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United Kingdom general election, 1974 (October) 

‹ 1974 •  members Flag of the United Kingdom members • 1979 ›
United Kingdom general election, October 1974
All 635 seats to the House of Commons
10 October 1974
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  %  %  %
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 3. 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.

Contents

Results

UK General Election October 1974
Party Candidates Seats Gains Losses Net Gain/Loss Seats % Votes % Votes +/-
  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
  Scottish National Party 71 11 4 0 + 4 1.732 2.9 839,617 + 0.9
  Ulster Unionist 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
  Social Democratic and Labour 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 Progressive Unionist 3 3 0 0 0 0.3 92,262 + 0.1
  Democratic Unionist 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
  Independent 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
  Labour (NI) 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
  Independent 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.

References

See also

Manifestos

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