1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom European Parliament election, 1989

15 June 1989
81 seats to the European Parliament
First party Second party   Leader Neil Kinnock Margaret Thatcher Party Labour Conservative Alliance PES EPP Leader since 2 October 1983 11 February 1975 Last election 32 seats, 36.5% 45 seats, 40.8% Seats won 45 32 Seat change 13 13 Popular vote 6,153,640 5,331,077 Percentage 40.1% 34.7% Swing 3.6% 6.1%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Leader of Largest Party before election Margaret Thatcher Conservative Subsequent Leader of Largest Party Neil Kinnock Labour

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 did not gain a single MEP, 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 election, 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

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #E4003B;" data-sort-value="Labour Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Conservative Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #528D6B;" data-sort-value="Green Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FAA61A;" data-sort-value="Social and Liberal Democrats" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FDF38E;" data-sort-value="Scottish National Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #005B54;" data-sort-value="Plaid Cymru" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #2C478A;" data-sort-value="Social Democratic Party (UK, 1988)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent (politician)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #DDEEFF;" data-sort-value="Independent Conservative" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: red;" data-sort-value="Communist Party of Great Britain" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFF000;" data-sort-value="Official Monster Raving Loony Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #d5c229;" data-sort-value="Mebyon Kernow" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #318B58;" data-sort-value="Wessex Regionalist Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: MidnightBlue;" data-sort-value="National Front (UK)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: orange;" data-sort-value="Humanist Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #DC241f;" data-sort-value="Socialist Party of Great Britain" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #C71585;" data-sort-value="Communist League (UK, 1988)" |

Party		Votes	Seats	Loss/Gain	Share of Vote (%)
Labour	6,153,640	45	+13	40.1
Conservative	5,331,077	32	-13	34.7
Green	2,292,705	0	0	14.9
SLD	986,292	0	0	6.2
SNP	406,686	1	0	2.6
Plaid Cymru	115,062	0	0	0.7
SDP	75,886	0	0	0.5
Independent	12,724	0	0	0.1
Ind. 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

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #D46A4C;" data-sort-value="Democratic Unionist Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #2AA82C;" data-sort-value="Social Democratic and Labour Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #48A5EE;" data-sort-value="Ulster Unionist Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #326760;" data-sort-value="Sinn Féin" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #F6CB2F;" data-sort-value="Alliance Party of Northern Ireland" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #0087DC;" data-sort-value="Northern Ireland Conservatives" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #528D6B;" data-sort-value="Green Party (UK)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #F8F9FA;" data-sort-value="Workers' Party of Ireland" |

Party		Candidate(s)	Seats	Loss/Gain	First Preference Votes
					Number	% of vote
DUP	Ian Paisley	1	0	160,110	29.9
SDLP	John Hume	1	0	136,335	25.5
UUP	Jim Nicholson	1	0	118,785	22.2
Sinn Féin	Danny Morrison	0	0	48,914	9.1
Alliance	John Alderdice	0	0	27,905	5.2
NI Conservatives	Myrtle Boal	0	0	25,789	4.8
Green	Malcolm Samuel	0	0	6,569	1.0
Workers' Party of Ireland	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
• List of members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom, 1989–94