2015 United Kingdom general election

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United Kingdom general election, 2015
← outgoing members elected members →
All 650 seats in the House of Commons; 326 seats needed for a majority
	Opinion polls
Turnout	66.1%
	Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Prime Minister before election; David Cameron; Conservative	Subsequent Prime Minister ; David Cameron; Conservative

The United Kingdom general election of 2015 on 7 May 2015 elected the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom. Each of the 650 parliamentary constituencies elected one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons, the dominant house of Parliament. It was the first general election at the end of a fixed term Parliament. Local elections took place in most of England on the same day.

Polls and commentators had predicted the outcome would be 'too close to call' and would result in a second hung parliament similar to the 2010 election. Opinion polls were eventually proven to have underestimated the Conservative vote, which bore resemblance to their surprise victory in the 1992 general election. The British Polling Council began an inquiry into the variance between opinion polls and the actual result. Having governed in coalition with the Liberal Democrats since 2010, the Conservative Party won 36.9% of the vote and 330 seats, this time with a working majority of 12. This was despite a small swing from Conservative to Labour.^[1] Conservative leader David Cameron subsequently formed the first Conservative majority government since 1992. The Labour Party, led by Ed Miliband, saw a small increase in their vote share to 30.4% but incurred a net loss of seats to return 232 MPs. This was their lowest seat tally since the 1987 election. Senior Labour shadow cabinet members, notably Ed Balls, Douglas Alexander, and Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy, were defeated.

The Scottish National Party, enjoying a surge in support since the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, recorded a number of record breaking swings of over 30% from Labour as they won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats to became the third largest party in the Commons. The Liberal Democrats, led by outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, had their worst result since being formed in 1988, holding just eight out of their previous 57 seats with cabinet ministers Vince Cable, Ed Davey, and Danny Alexander losing their seats. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), came third in terms of votes with 12.6% but only won one seat, with party leader Nigel Farage failing to win the seat of South Thanet. The Green Party won their highest ever share of the vote with 3.8% and held Brighton Pavilion with an increased majority.^[2] Labour's Miliband (as national leader) and Murphy (as Scottish leader) resigned; as did Clegg and Farage. Farage's resignation was rejected by his party and he remained in post.

In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionist Party returned to the Commons with two MPs after a five-year absence, while Alliance lost its only seat despite an increase in total vote share.

Election process

The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (as amended by the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013) led to the dissolution of the 55th Parliament on 30 March 2015 and the scheduling of the election on 7 May, the House of Commons not having voted for an earlier date.^[3] There were local elections on the same day in most of England, with the exception of Greater London. No other elections were scheduled to take place in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland, apart from any local by-elections.

All British, Irish and Commonwealth citizens over the age of 18 on the date of the election were permitted to vote. In general elections, voting takes place in all parliamentary constituencies of the United Kingdom to elect members of parliament (MPs) to seats in the House of Commons, the dominant (historically termed the lower) house of Parliament. Each parliamentary constituency of the United Kingdom elects one MP to the House of Commons using the "first past the post" system. If one party obtains a majority of seats, then that party is entitled to form the Government. If the election results in no single party having a majority, then there is a hung parliament. In this case, the options for forming the Government are either a minority government or a coalition government.^[4]

Although the Conservative Party planned the number of parliamentary seats to be reduced from 650 to 600, through the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies under the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the review of constituencies and reduction in seats was delayed by the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013 amending the 2011 Act.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] The next boundary review is now set to take place in 2018; thus the 2015 general election was contested using the same constituencies and boundaries as in 2010. Of the 650 constituencies, 533 are in England, 59 in Scotland, 40 in Wales and 18 in Northern Ireland.

In addition, the 2011 Act mandated a referendum in 2011 on changing from the current "first past the post" system to an alternative vote (instant-runoff) system for elections to the Commons. The Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement committed the coalition government to such a referendum.^[9] The referendum was held in May 2011 and resulted in the retention of the existing voting system. Before the previous general election, the Liberal Democrats had pledged to change the voting system, and the Labour Party pledged to have a referendum about any such change.^[10] The Conservatives, however, promised to keep the first past the post system, but to reduce the number of constituencies by 10%. Liberal Democrat plans were to reduce the number of MPs to 500 elected using a proportional system.^[11]^[12]

Ministers increased the amount of money that parties and candidates were allowed to spend on the election by 23%, a move decided against Electoral Commission advice.^[13] The election saw the first cap on spending by parties in individual constituencies during the 100 days before Parliament's dissolution on 30 March: £30,700, plus a per-voter allowance of 9p in county constituencies and 6p in borough seats. An additional voter allowance of more than £8,700 is available after the dissolution of Parliament. UK political parties spent £31.1m in the 2010 general election, of which Conservatives spent 53%, the Labour Party spent 25% and the Liberal Democrats 15%.^[14]

This was the first UK general election to use individual rather than household voter registration.

Date of the election

An election is called following the dissolution of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The 2015 general election is the first to be held under the provisions of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011. Prior to this, the power to dissolve Parliament was a royal prerogative, exercised by the sovereign on the advice of the prime minister. Under the provisions of the Septennial Act 1716, as amended by the Parliament Act 1911, an election had to be announced on or before the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the previous parliament, barring exceptional circumstances. No sovereign had refused a request for dissolution since the beginning of the 20th century, and practice had evolved such that a prime minister would typically call a general election to be held at a tactically convenient time within the final two years of a Parliament's lifespan, in order to maximise the chance of an electoral victory for his or her party.^[15]

Prior to the 2010 general election, the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats pledged to introduce fixed-term elections.^[10] As part of the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition agreement, the Cameron ministry agreed to support legislation for fixed-term Parliaments, with the date of the next general election being 7 May 2015.^[16] This resulted in the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, which removed the prime minister's power to advise the monarch to call an early election. The act only permits an early dissolution if Parliament votes for one by a two-thirds supermajority, or if a vote of no confidence is passed by a majority and no new government is subsequently formed within 14 days.^[17] However, the prime minister does have the power, by order made by Statutory Instrument under section 1(5) of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011, to provide that the polling day is to be held up to two months later than 7 May 2015. Such a Statutory Instrument must be approved by each House of Parliament. Under section 14 of the Electoral Registration and Administration Act 2013, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 was amended to extend the period between the dissolution of Parliament and the following general election polling day from 17 to 25 working days. This had the effect of moving forward the date of the dissolution of the Parliament to 30 March 2015.^[3]

Timetable

The key dates were:

Monday 30 March	Dissolution of Parliament (the 55th) and campaigning officially began
Saturday 2 May	Last day to file nomination papers, to register to vote, and to request a postal vote^[18]
Thursday 7 May	Polling day
Monday 18 May	New Parliament (the 56th) assembled
Wednesday 27 May	State Opening of Parliament

MPs not standing for re-election

While at the previous election there had been a record 148 MPs not standing for re-election,^[19] the 2015 election saw 90 MPs standing down.^[20] These comprised 38 Conservative, 37 Labour, 10 Liberal Democrat, 3 Independent, 1 Sinn Féin and 1 Plaid Cymru MP. The highest profile Members of Parliament leaving were: Gordon Brown, a former Prime Minister, Leader of the Labour Party (both 2007–2010) and Chancellor of the Exchequer (1997–2007); and William Hague, the outgoing First Secretary of State and Leader of the House of Commons and former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (2010–2014), Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition (both 1997–2001).^[21] Alongside Brown and Hague, 17 former cabinet ministers stood down at the election, including Stephen Dorrell, Jack Straw, Alistair Darling, David Blunkett, Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Dame Tessa Jowell.^[21] The highest profile Liberal Democrat to stand down was former leader Sir Menzies Campbell, while the longest-serving MP (the "Father of the House") Sir Peter Tapsell also retired, having served from 1959 to 1964 and then continuously since the 1966 general election.^[21]

Contesting political parties and candidates

Overview

As of 9 April 2015^[update], the deadline for standing for the general election, the Electoral Commission's Register of Political Parties included 428 political parties registered in Great Britain,^[22] and 36 in Northern Ireland.^[23] Candidates who do not belong to a registered party can use an "independent" label, or no label at all.

The Conservative Party and Labour Party have been the two biggest parties since 1922, and have supplied all UK prime ministers since that date. Polls predicted that these parties would together receive between 65–75% of the votes and win 80–85% of seats between them^[24]^[25] and that as such the leader of one of these parties would be the prime minister after the election. The Liberal Democrats had been the third party in the UK for many years; but as described by various commentators, other parties have risen relative to the Liberal Democrats since the 2010 election.^[26]^[27] The Economist described a "familiar two-and-a-half-party system" (Conservatives, Labour, and the Liberal Democrats) that "appears to be breaking down" with the rise of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP), the Greens and the Scottish National Party (SNP).^[28] Newsnight^[29] and The Economist^[30] have described the country as moving into a six-party system, with the Liberal Democrats, SNP, UKIP and Greens all being significant. Ofcom, in their role regulating election coverage in the UK, have ruled that for the general election and local elections in May 2015, the major parties in Great Britain are the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal Democrats, with UKIP a major party in England and Wales, the SNP a major party in Scotland, and Plaid Cymru (PC) in Wales, and that the Greens were not a major party.^[31] The BBC's guidelines are similar but exclude UKIP from the category of "larger parties" in Great Britain and instead state that UKIP should be given "appropriate levels of coverage in output to which the largest parties contribute and, on some occasions, similar levels of coverage".^[32]^[33] Seven parties (Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrat, UKIP, SNP, PC and Green) participated in the election leadership debates.^[34]

Great Britain-based

The main Great Britain-based parties—several parties operate in Northern Ireland only, which has a mainly separate political culture—are listed below in order of seats being contested:

Conservative Party: led by David Cameron, the prime minister. The Conservatives were the larger party in the coalition government, having won the most seats (306) at the 2010 election. They stood in 647 seats (every seat except for two in Northern Ireland and the Speaker's seat).
Labour Party: led by Ed Miliband, the leader of the opposition. Labour had been in power from 1997 to 2010. The party constituted Her Majesty's Most Loyal Opposition (also called the Official Opposition) after the 2010 election, having won 258 seats. They stood in 631 of Great Britain's 632 constituencies,^{[n 2]} missing only the Speaker's seat.
Liberal Democrats: led by Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister. The Liberal Democrats were the junior member of the 2010–15 coalition government, having won 57 seats. The Lib Dems contested the same 631 seats as the Labour Party.
UK Independence Party (UKIP): led by Nigel Farage, a Member of the European Parliament, who had not previously been in parliament but was standing in South Thanet in the general election. UKIP won the fourth most votes at the 2010 election, but failed to win any seats. They subsequently won two seats at by-elections in 2014 and won the highest share of votes at the 2014 European elections. They contested 624 seats across the United Kingdom.^{[n 3]}
Green parties: two distinct but cooperating Green parties operate in Great Britain: the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW) and the Scottish Green Party, with opinion polling generally making no distinction between the two. The Green Party of England and Wales is led by Natalie Bennett, who had not previously been elected to Westminster, but stood in Holborn and St Pancras at the general election. The GPEW won the fourth largest share of votes in the 2014 European elections, ahead of the Liberal Democrats. The Scottish Green Party is co-led by Patrick Harvie MSP and councillor Maggie Chapman, neither of whom were standing for election to Westminster. Caroline Lucas was elected as the only Green MP in 2010, in which the two parties received a combined 1% of the vote and were seventh overall. The Greens stood in 568 seats in Great Britain.
Scottish National Party (SNP): led by Nicola Sturgeon, who is First Minister of Scotland and did not stand in the general election. The SNP only contested seats in Scotland and stood in all 59 Scottish constituencies. The party got the second most votes in Scotland and sixth overall in 2010, winning six seats. It won the 2011 election to the Scottish Parliament and had a surge of support since the Scottish independence referendum in September 2014, in which they were the main political party behind the losing Yes campaign.^[35] Most projections suggested that they would be the third largest party overall after the 2015 election, in terms of seats won, overtaking the Liberal Democrats.^[25]
Plaid Cymru: led by Leanne Wood, who is a member of the Welsh Assembly and did not stand in the general election. Plaid Cymru organise only in Wales, where they contested all 40 Welsh constituencies. The party has three MPs and were fourth in Wales (eighth in Great Britain) by vote share in 2010, later finishing third in the 2011 Welsh Assembly elections.

Minor parties

Dozens of other minor parties stood in Great Britain. The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, founded as an electoral alliance of socialist parties in 2010, had 135 candidates and was the only other party to have more than 40 candidates.^[36] Respect entered into the election with one MP (George Galloway), who was elected at the 2012 Bradford West by-election, but stood just four candidates. The British National Party, which finished fifth with 1.9% of the vote for its 338 candidates at the 2010 general election, stood only eight candidates following a collapse in support.^[37] 753 other candidates stood at the general election, including all independents, Northern Ireland-based party candidates, and candidates from other parties.^[37]

Northern Ireland

The main parties in Northern Ireland (which has 18 constituencies) described by Ofcom,^[31] the BBC^[38] and others, in alphabetical order, are:

Alliance Party of Northern Ireland: the Alliance Party had one MP, Naomi Long, who was elected for the first time in 2010. (Long lost her seat in 2015.) They were fifth in the 2010 election by vote share, fifth overall in 2011 and sixth in 2014. Alliance has a relationship with the Liberal Democrats in Great Britain: the party's former leader sits in the House of Lords as a Liberal Democrat, but Alliance's one MP elected in 2010 sat on the opposition benches in the Commons and not with the Liberal Democrats on the government benches. The party contested all 18 Northern Irish constituencies in 2015.
Democratic Unionist Party (DUP): the DUP won eight seats in 2010, making them the largest Northern Ireland political party, and the fourth biggest in the UK as a whole. The party also won the 2011 Northern Ireland Assembly election, but were second in the 2014 European election. It contested 16 Northern Irish constituencies, having entered into an electoral pact with the Ulster Unionist Party in the remaining two.
Sinn Féin: Sinn Féin won the most votes in Northern Ireland in 2010, but came second in seats, winning five constituencies. They were second in the 2011 Assembly elections, but first in the 2014 European elections. Sinn Féin follows an abstentionist policy with respect to the Commons and have never so far taken their seats there. The party also operates in the Republic of Ireland, where it does take seats in parliament. The party was standing in all 18 Northern Irish constituencies. Michelle Gildernew lost her seat in 2015, which she had held by only 4 votes in 2010, thus reducing the SF MPs from 5 to 4.
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP): the SDLP were third in terms of votes and seats in the 2010 and 2011 elections, and fourth in the 2014 European elections. Prior to dissolution the party had three MPs. The SDLP has a relationship with the Labour Party in Great Britain, with SDLP MPs generally following the Labour whip. The party was expected to have supported Labour in the event of a hung Parliament^[39] and contested all 18 constituencies at the election.
Ulster Unionist Party (UUP): in 2010 the UUP shared an electoral alliance with the Conservative Party and finished fourth in terms of votes in Northern Ireland, but won no seats. The party does have one MEP, having placed third in the 2014 European elections. They were fourth in the 2011 Assembly elections. The UUP contested 15 seats; the party did not run in two seats because of its electoral pact with the DUP, and also did not nominate a candidate against former UUP member and incumbent independent MP Sylvia Hermon.^[40]

Smaller parties in Northern Ireland include Traditional Unionist Voice (standing in seven seats) and the Green Party in Northern Ireland (standing in five seats). TUV and the Greens each currently hold one seat in the Legislative Assembly. The North Down seat was retained by independent Sylvia Hermon. The Northern Ireland Conservatives and UKIP fielded candidates, whereas Labour and the Liberal Democrats do not contest elections in Northern Ireland.^[41]

Pacts and possible coalitions

With the United Kingdom electoral system, coalitions have been rare as one party has usually won an overall majority in the Commons. However, with the outgoing Government being a coalition and with opinion polls not showing a large or consistent lead for any one party, there was much discussion about possible post-election coalitions or other arrangements, such as confidence and supply agreements.^[42]

Some UK political parties that only stand in part of the country have reciprocal relationships with parties standing in other parts of the country. These include:

Labour (in Great Britain) and SDLP (in Northern Ireland)
Liberal Democrats (in Great Britain) and Alliance (in Northern Ireland)
SNP (in Scotland) and Plaid Cymru (in Wales)
- Plaid Cymru also recommended supporters in England to vote Green,^[43] while the SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon said she would vote for Plaid Cymru were she in Wales, and Green were she in England.^[44]
Green Party of England and Wales (in England and Wales), Scottish Greens (in Scotland) and the Green Party in Northern Ireland (in Northern Ireland)

On 17 March 2015 the Democratic Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party agreed an election pact, whereby the DUP would not stand candidates in Fermanagh and South Tyrone (where Michelle Gildernew, the Sinn Féin candidate, won by only four votes in 2010) and in Newry and Armagh. In return the UUP would stand aside in Belfast East and Belfast North. The SDLP rejected a similar pact suggested by Sinn Féin to try to ensure that an agreed nationalist would win that constituency.^[45]^[46]^[47] The DUP also called on voters in Scotland to support whichever pro-Union candidate was best placed to beat the SNP.^[48]

Candidates

The deadline for parties and individuals to file candidate nomination papers to the acting returning officer (and the deadline for candidates to withdraw) was 4 p.m. on 9 April 2015.^[49]^[50]^[51]^[52] The total number of candidates was 3,971; the second-highest number in history, slightly down from the record 4,150 candidates at the last election in 2010.^[37]^[53]

There were a record number of female candidates standing in terms of both absolute numbers and percentage of candidates: 1,020 (26.1%) in 2015, up from 854 (21.1%) in 2010.^[37]^[53] The proportion of female candidates for major parties ranged from 41% of Alliance Party candidates to 12% of UKIP candidates.^[54] According to UCL's Parliamentary Candidates UK project^[55] the major parties had the following percentages of black and ethnic minority candidates: the Conservatives 11%, the Liberal Democrats 10%, Labour 9%, UKIP 6%, the Greens 4%.^[56] The average age of the candidates for the seven major parties was 45.^[55]

The youngest candidates were all aged 18: Solomon Curtis (Labour, Wealden); Niamh McCarthy (Independent, Liverpool Wavertree); Michael Burrows (UKIP, Inverclyde); Declan Lloyd (Labour, South East Cornwall); and Laura-Jane Rossington (Communist Party, Plymouth Sutton and Devonport).^[57]^[58]^[59] The oldest candidate was Doris Osen, 84, of the Elderly Persons' Independent Party (EPIC), who was standing in Ilford North.^[58] Other candidates aged over 80 included three long-serving Labour MPs standing for re-election: Sir Gerald Kaufman (aged 84; Manchester Gorton), Dennis Skinner (aged 83; Bolsover) and David Winnick (aged 81; Walsall North).

A number of candidates—including two for Labour^[60]^[61] and two for UKIP^[62]^[63] — were suspended from their respective parties after nominations were closed. Independent candidate Ronnie Carroll died after nominations were closed.^[64]

Campaign

Possibility of a hung Parliament

Hung Parliaments have been unusual in post-War British political history, but with the outgoing Government a coalition and opinion polls not showing a large or consistent lead for any one party, it was widely expected and predicted throughout the election campaign that no party would gain an overall majority, which could have led to a new coalition or other arrangements such as confidence and supply agreements.^[29]^[65] This was also associated with a rise in multi-party politics, with increased support for UKIP, the SNP and the Greens.

The question of what the different parties would do in the event of a hung result dominated much of the campaign. Smaller parties focused on the power this would bring them in negotiations; Labour and the Conservatives both insisted that they were working towards winning a majority government, while they were also reported to be preparing for the possibility of a second election in the year.^[66] In practice, Labour were prepared to make a "broad" offer to the Liberal Democrats in the event of a hung Parliament.^[67] Most predictions saw Labour as having more potential support in Parliament than the Conservatives, with several parties, notably the SNP, having committed to keeping out a Conservative government.^[68]^[69]

Conservative campaigning sought to highlight what they described as the dangers of a minority Labour administration supported by the SNP. This proved effective at dominating the agenda of the campaign^[67] and at motivating voters to support them.^[70]^[71]^[72]^[73] The Conservative victory was "widely put down to the success of the anti-Labour/SNP warnings", according to a BBC article^[74] and others.^[75] Labour, in reaction, produced ever stronger denials that they would cooperate with the SNP after the election.^[67]

The Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties rejected the idea of a coalition with the SNP.^[76]^[77]^[78] This was particularly notable for Labour, to whom the SNP had previously offered support: their manifesto stated that "the SNP will never put the Tories into power. Instead, if there is an anti-Tory majority after the election, we will offer to work with other parties to keep the Tories out."^[79]^[80] SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon later confirmed in the Scottish leaders' debate on STV that she was prepared to "help make Ed Miliband prime minister."^[81] However, on 26 April, Miliband ruled out a confidence and supply arrangement with the SNP too.^[82] Miliband's comments suggested to many that he was working towards forming a minority government.^[83]^[84]^[85]

The Liberal Democrats said that they would talk first to whichever party won the most seats.^[86] They later campaigned on being a stabilising influence should either the Conservatives or Labour fall short of a majority, with the slogan "We will bring a heart to a Conservative Government and a brain to a Labour one."^[87]

Both Labour and the Liberal Democrats ruled out coalitions with UKIP.^[88] Ruth Davidson, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, asked about a deal with UKIP in the Scottish leaders' debate, replied, "No deals with UKIP." She continued that her preference and the Prime Minister's preference in a hung Parliament was for a minority Conservative government.^[89] UKIP say they could support a minority Conservative government through a confidence and supply arrangement in return for a referendum on EU membership before Christmas 2015.^[90] They also spoke of the DUP joining UKIP in this arrangement.^[91] UKIP and DUP said they would work together in Parliament.^[92] The DUP welcomed the possibility of a hung Parliament and the influence that this would bring them.^[66] The party's deputy leader, Nigel Dodds, said the party could work with the Conservatives or Labour, but that the party is "not interested in a full-blown coalition government".^[93] Their leader, Peter Robinson, said that the DUP would talk first to whichever party wins the most seats.^[94] The DUP said they wanted, for their support, a commitment to 2% defence spending, a referendum on EU membership, and a reversal of the under-occupation penalty. They opposed the SNP being involved in government.^[95]^[96] The UUP also indicated that they would not work with the SNP if it wanted another independence referendum in Scotland.^[97]

The Green Party of England & Wales, Plaid Cymru and the Scottish National Party all ruled out working with the Conservatives, and agreed to work together "wherever possible" to counter austerity.^[98]^[99]^[100] Each would also make it a condition of any agreement with Labour that Trident nuclear weapons was not replaced; the Green Party of England and Wales stated that "austerity is a red line."^[101] Both Plaid Cymru and the Green Party stated a preference for a confidence and supply arrangement with Labour, rather than a coalition.^[101]^[102] The leader of the SDLP, Alasdair McDonnell, said, "We will be the left-of-centre backbone of a Labour administration", and that, "the SDLP will categorically refuse to support David Cameron and the Conservative Party".^[103] Sinn Féin reiterated their abstentionist stance.^[66] In the event, the Conservatives did secure an overall majority, rendering much of the speculation and positioning moot.

Government finance

The deficit, who was responsible for it and plans to deal with it were a major theme of the campaign. While some smaller parties opposed austerity,^[100] the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and UKIP all supported some further cuts, albeit to different extents.^{[citation needed]}

Conservative campaigning sought to blame the deficit on the previous Labour government. Labour, in return, sought to establish their fiscal responsibility. With the Conservatives also making several spending commitments (e.g. on the NHS), commentators talked of the two main parties' "political crossdressing", each trying to campaign on the other's traditional territory.^[104]

Television debates

The first series of televised leaders' debates in the United Kingdom was held in the previous election. After much debate and various proposals,^[105]^[106] a seven-way debate with the leaders of Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, UKIP, Greens, SNP and Plaid Cymru was held.^[107] with a series of other debates involving some of the parties.

The campaign was notable for the absence of party posters on roadside hoardings. It was suggested that 2015 saw "the death of the campaign poster".^[108]

Endorsements

Various newspapers, organisations and individuals endorsed parties or individual candidates for the election.

Opinion polling

Throughout the 55th parliament of the United Kingdom, first and second place in the polls without exception alternated between the Conservatives and Labour. Labour took a lead in the polls in the second half of 2010, driven in part by a collapse in Liberal Democrat support.^[109] This lead rose up to approximately 10 points over the Conservative Party during 2012, whose ratings dipped alongside an increase in UKIP support.^[110] UKIP passed the Liberal Democrats as the third-most popular party at the start of 2013. Following this, Labour's lead over the Conservatives began to fall as UKIP gained support from them as well,^[111] and by the end of the year Labour were polling at 39%, compared to 33% for the Conservative Party and 11% for UKIP.^[111]

UKIP received 26.6% of the vote at the European elections in 2014, and though their support in the polls for Westminster never reached this level, it did rise up to over 15% through that year.^[112] 2014 was also marked by the Scottish independence referendum. Despite the 'No' vote winning, support for the Scottish National Party rose quickly after the referendum, and had reached 43% in Scotland by the end of the year, up 23 points from the 2010 general election, largely at the expense of Labour (−16 points in Scotland) and the Liberal Democrats (−13 points).^[113] In Wales, where polls were less frequent, the 2012–2014 period saw a smaller decline in Labour's lead over the second-placed Conservative Party, from 28 points to 17.^[114] These votes went mainly to UKIP (+8 points) and Plaid Cymru (+2 points). The rise of UKIP and SNP, alongside the smaller increases for Plaid Cymru and the Green Party (from around 2% to 6%)^[112] saw the combined support of the Conservative and Labour party fall to a record low of around 65%.^[115] Within this the decline came predominantly from Labour, whose lead fell to under 2 points by the end of 2014.^[112] Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat vote, which had held at about 10% since late 2010, declined further to about 8%.^[112]

Early 2015 saw the Labour lead continue to fall, disappearing by the start of March.^[116] Polling during the election campaign itself remained relatively static, with the Labour and Conservative parties both polling between 33–34% and neither able to establish a consistent lead.^[117] Support for the Green Party and UKIP showed slight drops of around 1–2 points each, while Liberal Democrat support rose up to around 9%.^[118] In Scotland, support for the SNP continued to grow with polling figures in late March reaching 54%, with the Labour vote continuing to decline accordingly,^[119] while Labour retained their (reduced) lead in Wales, polling at 39% by the end of the campaign, to 26% for the Conservatives, 13% for Plaid Cymru, 12% for UKIP and 6% for the Liberal Democrats.^[114] The final polls showed a mixture of Conservative leads, Labour leads and ties with both between 31–36%, UKIP on 11–16%, the Lib Dems on 8–10%, the Greens on 4–6%, and the SNP on 4–5% of the national vote.^[120]

In addition to the national polls, Lord Ashcroft funded from May 2014 a series of polls in marginal constituencies, and constituencies where minor parties were expected to be significant challengers. Among other results, Lord Ashcroft's polls suggested that the growth in SNP support would translate into more than 50 seats;^[121] that there was little overall pattern in Labour and Conservative Party marginals;^[122] that the Green Party MP Caroline Lucas would retain her seat;^[123] that both Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg and UKIP leader Nigel Farage would face very close races to be elected in their own constituencies;^[124] and that Liberal Democrat MPs would enjoy an incumbency effect that would lose fewer MPs than their national polling implied.^[125] As with other smaller parties, their proportion of MPs remained likely to be considerably lower than that of total, national votes cast. Several polling companies included Ashcroft's polls in their election predictions, though several of the political parties disputed his findings.^[126]^[127]

Predictions one month before the vote

The first-past-the-post system used in UK general elections means that the number of seats won is not closely related to vote share.^[128] Thus, several approaches were used to convert polling data and other information into seat predictions. The table below lists some of the predictions. ElectionForecast was used by Newsnight and FiveThirtyEight. May2015.com is a project run by the New Statesman magazine.^[129]

Seat predictions draw from nationwide polling, polling in the constituent nations of Britain and may additionally incorporate constituency level polling, particularly the Ashcroft polls. Approaches may or may not use uniform national swing (UNS). Approaches may just use current polling, i.e. a "nowcast" (e.g. Electoral Calculus, May2015.com and The Guardian), or add in a predictive element about how polling shifts based on historical data (e.g. ElectionForecast and Elections Etc.).^[130] An alternative approach is to use the wisdom of the crowd and base a prediction on betting activity: the Sporting Index column below covers bets on the number of seats each party will win with the midpoint between asking and selling price, while FirstPastThePost.net aggregates the betting predictions in each individual constituency. Some predictions cover Northern Ireland, with its distinct political culture, while others do not. Parties are sorted by current number of seats in the House of Commons:

Party	ElectionForecast^[130] (Newsnight Index) as of 9 Apr 2015	Electoral Calculus^[131] as of 12 April 2015	Elections Etc^[132] as of 3 April 2015	The Guardian^[133] as of 12 April 2015	May2015.com^[134] as of 12 April 2015	Sporting Index^[135] as of 12 April 2015	First Past the Post^[136] as of 12 April 2015
Conservatives	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 284	278	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 289	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 281	271	267	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 283
Labour	274	style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 284	266	271	style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 277	style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 272	279
Liberal Democrats	28	17	22	29	26	25	28
DUP	8	Included under Other	GB forecast only	Included under Other	Included under Other	No market	8.7
SNP	41	48	49	50	54	42	38
UKIP	1	2	5	4	3	6	7
SDLP	3	Included under Other	GB forecast only	Included under Other	Included under Other	No market	2.7
Plaid Cymru	2	3	3	3	3	3.3	3
Greens	1	1	1	1	1	1.25	1
Other	8	18 (including 18 NI seats)	GB forecast only, but above may not sum to 632 due to rounding	18 (including 18 NI seats)	19 (including 18 NI seats & Respect 1)	No market	Respect 0.5 UUP 0.9 Speaker 1 Sinn Féin 4.5 Sylvia Hermon 1
Overall result (probability)	Hung parliament (93%)	Hung parliament (60%)	Hung parliament (80%)	Hung parliament	Hung parliament	Hung parliament	Hung parliament

Other predictions were published.^[137] An election forecasting conference on 27 March 2015 yielded 11 forecasts of the result in Great Britain (including some included in the table above).^[138] Averaging the conference predictions gives Labour 283 seats, Conservatives 279, Liberal Democrats 23, UKIP 3, SNP 41, Plaid Cymru 3 and Greens 1.^[139] In that situation, no two parties (excluding a Lab-Con coalition) would have been able to form a majority without the support of a third. On 27 April, Rory Scott of the bookmaker Paddy Power predicted Conservatives 284, Labour 272, SNP 50, UKIP 3, and Greens 1.^[140] LucidTalk for the Belfast Telegraph predicted for Northern Ireland: DUP 9, Sinn Féin 5, SDLP 3, Sylvia Hermon 1, with the only seat change being the DUP gaining Belfast East from Alliance.^[141]^[142]

Final predictions before the vote

Percentage shares of votes, as predicted in the first week of May:

Party	BMG^[143]	TNS-BNRB ^[144]	Opinium^[145]	ICM^[120]	YouGov^[146]	Ipsos MORI^[147]	Ashcroft^[148]	Comres^[149]	Panelbase^[150]	Populous^[151]	Survation^[152]	Average
Conservative	33.7	33	35	34	34	36	33	35	31	33	31.4	33.6
Labour	33.7	32	34	35	34	35	33	34	33	33	31.4	33.5
UKIP	12	14	12	11	12	11	11	12	16	14	15.7	12.7
Liberal Democrats	10	8	8	9	10	8	10	9	8	10	9.6	10.0
Green	4	6	6	4	4	5	6	4	5	5	4.8	4.5
SNP	4	4	4	5	5 ^PC	5	5	5	5	4	4.7	4.6
Other	2.6	2	1	2	1	0.5	3	2	2	2	1.9	1.8
Lead	Tie	style="background: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; color: white" \| Con +1	style="background: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; color: white" \| Con +1	style="background: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" \| Lab +1	Tie	style="background: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; color: white" \| Con +1	Tie	style="background: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color; color: white" \| Con +1	style="background: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" \| Lab +2	Tie	Tie	Tie

^PC Includes Plaid Cymru

Seats predicted on May 7:

Party	ElectionForecast^[130]^[153] (Newsnight Index)	Electoral Calculus^[154]	Elections Etc^[155]	The Guardian^[156]	May2015.com^[157]	Sporting Index^[135]	First Past the Post^[136]	Mean
Conservatives	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 278	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 280	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 285	273	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 273	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 286	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \| 279	279.1
Labour	267	274	262	273	268	269	270	269.0
SNP	53	52	53	52	56	46	49	51.6
Liberal Democrats	27	21	25	27	28	26.5	25	25.6
DUP	8	Included under Other	GB forecast only	Included under Other	Included under Other	No market	8.7
UKIP	1	1	3	3	2	3.3	4	2.5
SDLP	3	Included under Other	GB forecast only	Included under Other	Included under Other	No market	2.7
Plaid Cymru	4	3	3	3	3	3.35	3.1	3.2
Greens	1	1	1	1	1	1.15	0.7	1.0
Other	Sinn Féin 5 UUP 1 Sylvia Hermon 1 Speaker 1	18 (including 18 NI seats)	1, although its GB forecast only, 18 NI seats	18 (including 18 NI seats)	19 (including 18 NI seats & Respect 1)	No market	Sinn Féin 4.7 Hermon 1 Speaker 1 UUP 1 Respect 0.6
Overall result (probability)	Hung parliament (100%)	Hung parliament (92%)	Hung parliament (91%)	Hung parliament	Hung parliament	Hung parliament	Hung parliament	Hung parliament

Exit poll

A surprising exit poll, collected by Ipsos MORI and NOP on behalf of the BBC, ITN and Sky News, was published at 10 pm at the end of voting:^[158]

Parties		Seats
bgcolor="Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Conservative Party	316
bgcolor="Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" \|	Labour Party	239
bgcolor="Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" \|	Scottish National Party	58
bgcolor="Template:Liberal Democrats/meta/color" \|	Liberal Democrats	10
bgcolor="Template:UK Independence Party/meta/color" \|	UK Independence Party	2
bgcolor="Template:Green Party of England and Wales/meta/color" \|	Green Party	2
bgcolor="Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color" \|	Others	23
Conservatives 10 short of majority

This predicted the Conservatives to be 10 seats short of an absolute majority, although with the 5 predicted Sinn Féin MPs not taking their seats, it was likely to be enough to govern. (In the event, Michelle Gildernew lost her seat, reducing the number of Sinn Féin MPs to 4.)^[159]

The exit poll was markedly different from the pre-election opinion polls,^[160] which had been fairly consistent; this led many pundits and MPs to speculate that the exit poll was inaccurate, and that the final result would have the two main parties closer to each other. Former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown vowed to "eat his hat" and former Labour "spin doctor" Alastair Campbell promised to "eat his kilt" if the exit poll, which predicted huge losses for their respective parties, was right.^[161]

As it turned out, the results were even more favourable to the Conservatives than the poll predicted, with the Conservatives obtaining 330 seats, an absolute majority.^[162] Ashdown and Campbell were presented with hat- and kilt-shaped cakes (labelled "eat me") on BBC Question Time on 8 May.

Opinion polling inaccuracies and scrutiny

With the eventual outcome in terms of both votes and seats varying substantially from the bulk of opinion polls released in the final months before the election, the polling industry received criticism for their inability to predict what was a surprisingly clear Conservative victory. Several theories have been put forward to explain the inaccuracy of the pollsters. One theory was that there had simply been a very late swing to the Conservatives, with the polling company Survation claiming that 13% of voters made up their minds in the final days and 17% on the day of the election.^[163] The company also claimed that a poll they carried out a day before the election gave the Conservatives 37% and Labour 31%, though they said they did not release the poll (commissioned by the Daily Mirror) on the concern that it was too much of an outlier with other poll results.^[164]

However, it was reported that pollsters had in fact picked up a late swing to Labour immediately prior to polling day, not the Conservatives.^[165] It was reported after the election that private pollsters working for the two largest parties actually gathered more accurate results, with Labour's pollster James Morris claiming that the issue was largely to do with surveying technique.^[166] Morris claimed that telephone polls that immediately asked for voting intentions tended to get a high 'don't know' or a high anti-government reaction, whereas longer telephone conversations conducted by private polls that collected other information such as views on the leaders' performances placed voters in a much better mode to give their true voting intentions.^[167] Another theory was the issue of 'shy Tories' not wanting to openly declare their intention to vote Conservative to pollsters.^[168] A final theory, put forward after the election, was the 'Lazy Labour' factor, which claimed that Labour voters tend to not vote on polling day whereas Conservative voters have a much higher turnout.^[169]

The British Polling Council announced an inquiry into the substantial variance between the opinion polls and the actual election result.^[170]^[171] The inquiry published preliminary findings in January 2016, and will publish their final report in March 2016.^[172]

The British Election Study team have suggested that weighting error appears to be the cause.^[173]

Results

Votes, of total, by party

Conservative (36.8%)

Labour (30.5%)

UKIP (12.7%)

Liberal Democrats (7.9%)

SNP (4.7%)

Green (3.8%)

DUP (0.6%)

Plaid Cymru (0.6%)

Sinn Féin (0.6%)

UUP (0.4%)

SDLP (0.3%)

Other (1.1%)

MPs, of total, by party

Conservative (50.8%)

Labour (35.7%)

SNP (8.6%)

Liberal Democrats (1.2%)

DUP (1.2%)

Sinn Féin (0.6%)

Plaid Cymru (0.5%)

Social Democratic & Labour Party (0.5%)

UUP (0.3%)

Green (0.2%)

Speaker (0.2%)

Sylvia Hermon (0.2%)

UKIP (0.2%)

After all 650 constituencies had been declared, the results were:^[174]^[175]

Party		Leader	MPs			Votes
Party		Leader		Of total			Of total
Conservative Party	style="background:Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color;" \|	David Cameron	330	50.8%	330 / 650	11,300,109	36.8%
Labour Party	style="background:Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color;" \|	Ed Miliband	232	35.7%	232 / 650	9,347,324	30.5%
Scottish National Party	style="background:Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color;" \|	Nicola Sturgeon	56	8.6%	56 / 650	1,454,436	4.7%
Liberal Democrats	style="background:Template:Liberal Democrats/meta/color;" \|	Nick Clegg	8	1.2%	8 / 650	2,415,862	7.9%
Democratic Unionist Party	style="background:Template:Democratic Unionist Party/meta/color;" \|	Peter Robinson	8	1.2%	8 / 650	184,260	0.6%
Sinn Féin	style="background:Template:Sinn Féin/meta/color;" \|	Gerry Adams	4	0.6%	4 / 650	176,232	0.6%
Plaid Cymru	style="background:Template:Plaid Cymru/meta/color" \|	Leanne Wood	3	0.5%	3 / 650	181,704	0.6%
Social Democratic & Labour Party	style="background:Template:Social Democratic and Labour Party/meta/color;" \|	Alasdair McDonnell	3	0.5%	3 / 650	99,809	0.3%
Ulster Unionist Party	style="background:Template:Ulster Unionist Party/meta/color;"\|	Mike Nesbitt	2	0.3%	2 / 650	114,935	0.4%
UK Independence Party	style="background:Template:UK Independence Party/meta/color;" \|	Nigel Farage	1	0.2%	1 / 650	3,881,099	12.7%
Green Party	style="background:Template:Green Party of England and Wales/meta/color;" \|	Natalie Bennett	1	0.2%	1 / 650	1,157,613	3.8%
Speaker	style="background:Template:Speaker of the British House of Commons/meta/color;" \|	John Bercow	1	0.2%	1 / 650	34,617	0.1%^[176]
Independent	style="background:Template:Independent (politician)/meta/color;" \|	Sylvia Hermon	1	0.2%	1 / 650	17,689	0.06%^[177]

↓
330	232	56	32
Conservative	Labour	SNP	Others

The following table shows final election results as reported by BBC News^[178] and The Guardian.^[179]

e • d Summary^[a] of the May 2015 House of Commons of the United Kingdom results
Political party		Leader	MPs						Votes

Political party		Leader	Candidates^[180]	Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Of total (%)	Total	Of total (%)	Change^[b] (%)
	Conservative^[c]	David Cameron	647	330	35	11	+24	50.8	11,299,609	36.8	+0.7
	Labour	Ed Miliband	631	232	22	48	−26	35.7	9,347,273	30.4	+1.5
	UKIP	Nigel Farage	624	1	1	0	+1	0.2	3,881,099	12.6	+9.5
	Liberal Democrats	Nick Clegg	631	8	0	49	−49	1.2	2,415,916	7.9	−15.1
	SNP	Nicola Sturgeon	59	56	50	0	+50	8.6	1,454,436	4.7	+3.1
	Green	Natalie Bennett England & Wales Patrick Harvie / Maggie Chapman Scotland Steven Agnew Northern Ireland	575	1	0	0	0	0.2	1,157,630	3.8	+2.8
	DUP	Peter Robinson	16	8	1	1	0	1.2	184,260	0.6	0.0
	Plaid Cymru	Leanne Wood	40	3	0	0	0	0.5	181,704	0.6	0.0
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	18	4	0	1	−1	0.6	176,232	0.6	0.0
	UUP	Mike Nesbitt	15	2	2	0	+2	0.3	114,935	0.4	—^[d]
	SDLP	Alasdair McDonnell	18	3	0	0	0	0.5	99,809	0.3	0.0
	Independent	—	170	1	0	0	0	0.2	98,711	0.3	—
	Alliance	David Ford	18	0	0	1	−1	0	61,556	0.2	+0.1
	TUSC	Dave Nellist	128	0	0	0	0	0	36,490	0.1	+0.1
	Speaker	John Bercow	1	1	0	0	0	0.2	34,617	0.1	0.0
	NHA^[e]	Richard Taylor & Clive Peedell	13	0	0	0	0	0	20,210	0.1	0.0
	TUV	Jim Allister	7	0	0	0	0	0	16,538	0.1	0.0
	Respect	George Galloway	4	0	0	0	0	0	9,989	0.0	−0.1
	CISTA	Paul Birch	34	0	0	0	0	0	8,419	0.0	New
	People Before Profit	Collective	1	0	0	0	0	0	7,854	0.0	0.0
	Yorkshire First	Richard Carter	14	0	0	0	0	0	6,811	0.0	New
	English Democrat	Robin Tilbrook	35	0	0	0	0	0	6,531	0.0	−0.2
	Mebyon Kernow	Dick Cole	6	0	0	0	0	0	5,675	0.0	0.0
	Lincolnshire Independent	Marianne Overton	5	0	0	0	0	0	5,407	0.0	0.0
	Liberal	Steve Radford	4	0	0	0	0	0	4,480	0.0	0.0
	Monster Raving Loony	Alan "Howling Laud" Hope	27	0	0	0	0	0	3,898	0.0	0.0
	Independent Save Withybush Save Lives	Chris Overton	1	0	0	0	0	0	3,729	0.0	New
	Socialist Labour	Arthur Scargill	8	0	0	0	0	0	3,481	0.0	0.0
	CPA	Sidney Cordle	17	0	0	0	0	0	3,260	0.0	0.0
	Christian^[f]	Jeff Green	9	0	0	0	0	0	3,205	0.0	−0.1
	No description^[g]	—		0	0	0	0	0	3,012	0.0	—
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	5	0	0	0	0	0	2,724	0.0	0.0
	North East	Hilton Dawson	4	0	0	0	0	0	2,138	0.0	0.0
	Poole People	Mike Howell	1	0	0	0	0	0	1,766	0.0	New
	BNP	Adam Walker	8	0	0	0	0	0	1,667	0.0	−1.9
	Residents for Uttlesford	John Lodge	1	0	0	0	0	0	1,658	0.0	New
	Rochdale First Party	Farooq Ahmed	1	0	0	0	0	0	1,535	0.0	New
	Communist^[h]	Robert David Griffiths	9	0	0	0	0	0	1,229	0.0	New
	Pirate	Laurence Kaye	6	0	0	0	0	0	1,130	0.0	0.0
	National Front	Kevin Bryan	7	0	0	0	0	0	1,114	0.0	0.0
	Communities United	Kamran Malik	5	0	0	0	0	0	1,102	0.0	New
	Reality	Mark "Bez" Berry	3	0	0	0	0	0	1,029	0.0	New
	The Southport Party	David Cobham	1	0	0	0	0	0	992	0.0	New
	All People's Party	Prem Goyal	4	0	0	0	0	0	981	0.0	New
	Peace	John Morris	4	0	0	0	0	0	957	0.0	New
	Bournemouth Independent Alliance	David Ross	1	0	0	0	0	0	903	0.0	New
	Socialist (GB)	Collective	10	0	0	0	0	0	899	0.0	New
	Scottish Socialist	Executive Committee	4	0	0	0	0	0	875	0.0	0.0
	Alliance for Green Socialism	Mike Davies	4	0	0	0	0	0	852	0.0	0.0
	Your Vote Could Save Our Hospital	Sandra Allison	1	0	0	0	0	0	849	0.0	New
	Wigan Independents	Gareth Fairhurst	1	0	0	0	0	0	768	0.0	New
	Animal Welfare	Vanessa Hudson	4	0	0	0	0	0	736	0.0	0.0
	Something New	James Smith	2	0	0	0	0	0	695	0.0	New
	Consensus	Helen Tyrer	1	0	0	0	0	0	637	0.0	New
	National Liberal	National Council	2	0	0	0	0	0	627	0.0	New
	Independents Against Social Injustice	Steve Walmsley	1	0	0	0	0	0	603	0.0	New
	Independence from Europe	Mike Nattrass	5	0	0	0	0	0	578	0.0	New
	Whig	Waleed Ghani	4	0	0	0	0	0	561	0.0	New
	Guildford Greenbelt Group	Susan Parker	1	0	0	0	0	0	538	0.0	New
	Class War	Ian Bone	7	0	0	0	0	0	526	0.0	New
	Above and Beyond	Mark Flanagan	5	0	0	0	0	0	522	0.0	New
	Northern	Mark Dawson	5	0	0	0	0	0	506	0.0	New
	Workers Revolutionary	Sheila Torrance	7	0	0	0	0	0	488	0.0	0.0
	Left Unity	Kate Hudson	3	0	0	0	0	0	455	0.0	New
	Liberty GB	Paul Weston	3	0	0	0	0	0	418	0.0	New
	People First	Collective	1	0	0	0	0	0	407	0.0	New
	Other parties^[i]	—		0	0	0	0	0	7,284	0.0	—
Total			3,921	650					30,697,525

^ 66 parties are grouped together as 'other parties'. None of those parties contested more than 2 constituencies, or received more than 300 votes
^ This column shows the change in vote share percentage from the 2010 general election to the 2015 general election. It does not account for by-elections.
^ BBC News includes the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, in the MP tally and the vote tally for the Conservatives. See About these results, BBC News (30 April 2015). In this table, however, the Speaker, who usually does not vote in the Commons, is listed separately, and his seat and the 34,617 votes he received have been removed from the Conservative tally.
^ The UUP did not run itself in 2010; instead, it ran candidates under the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists banner.
^ BBC News lists the National Health Action Party together with Independent Community & Health Concern (formerly known as Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern), as the smaller was affiliated with the larger, for a total of 20,210 votes. The Guardian lists each party separately, Health Concern having received 7,211 and National Health Action having received 12,999 of the 20,210 total votes the BBC attributes to the National Health Action Party.
^ The BBC groups together the votes under the Scottish Christian Party (1,467 votes); Christian Party (1,040 votes); and Christian (698 votes) labels, for a total of 3,205 votes. The Guardian lists these designations separately.
^ Candidates who do not specify a party or Independent are categorised as No description
^ The Guardian lists the vote totals for the designation "Communist" (555 votes), Communist Party of Britain (275 votes), Communist Party (263 votes), and Scottish Communist Party (136 votes) separately. In this table, these designations are grouped into a single Communist tally for a total of 1,229 votes.
^ 66 parties, none of which contested more than 2 constituencies, each with under 300 votes

Vote share

Conservative			36.8%
Labour			30.4%
UK Independence			12.6%
Liberal Democrat			7.9%
Scottish National			4.7%
Green			3.8%
Others			3.7%

Parliamentary seats

Conservative			50.8%
Labour			35.7%
Scottish National			8.6%
Liberal Democrat			1.2%
Democratic Unionist			1.2%
Others			2.4%

Geographic voting distribution

One result of the 2015 General Election was that a different political party won the popular vote in each of the countries of the United Kingdom.^[181] This was reflected in terms of MPs elected: The Conservatives won in England with 319 MPs out of 533 constituencies,^[182] the SNP won in Scotland with 56 out of 59,^[183] Labour won in Wales with 25 out of 40,^[184] and the Democratic Unionist Party won in Northern Ireland with 8 out of 18.^[185]

Change to 2015 from 2010
Turn out

Turn out
Conservatives
Labour

Labour
UKIP

UKIP
Liberal Democrat

Liberal Democrat
Green

Green
SNP/Plaid Cymru/Mebyon Kernow

SNP/Plaid Cymru/Mebyon Kernow

Outcome

Despite most opinion polls predicting that the Conservatives and Labour were neck and neck, the Conservatives secured a clear lead over their rivals and incumbent Prime Minister David Cameron was able to form a majority single-party government with a working majority of 12 (in practice increased to 15 due to Sinn Féin's 4 MPs' abstention). Thus the result bore resemblance to 1992.^[186] The Conservatives gained 38 seats while losing 10, all to Labour, with Employment Minister Esther McVey the most senior Conservative to lose her seat. Cameron became the first Prime Minister since Lord Salisbury in 1900 to increase his popular vote share after a full term, and is sometimes credited as being the only Prime Minister other than Margaret Thatcher (in 1983) to be re-elected with a greater number of seats for his party after a 'full term'^{[n 4]}.^[187]

The Labour Party polled below expectations and won 30.4% of the vote and 232 seats, 24 fewer than their previous result in 2010. Their net loss of seats were mainly a result of their resounding defeat in Scotland, where the Scottish National Party took 40 of their 41 seats, unseating key Labour politicians such as shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander and Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy. Labour also lost a further nine seats to the Conservatives to record their lowest share of the seats since the 1987 general election.^[188] Ed Miliband subsequently tendered his resignation as Labour leader.

The Scottish National Party had a stunning election, rising from just 6 seats to 56 - winning all but 3 of the constituencies in Scotland and securing 50% of the popular vote in Scotland.^[183] They recorded a number of record breaking swings of over 30% including the new record of 39.3% in Glasgow North East They also won the seat of former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, overturning a majority of 23,009 to win by a majority of 9,974 votes and saw a 20-year-old student defeat Labour's Shadow Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander wth a swing of 26.9%.

The Liberal Democrats, who had been in government as coalition partners, suffered the worst defeat they or the previous Liberal Party had suffered since the 1970 general election.^[189] Winning just eight seats, the Liberal Democrats lost their position as the UK's third party and found themselves tied in fourth place with the Democratic Unionist Party of Northern Ireland in the House of Commons, with Nick Clegg being one of the few MPs from his party to retain his seat. The Liberal Democrats gained no seats, and lost 48: 26 to the Conservatives, 12 to Labour and 10 to the SNP.

The United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) were only able to hold one of their two seats and gain no new ones, despite increasing their vote share to 12.9% (which was third in terms of votes.) Party leader Nigel Farage, having failed to win the constituency of Thanet South, tendered his resignation, though this was rejected by his party's executive council and he stayed on as leader.

In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party returned to the Commons with two MPs after a five-year absence, gaining one seat from the Democratic Unionist Party and one from Sinn Fein, while Alliance lost its only Commons seat to the DUP despite an increase in total vote share.^[190]

Voter demographics

Polling after the election suggested the following demographic breakdown:

The 2015 UK General Election vote in Great Britain^[191]^[192]
Social group	Con:	Lab:	Lib Dem:	SNP:	Plaid:	UKIP:	Green:	Other/DK:
Total vote	38	31	8	5	1	13	4	2
Gender
Male	37	29	8	5	1	15	4	2
Female	38	33	8	4	0	12	4	2
Age
18-29	32	36	9	5	1	9	7	2
30-39	36	34	8	5	0	10	5	2
40-49	33	33	7	5	1	14	4	2
50-59	36	32	7	5	1	16	3	2
60+	45	25	7	3	0	16	2	2
Age and Gender
18-29 Male	34	31	10	5	1	10	6	2
30-39 Male	38	31	8	5	1	11	5	1
40-49 Male	34	31	7	6	1	16	4	2
50-59 Male	33	31	7	6	1	18	3	2
60+ Male	44	24	7	4	0	18	2	1
18-29 Female	29	41	8	4	1	7	8	2
30-39 Female	33	37	8	5	0	9	5	2
40-49 Female	33	36	7	5	1	12	4	2
50-59 Female	38	32	7	4	0	14	3	2
60+ Female	46	25	8	3	0	14	2	2
Social Class
AB	44	28	10	4	1	9	4	2
C1	38	30	9	5	1	11	5	2
C2	36	31	6	5	1	17	3	2
DE	29	37	6	5	0	18	3	2
Highest Educational Level
GSCE or Lower	38	30	5	3	0	20	2	2
A-Level	37	31	8	6	1	11	5	2
University	35	34	11	5	1	6	6	2
Other	41	27	8	5	0	13	3	2
DK/Refused	32	33	4	6	0	18	3	4
Housing Status
Own Outright	47	23	8	3	0	15	2	1
Mortgage	42	29	8	4	0	12	3	2
Social Housing	20	45	5	7	0	18	3	1
Private Rented	34	32	9	4	0	12	7	1
Don't Know	31	38	8	4	0	10	6	3
Work Sector
Private Sector	43	26	7	4	0	14	4	2
Public Sector	33	36	9	5	1	11	4	2
Household Income
Under £20,000	29	36	7	5	1	17	4	2
£20,000-£39,999	37	32	8	4	0	14	4	1
£40,000-£69,999	42	29	9	5	1	10	4	1
£70,000+	51	23	10	4	0	7	3	1
Newspaper
Daily Express	51	13	5	2	0	27	1	1
Daily Mail	59	14	5	1	0	19	1	2
Daily Mirror/Daily Record	11	67	5	6	0	9	2	1
Daily Star	25	41	3	3	0	26	1	2
The Sun	47	24	4	4	0	19	1	1
The Daily Telegraph	69	8	8	0	0	12	1	1
The Guardian	6	62	11	3	1	1	14	2
The Independent	17	47	16	3	1	4	11	1
The Times	55	20	13	1	1	6	3	2

Gender

The election led to an increase in the number of female MPs, to 191 (29% of the total, including 99 Labour; 68 Conservative; 20 SNP; 4 other) from 147 (23% of the total, including 87 Labour; 47 Conservative; 7 Liberal Democrat; 1 SNP; 5 other). As before the election, the region with the largest proportion of women MPs was North East England.^[193]

Seats changing hands and MPs who lost their seats

111 seats changed hands compared to the result in 2010 plus three by-election gains reverted to the party that won the seat at the last general election in 2010.

The Conservatives lost 11 seats (10 to Labour and one to UKIP in Clacton) and gained 35 (27 from the Liberal Democrats and eight from Labour) making a net gain of 24 seats.

The 10 Conservative seats lost to Labour were Brentford and Isleworth, Chester, Dewsbury, Ealing Central and Acton, Enfield North, Hove, Ilford North, Lancaster and Fleetwood, Wirral West, and Wolverhampton South West.

Labour lost 48 seats (40 to the SNP and 8 to the Conservatives) and gained 22 (12 from the Liberal Democrats and 10 from the Conservatives) making a net loss of 26 seats.

The eight seats lost by Labour to the Conservatives were Bolton West, Derby North, Gower, Morley and Outwood, Plymouth Moorview, Southampton Itchen, Telford and Vale of Clywd.

The Liberal Democrats lost 49 seats (27 to the Conservatives, 12 to Labour and 10 to the SNP) leaving them with eight.

The SNP gained 50 seats (40 from Labour and 10 from the Liberal Democrats) and lost none giving them 56 out of a maximum 59. The three Scottish seats that eluded the SNP were Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale (Conservative), Edinburgh South (Labour), and Orkney and Shetland (Liberal Democrat).

The Alliance Party lost its only seat (East Belfast) to the DUP.

The DUP lost one seat (South Antrim) to the UUP leaving them with eight.

Sinn Féin lost one seat (Fermanagh and South Tyrone) to the UUP leaving them with four.

Three seats won at by-elections by Labour, UKIP and Respect, respectively, returned to the party that won in 2010: Conservative (Corby, Rochester and Strood) and Labour (Bradford West; The Respect Party).

General Election records broken in 2015

Youngest general election victor

Mhairi Black, Scottish National Party, elected aged 20 years 237 days.^[194]

Largest swing

A swing of 39.3% from Labour to the SNP was recorded in Glasgow North East.^[195]

Lowest winning vote share

Alasdair McDonnell of the SDLP won the seat of Belfast South on 24.5% of the vote.^[196]

Aftermath

Resignations

On 8 May, three party leaders announced their resignations within an hour of each other:^[197] Ed Miliband (Labour) and Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat) resigned due to their parties' worse-than-expected results in the election, although both had been re-elected to their seats in Parliament.,^[198]^[199]^[200]^[201] Nigel Farage (UKIP) offered his resignation because he had failed to be elected as MP for Thanet South, but said he might re-stand in the resulting leadership election. However, on 11 May, the UKIP executive rejected his resignation on the grounds that the election campaign had been "a great success",^[202] and Farage agreed to continue as party leader.^[203]

Alan Sugar, a Labour peer in the House of Lords, also announced his resignation from the Labour Party for running what he perceived to be an anti-business campaign.^[204]

In response to Labour's poor performance in Scotland, Scottish Labour leader Jim Murphy initially resisted calls for his resignation by other senior party members. Despite surviving a no-confidence vote by 17-14 from the party's national executive, Murphy announced he would step down as leader on or by 16 May.^[205]

Financial markets

Financial markets reacted positively to the result, with the pound sterling rising against the Euro and US dollar when the exit poll was published, and the FTSE 100 stock market index rising 2.3% on 8 May. The BBC reported: "Bank shares saw some of the biggest gains, on hopes that the sector will not see any further rises in levies. Shares in Lloyds Banking Group rose 5.75% while Barclays was 3.7% higher", adding, "Energy firms also saw their share prices rise, as Labour had wanted a price freeze and more powers for the energy regulator. British Gas owner Centrica rose 8.1% and SSE shares were up 5.3%". BBC economics editor Robert Peston noted: "To state the obvious, investors love the Tories' general election victory. There are a few reasons. One (no surprise here) is that Labour's threat of breaking up banks and imposing energy price caps has been lifted. Second is that investors have been discounting days and weeks of wrangling after polling day over who would form the government - and so they are semi-euphoric that we already know who's in charge. Third, many investors tend to be economically Conservative and instinctively Conservative."^[206]

Electoral reform

The disparity between the numbers of votes and the number of seats obtained by the smaller parties gave rise to increased calls for replacement of the 'first-past-the-post' voting system with a more proportional system. For example, UKIP had 3.9 million votes per seat, whereas SNP had just 26,000 votes per seat, about 150 times greater representation for each vote cast. It is worth noting, however, that UKIP stood in 10 times as many seats as the SNP. Noting that UKIP's 13% share of the overall votes cast had resulted in the election of just one MP, Nigel Farage argued that the UK's voting system needed reforming, saying, "Personally, I think the first-past-the-post system is bankrupt".^[207]

Re-elected Green Party MP Caroline Lucas agreed, saying "The political system in this country is broken […] It's ever clearer tonight that the time for electoral reform is long overdue, and it's only proportional representation that will deliver a Parliament that is truly legitimate and better reflects the people it is meant to represent."^[208]

Daily Telegraph investigation of abuse of Wikipedia

Following the election, The Daily Telegraph detailed changes to Wikipedia pages made from computers with IP addresses inside Parliament raising suspicion that “MPs or their political parties deliberately hid information from the public online to make candidates appear more electable to voters” and a deliberate attempt to hide embarrassing information from the electorate.^[209]

Election petition

Four electors from Orkney and Shetland lodged an election petition on 29 May 2015 attempting to unseat Alistair Carmichael and force a by-election^[210]^[211] over what became known as 'Frenchgate'.^[212] The issue centred around the leaking of a memo from the Scotland Office about comments allegedly made by the French ambassador Sylvie Bermann about Nicola Sturgeon, claiming that Sturgeon had privately stated she would "rather see David Cameron remain as PM", in contrast to her publicly stated opposition to a Conservative government.^[213] The veracity of the memo was quickly denied by the French ambassador, French consul general and Sturgeon.^[214] At the time of the leak, Carmichael denied all knowledge of the leaking of the memo in a television interview with Channel 4 News.^[215] but after the election Carmichael accepted the contents of the memo were incorrect, admitted that he had lied, and that he had authorised the leaking of the inaccurate memo to the media after a Cabinet Office enquiry identified Carmichael's role in the leak. On 9 December, an Election Court decided that although he had told a "blatant lie" in a TV interview, it had not been proven beyond reasonable doubt that he had committed an "illegal practice" under the Representation of the people Act^[216] and he was allowed to retain his seat.^[217]

Footnotes

^ SNP party leader Nicola Sturgeon, a Member of the Scottish Parliament and First Minister of Scotland, participated in some of the main UK-wide televised debates, but did not stand for a seat in this election. Angus Robertson, MP for Moray, is the SNP leader in the House of Commons.
^ After nominations had closed and ballot papers were printed, the Labour candidate in Banff and Buchan, Sumon Hoque, was suspended from the Labour Party when he was charged with multiple driving offences, and the Labour candidate in Wellingborough, Richard Garvie, was also suspended after a conviction for fraud
^ After nominations had closed and ballot papers were printed, two UKIP candidates were suspended from the party for offensive comments.
^ In the 20th Century so few Parliaments lasted the full five year term that some commentators regarded four years as being a 'full term', thus calling the 1979-83 Parliament a 'full term'

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^ Settle, Michael. "Carmichael caught in his own tangled web of deceit". HeraldScotland.com. Retrieved 23 May 2015.
^ Video of Alistair Carmichael interview by Channel 4
^ "Alistair Carmichael case: Legal bid to oust Lib Dem MP fails". BBC News. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
^ "Alistair Carmichael: election court throws out attempt to unseat MP". The Guardian. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 9 December 2015.

External links

Progress updates, independent observers Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Polls and forecasts

Constitutional issues

Another hung Parliament: what next?, video from UCL Constitution Unit
BBC Q&A on what happens if no-one wins the election

News sites

General Election 2015 – BBC News
General Election 2015 at the Guardian
General Election 2015 at the Daily Telegraph

Manifestos

Boundary Commissions

[183] 66 parties are grouped together as 'other parties'. None of those parties contested more than 2 constituencies, or received more than 300 votes

[185] This column shows the change in vote share percentage from the 2010 general election to the 2015 general election. It does not account for by-elections.

[186] BBC News includes the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, in the MP tally and the vote tally for the Conservatives. See About these results, BBC News (30 April 2015). In this table, however, the Speaker, who usually does not vote in the Commons, is listed separately, and his seat and the 34,617 votes he received have been removed from the Conservative tally.

[187] The UUP did not run itself in 2010; instead, it ran candidates under the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists banner.

[188] BBC News lists the National Health Action Party together with Independent Community & Health Concern (formerly known as Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern), as the smaller was affiliated with the larger, for a total of 20,210 votes. The Guardian lists each party separately, Health Concern having received 7,211 and National Health Action having received 12,999 of the 20,210 total votes the BBC attributes to the National Health Action Party.

[189] The BBC groups together the votes under the Scottish Christian Party (1,467 votes); Christian Party (1,040 votes); and Christian (698 votes) labels, for a total of 3,205 votes. The Guardian lists these designations separately.

[190] Candidates who do not specify a party or Independent are categorised as No description

[191] The Guardian lists the vote totals for the designation "Communist" (555 votes), Communist Party of Britain (275 votes), Communist Party (263 votes), and Scottish Communist Party (136 votes) separately. In this table, these designations are grouped into a single Communist tally for a total of 1,229 votes.

[192] 66 parties, none of which contested more than 2 constituencies, each with under 300 votes

[LeaderDidNotStand-SNP01-1] SNP party leader Nicola Sturgeon, a Member of the Scottish Parliament and First Minister of Scotland, participated in some of the main UK-wide televised debates, but did not stand for a seat in this election. Angus Robertson, MP for Moray, is the SNP leader in the House of Commons.

[36] After nominations had closed and ballot papers were printed, the Labour candidate in Banff and Buchan, Sumon Hoque, was suspended from the Labour Party when he was charged with multiple driving offences, and the Labour candidate in Wellingborough, Richard Garvie, was also suspended after a conviction for fraud

[37] After nominations had closed and ballot papers were printed, two UKIP candidates were suspended from the party for offensive comments.

[199] In the 20th Century so few Parliaments lasted the full five year term that some commentators regarded four years as being a 'full term', thus calling the 1979-83 Parliament a 'full term'

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v t e 2015 United Kingdom general election
Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011
← 2010 election Constituencies Debates Endorsements MPs elected seniority lost their seat stood down Opinion polling Parties Results breakdown by constituency Seat gains and losses Target seats 2017 election →
Incumbent prime minister: David Cameron (Conservative) Appointed prime minister: David Cameron (Conservative) Incumbent deputy prime minister: Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrats) Appointed deputy prime minister: None
Parties elected to the House of Commons	Conservative (David Cameron) Labour (Ed Miliband) Scottish National Party (Nicola Sturgeon) Liberal Democrats (Nick Clegg) Democratic Unionist Party (Peter Robinson) Sinn Féin (Gerry Adams) Plaid Cymru (Leanne Wood) Social Democratic and Labour Party (Alasdair McDonnell) Ulster Unionist Party (Mike Nesbitt) UK Independence Party (Nigel Farage) Green Party of England and Wales (Natalie Bennett)
Parties only represented in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, London, or the European Parliament	Green Party Northern Ireland (Steven Agnew) Scottish Greens (Patrick Harvie/Maggie Chapman) Traditional Unionist Voice (Jim Allister) Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (David Ford)
Other	Full list of parties standing candidates
Results by area	England (list) Northern Ireland (list) Scotland (list) Wales (list)
See also	EdStone Milifandom Party spending investigation Woman to Woman campaign Ballot Monkeys Meet the Ukippers UKIP: The First 100 Days The Vote Newzoids
2015 United Kingdom local elections 2016 EU membership referendum

v t e Elections and referendums in the United Kingdom
General elections	1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015 2017 2019 2024 Next
Local elections	1889 1890 1892 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025
European elections	1979 1984 1989 1994 1999 2004 2009 2014 2019
Referendums	1975 2011 2016
See also Elections in England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Great Britain