly and won two additional seats, one from Labour and one from Plaid Cymru. Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party, declined very slightly in the vote and lost a seat to the Liberal Democrats. Peter Law, standing as an independent candidate managed to overturn a large Labour majority to win Blaenau Gwent.

Total seats for each party

Ordered by number of votes; for the results in order number of seats won, see results by number of seats won.

 Summary of the results of the 5 May 2005 United Kingdom general election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom

Political party		Leader	Candidates	Elected	Seats gained	Seats lost	Net change in seats	% of seats	Number of votes	% of votes	Change in % of vote	Votes per seat won
	Labour	Tony Blair	627	355	0	47	–47	55.2	9,552,436	35.2	–5.5	26,908
	Conservative	Michael Howard	630	198	36	3	+33	30.7	8,784,915	32.4	+0.7	44,368
	Liberal Democrats	Charles Kennedy	626	62	16	5	+11	9.6	5,985,454	22.0	+3.8	96,540
	UKIP	Roger Knapman	496	0	0	0	0	0.0	605,973	2.2	+0.8	N/A
	SNP	Alex Salmond	59	6	2	0	+2	0.9	412,267	1.5	–0.2	68,711
	Green	Caroline Lucas and Keith Taylor	182	0	0	0	0	0.0	257,758	1.0	+0.4	N/A
	DUP	Ian Paisley	18	9	4	0	+4	1.4	241,856	0.9	+0.2	26,873
	BNP	Nick Griffin	119	0	0	0	0	0.0	192,745	0.7	+0.5	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Ieuan Wyn Jones	40	3	0	1	–1	0.5	174,838	0.6	–0.1	58,279
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	18	5	1	0	+1	0.8	174,530	0.6	–0.1	34,906
	UUP	David Trimble	18	1	0	5	–5	0.2	127,414	0.5	–0.3	127,414
	SDLP	Mark Durkan	18	3	1	1	0	0.5	125,626	0.5	–0.1	41,875
	Independent	N/A	180	1	1	0	+1	0.2	122,416	0.5	+0.1	122,416
	Respect	Linda Smith	26	1	1	0	+1	0.2	68,094	0.3	N/A	68,094
	Scottish Socialist	Colin Fox	58	0	0	0	0	0.0	43,514	0.2	–0.1	N/A
	Veritas	Robert Kilroy-Silk	65	0	0	0	0	0.0	40,607	0.1	N/A	N/A
	Alliance	David Ford	12	0	0	0	0	0.0	28,291	0.1	0.0	N/A
	Scottish Green	Shiona Baird and Robin Harper	19	0	0	0	0	0.0	25,760	0.1	+0.1	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Arthur Scargill	49	0	0	0	0	0.0	20,167	0.1	0.0	N/A
	Liberal	Michael Meadowcroft	14	0	0	0	0	0.0	19,068	0.1	0.0	N/A
	Health Concern	Richard Taylor	1	1	0	0	0	0.2	18,739	0.1	0.0	18,739
	Speaker	N/A	1	1	0	0	0	0.2	15,153	0.1	0.0	15,153
	English Democrat	Robin Tilbrook	24	0	0	0	0	0.0	15,149	0.1	N/A	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Peter Taaffe	17	0	0	0	0	0.0	9,398	0.0	N/A	N/A
	National Front	Tom Holmes	13	0	0	0	0	0.0	8,079	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Legalise Cannabis	Alun Buffry	21	0	0	0	0	0.0	6,950	0.0	0.0	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Howling Laud Hope	19	0	0	0	0	0.0	6,311	0.0	0.0	N/A
	Community Action	Peter Franzen	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	5,984	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Christian Vote	George Hargreaves	10	0	0	0	0	0.0	4,004	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Mebyon Kernow	Dick Cole	4	0	0	0	0	0.0	3,552	0.0	0.0	N/A
	Forward Wales	John Marek	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	3,461	0.0	N/A	N/A
	CPA	Alan Craig	9	0	0	0	0	0.0	3,291	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Rainbow Dream Ticket	Rainbow George Weiss	23	0	0	0	0	0.0	2,463	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Community Group	Martin Williams	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	2,365	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Ashfield Independents	Roy Adkins	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	2,292	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Mike Davies	5	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,978	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Residents Association of London	Malvin Brown	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,850	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Workers' Party	Seán Garland	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,669	0.0	0.0	N/A
	Socialist Environmental	Goretti Horgan	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,649	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Scottish Unionist	Daniel Houston	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,266	0.0	0.0	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Sheila Torrance	10	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,241	0.0	0.0	N/A
	New England	Michael Tibby	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,224	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Communist	Robert Griffiths	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,124	0.0	0.0	N/A
	Community Group		1	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,118	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Peace and Progress	Chris Cooper	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,036	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Scottish Senior Citizens	John Swinburne	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,017	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Your Party	Daniel Thompson	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	1,006	0.0	N/A	N/A
	SOS! Northampton	Yvonne Dale	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	932	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Ind. Working Class	None	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	892	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Democratic Labour	Brian Powell	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	770	0.0	N/A	N/A
	British Public Party	Kashif Rana	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	763	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Free Scotland Party	Brian Nugent	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	743	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Pensioners Party Scotland	George Rodger	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	716	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Publican Party	Kit Fraser and Don Lawson	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	678	0.0	N/A	N/A
	English Independence Party	Andrew Constantine	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	654	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Socialist Unity	None	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	581	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Local Community Party	Jack Crossfield	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	570	0.0	N/A	N/A
	Clause 28	David Braid	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	516	0.0	N/A	N/A
	UK Community Issues Party	Michael Osman	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	502	0.0	N/A	N/A
Total			646					Turnout	27,148,510	61.4		42,026

Formation of the new government

Following the election result, Labour remained in power and Tony Blair remained Prime Minister. The first job he undertook was to select a new Cabinet. This was done over the weekend afterwards and formally announced on 9 May 2005. The most senior positions of Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary remained the same, but a few new faces were added; most notably David Blunkett returned to cabinet as the Work and Pensions Secretary, although he was forced to resign again due to another scandal before the end of the year that spawned a national press and opposition campaign for his dismissal.

The new Parliament met on 11 May for the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons.

New party leaders

On 6 May Michael Howard announced he would be standing down as leader of the Conservative Party, but not before a review of the leadership rules. The formal leadership election began in October, and was ultimately won by David Cameron. See Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2005. The following day David Trimble resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. His successor, Sir Reg Empey, was elected at the meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council on 24 June. See Ulster Unionist Party leadership election, 2005.

End Of The Term

Assuming that electoral law is not changed and general elections continue be held on a Thursday, the last conceivable day upon which the next General Election could take place is 17th June 2010 due to the time lags involved administrative procedures after the gathering of the Parliament.

British Elections

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

Tony Blair, Labour leader and incumbent Prime Minister.

Michael Howard leader of Conservative and incumbent Leader of the Opposition.

Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrats leader.

External links

Media coverage

• BBC Election 2005
• Channel 4 - Election 2005
• Angus Reid Consultants - Election Tracker
• The Guardian Election 2005 weblog
• The Guardian Politics - Special Report: Election 2005
• The Times Election 2005 Log
• Yahoo! News - Election 2005
• How the British election works

Electoral information

• The Electoral Commission - Election results
• Electoral Calculus: If there were a General Election tomorrow, what would happen?
• UK Polling Report - analysis of polls on a day-by-day basis.
• Candidates by Party - All 3405 candidates listed by their 124 distinct party labels.
• SourceWatch's article on the 2005 UK general election - with a focus on the strategists and public relations experts involved in the campaigns of the various parties.
• Strategic Voter 2005 - Information for each constituency to strategically vote against the invasion of Iraq

Manifestos

• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland: Alliance works. Tribal politics costs (PDF File)
• British National Party: Rebuilding British Democracy (Abbreviated) (PDF)
• Conservatives: It's Time For Action/The British Dream
• Democratic Unionist Party: Leadership That's Working (PDF File)
• Green Party of England and Wales: People, Planet, Peace
• Labour: Britain: forward not back
• Liberal Democrats: The REAL Alternative
• Official Monster Raving Loony Party: Vote for insanity, you know it makes sense!
• Scottish National Party: Make Scotland Matter (PDF file)
• Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales: We can build a better Wales (PDF file)
• English Democrats: See Web Site- Putting England First
• Respect – The Unity Coalition: Policy
• Scottish Socialist Party: Make Capitalism History
• Social Democratic and Labour Party: A Better Way to a Better Ireland (PDF File)
• Sinn Fein: Manifesto
• Ulster Unionist Party: Simply British
• United Kingdom Independence Party: We want our country back

Miscellaneous

• Who should you vote for? - A tool to show which party's policies most closely match your priorities
• Who Do I Vote For? - An alternative tool to show which party's policies most closely match your opinions on 20 key policy areas
• The Christian Institute - Includes an election briefing that analyses party manifestos in the light of their perception of Christian beliefs
• OSCE Final Report on the United Kingdom general election on 2005-05-05, by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe
• Maps of the 2005 results by constitutencies (in French)