The February 1974 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 28 February 1974 to elect 635 members of the House of Commons, of which 523 constituencies were in England.
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All 516 English seats in the House of Commons 259 seats needed for English majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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While in the House of Commons, there emerged a hung parliament with the Labour Party winning 301 seats to the 297 won by the Conservative Party, in England, the Conservatives won 268 seats to Labour's 237.[1]
The Labour Party led by former prime minister Harold Wilson formed a minority government on 4 March 1974 after the incumbent Conservative government led by Prime Minister Edward Heath failed to form a coalition government with the Liberal Party led by Jeremy Thorpe .
As no party commanded a majority, a second general election was held in October in which the Labour Party gained a wafer-thin majority in the House of Commons. However, even in that election, Labour failed to win a majority of seats in England- it won just two seats more than the defeated Conservatives.
Result Table
edit| Party | Seats won | Net change in seats | Total votes (in millions) | Voteshare | Change in voteshare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 268 |  24
|
10.51 | 40.2% | 8.1%
|
| Labour | 237 |  21
|
9.84 | 37.7% | 5.7%
|
| Liberal | 9 | 7
|
5.57 | 21.3% | 13.4%
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References
edit- ^ Espley, Richard (2021). University Special Collections (UK): Senate House Library. Pelham House, Pelhams Court, London Road, Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 2AG, United Kingdom: Adam Matthew Digital.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)
General references
edit- Pilling, Sam; Cracknell, Richard (18 August 2021). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2021: A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library.
- 28 February 1974", BBC Politics 97
- Clark, George (1974). "The 'Inevitable' Election". The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1974. London: Times Newspapers Limited. p. 28
- Butler, David; Kavanagh, Dennis (1974), The British General Election of February 1974