December 1910 United Kingdom general election

United Kingdom general election, December 1910

3–19 December 1910 (1910-12-03 – 1910-12-19)
All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader H. H. Asquith Arthur Balfour Party Liberal Conservative and Liberal Unionist Leader since 30 April 1908 11 June 1902 Leader's seat East Fife City of London Last election 274 seats, 43.5% 272 seats, 46.8% Seats won 272 271 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 2,157,256 2,270,753 Percentage 44.2% 46.6% Swing 0.7% 0.3%   Third party Fourth party   Leader John Redmond George Barnes Party Irish Parliamentary Labour Leader since 6 February 1900 14 February 1910 Leader's seat Waterford City Glasgow Blackfriars & Hutchesontown Last election 71 seats, 1.2% 40 seats, 7.0% Seats won 74 42 Seat change 3 2 Popular vote 90,416 309,963 Percentage 1.9% 6.4% Swing 0.7% 0.6%
Colours denote the winning party
Prime Minister before election H. H. Asquith Liberal Appointed Prime Minister H. H. Asquith Liberal

The December 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 3 to 19 December. It was the last general election to be held over several days and the last to be held prior to the First World War (1914–18).

The political context was the effort of the new Liberal Government to pass its budget, with higher taxes imposed on the wealthy. It was blocked by the House of Lords. The Government called a general election to get a mandate for the Parliament Act 1911, which would prevent the House of Lords from permanently blocking legislation. After the Liberals, together with the Irish Nationalists and Labour, retained their majority in the House of Commons, the House of Lords gave way and the budget was passed.

The Conservatives, led by Arthur Balfour with their Liberal Unionist allies, and the Liberals, led by H. H. Asquith, could not break the deadlock produced in the January general election, with the Conservatives again winning the largest number of votes. The Liberal Party under Asquith formed a government with the support of the Irish Nationalists. This was the last general election in which the Liberals won the highest number of seats in the House of Commons. It was also the last election of any kind in the United Kingdom; in which a party other than Labour or the Conservatives won the most seats until the 2014 European Parliament elections.

Results

England and Wales seat winners

↓ 

style="color:black; background:Template:Liberal Party (UK)/meta/color; width:40.6%%;" | 272	style="background:Template:Conservative and Liberal Unionist/meta/color; width:40.5%;" | 271	style="color:black; background:Template:Irish Parliamentary Party/meta/color; width:11.0%;" | 74	style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color; width:6.3%;" | 42	style="color:black; background:Template:All-for-Ireland League/meta/color; width:1.2%;" | 8	3
Liberal	Conservative	IPP	Lab	AFI	O

UK General Election December 1910

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	Arthur Balfour	548	271			−1	40.4	46.6	2,270,753	−0.3
	Liberal	H. H. Asquith	467	272			−2	40.6	44.2	2,157,256	+0.7
	Labour	George Barnes	56	42	5	3	+2	6.3	6.4	309,963	−0.6
	Irish Parliamentary	John Redmond	81	74	5	2	+3	11.0	1.9	90,416	+0.7
	All-for-Ireland	William O'Brien	21	8	2	2	0	1.2	0.6	30,322	+0.2
	Social Democratic Federation	H. M. Hyndman	2	0	0	0	0		0.1	5,733	−0.1
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	4	1	1	1	0	0.1	0.1	4,647
	Independent Labour	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.1	3,492
	Independent Liberal	N/A	1	0	0	1	−1		0.0	1,946
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	913
	Independent Nationalist	N/A	4	2	0	1	−1	0.3	0.0	911
	Independent	N/A	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	57

Total votes cast: 5,224,277.

Voting summary

Popular vote Conservative and Liberal Unionist   46.57% Liberal   44.23% Labour   6.36% Irish Parliamentary   1.85% Independent   0.23% Others   0.78%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats Liberal   40.6% Conservative and Liberal Unionist   40.5% Labour   6.3% Irish Parliamentary   11.0% All-for-Ireland   1.2% Independent   0.5%

See also

• MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, December 1910
• Parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918

Further reading

• Blewett, Neal (1972), Peers, the Parties and the People: General Elections of 1910
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
• Pelling, Henry (1967), Social Geography of British Elections 1885–1910

External links

• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979

Manifestos

• December 1910 Conservative manifesto
• December 1910 Labour manifesto
• December 1910 Liberal manifesto