October 1974 United Kingdom general election

United Kingdom general election, October 1974

10 October 1974
All 635 seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath Jeremy Thorpe Party Labour Conservative Liberal Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965 18 January 1967 Leader's seat Huyton Bexley North Devon Last election 301 seats, 37.2% 297 seats, 37.9% 14 seats, 19.3% Seats won 319 277 13 Seat change +18 -20 -1 Popular vote 11,457,079 10,462,565 5,346,704 Percentage 39.2% 35.8% 18.3% Swing % % %
PM before election Harold Wilson Labour Subsequent PM Harold Wilson Labour

1970 election • MPs

February 1974 election • MPs

October 1974 election • MPs

1979 election • MPs

1983 election • MPs

The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on 10 October 1974. It was the second of two United Kingdom general elections held that year. Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson, having taken power in a hung parliament after the February election, returned to the polls and won a tiny majority of three. In both elections the Conservative Party's hopes of forming a government had been weakened by the decision of Ulster Unionist Party MPs to withdraw from their long-standing acceptance of the Conservative whip in parliament, due to their opposition to the 1973 Sunningdale Agreement.

It was at this election that the Scottish National Party secured their best ever representation inside the House of Commons: 11 elected MPs as well as their largest total number of votes in a UK general election.

Results

UK General Election October 1974
Party		Candidates						Votes
		Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	623	319	20	2	+ 18	50.236	39.2	11,457,079	+ 2.0
	Conservative	622	277	2	22	- 20	43.622	35.8	10,462,565	- 2.1
	Liberal	619	13	1	2	- 1	2.047	18.3	5,346,704	- 1.0
	SNP	71	11	4	0	+ 4	1.732	2.9	839,617	+ 0.9
	UUP	7	6	0	1	- 1	0.944	0.9	256,065	+ 0.1
	Plaid Cymru	36	3	1	0	+ 1	0.472	0.6	166,321	+ 0.1
	SDLP	9	1	0	0	0		0.6	154,193	+ 0.1
	National Front	90	0	0	0	0		0.4	113,843	+ 0.2
	Vanguard	3	3	0	0	0		0.3	92,262	+ 0.1
	DUP	2	1	0	0	0		0.3	59,451	+ 0.1
	Alliance	5	0	0	0	0		0.2	44,644	+ 0.1
	Independent Labour	7	0	0	1	0		0.2	33,317	+ 0.1
	Ind. Republican	1	1	1	0	+ 1		0.2	32,795	+ 0.2
	Republican Clubs	5	0	0	0	0		0.1	21,633	+ 0.1
	Unionist Party NI	2	0	0	0	0		0.1	20,454	N/A
	Communist	29	0	0	0	0		0.1	17,426	0.0
	Democratic Labour	1	0	0	1	- 1		0.1	13,714	+ 0.1
	NI Labour	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	11,539	0.0
	Independent	32	0	0	0	0		0.0	8,812	- 0.1
	Independent Ulster Unionist	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,982	N/A
	United Democratic	13	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,810	N/A
	Ind. Conservative	4	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,559	0.0
	More Prosperous Britain	25	0	0	0	0		0.0	4,301	0.0
	Workers Revolutionary	10	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,404	0.0
	Independent Liberal	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,277	- 0.2
	Volunteer Political	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,690	N/A
	Irish Civil Rights	7	0	0	0	0		0.0	2,381	N/A
	People Movement	5	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,996	0.0
	Marxist-Leninist (England)	8	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,320	0.0
	English National	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	1,115	N/A
	United English National	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	793	N/A
	Marxist–Leninist (Ireland)	3	0	0	0	0		0.0	540	N/A
	Mebyon Kernow	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	384	N/A
	Socialist (GB)	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	118	N/A

Total number of votes: 29,189,104. All parties shown.

Votes summary

Popular vote Labour   39.25% Conservative   35.8% Liberal   18.32% Scottish National   2.88% Ulster Unionist   0.88% Plaid Cymru   0.57% Social Democratic and Labour   0.53% National Front   0.39% Independent   0.3% Others   1.08%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Labour   50.24% Conservative   43.62% Liberal   2.05% Scottish National   1.73% Ulster Unionist   0.94% Plaid Cymru   0.47% Vanguard   0.47% Others   0.47%

References

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

See also

• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, October 1974.

Manifestos

• Putting Britain First - Oct 1974 Conservative manifesto.
• Britain Will Win With Labour - Oct 1974 Labour Party manifesto.
• Why Britain Needs Liberal Government - Liberal Party manifesto.