1994 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

The 1994 European Parliament election was the fourth European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on Thursday 9 June, though, as usual, the ballots were not counted until the evening of Sunday 12 June. The electoral system was, for the final European election, first past the post in England, Scotland and Wales and single transferable vote in Northern Ireland. This was the first election with 87 MEPs, the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1993 having increased the number of seats for the UK from 81. For the first time, the UK did not have the lowest turnout in Europe. Turnout was lower in the Netherlands and Portugal.

1994 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

9 June 1994
87 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	36.4% ()
First party Second party   Leader Pauline Green Christopher Prout Party Labour Conservative Alliance PES EPP Leader's seat London North Shropshire and Stafford (defeated) Last election 45 seats, 38.7% 32 seats, 33.7% Seats won 62 18 Seat change 17 13 Popular vote 6,753,881 4,274,122 Percentage 42.6% 26.8% Swing 3.9% 6.7%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Robert Teverson Alex Salmond Party Liberal Democrats SNP Alliance ALDE European Free Alliance Leader since 22 September 1990 Leader's seat Cornwall and West Plymouth N/A Last election 0 seats, 5.9% 1 seat, 2.6% Seats before 1 Seats won 2 2 Seat change 2 1 Popular vote 2,557,887 487,237 Percentage 16.1% 3.1 Swing 10.2% 0.5%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Leader of Largest Party before election Margaret Beckett Labour Subsequent Leader of Largest Party Margaret Beckett Labour

This was the first European election contested by the recently formed UK Independence Party (UKIP), and the first European election in which the Liberal Democrats won seats. The Green Party lost more than three-quarters of the votes they secured in the previous election. The Conservatives lost 14 seats, taking their number of seats down to 18, which was 42 fewer seats than in the 1979 election, the year they defeated the Labour Party in the 1979 General Election. This reflected the general unpopularity of the Major government at the time.

Five by-elections to the British Parliament also took place on the same day in the Barking, Bradford South, Dagenham, Eastleigh, and Newham North East constituencies. The Conservatives lost Eastleigh to the Liberal Democrats; Labour would hold the other four.

Labour was under the interim leadership of Margaret Beckett following the sudden death of leader John Smith the previous month.

Results

United Kingdom

Sources:

• "European Parliament elections: 1979 to 1994". House of Commons Library.
• United Kingdom election results Archived 27 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain
	Labour	6,753,881	42.6	3.9	62	71.3	17
	Conservative	4,274,122	26.8	6.7	18	20.7	13
	Liberal Democrats	2,557,887	16.1	10.2	2	2.3	2
	SNP	487,237	3.1	0.5	2	2.3	1
	Green	471,257	3.0	11.5	0
	DUP	163,246	1.0		1	1.1
	Plaid Cymru	162,478	1.0	0.3	0
	SDLP	161,992	1.0	0.2	1	1.1
	Independent	153,917	1.0	0.9	0
	UKIP	150,251	1.0	New	0
	UUP	133,459	0.8	0.1	1	1.1
	Liberal	100,500	0.6	New	0
	Natural Law	98,845	0.6	New	0
	Sinn Féin	55,215	0.3		0
	Scottish Green	23,304	0.1	New	0
	Alliance	23,157	0.1		0
	National Front	12,469	0.1	0.1	0
	Moderate Labour	12,113	0.1	New	0
	Literal Democrat	10,203	0.1	New	0
	Ulster Independence	7,858	0.1	New	0
	Monster Raving Loony	7,798	0.1		0
	Ind. Conservative	5,847	0.0		0
	Independent Socialist	5,071	0.0	New	0
	Communist	4,323	0.0		0
	Mebyon Kernow	3,315	0.0		0
	Workers' Party	2,543	0.0		0
	Labour Party NI	2,464	0.0		0
	Other	7,837	0.1	N/A	0

Total votes cast – 15,852,589. All parties shown.

Great Britain

Map of the Scottish results.

Sources:

• "European Parliament elections: 1979 to 1994". House of Commons Library.
• United Kingdom election results Archived 27 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain
	Labour	6,753,881	44.2	4.1	62	73.8	17
	Conservative	4,268,539	27.8	6.8	18	21.4	13
	Liberal Democrats	2,557,887	16.7	10.6	2	2.4	2
	SNP	487,237	3.2	0.5	2	2.4	1
	Green	471,257	3.1	11.8	0
	Plaid Cymru	162,478	1.1	0.3	0
	Independent	151,858	1.0	0.9	0
	UKIP	150,251	1.0	New	0
	Liberal	100,500	0.7	New	0
	Natural Law	96,554	0.6	New	0
	Scottish Green	23,304	0.2	New	0
	National Front	12,469	0.1	New	0
	Moderate Labour	12,113	0.1	New	0
	Literal Democrat	10,203	0.1	New	0
	Monster Raving Loony	7,798	0.1		0
	Ind. Conservative	5,847	0.0		0
	Independent Socialist	5,071	0.0	New	0
	Communist	4,323	0.0		0
	Mebyon Kernow	3,315	0.0		0
	Other	7,837	0.1	N/A	0

Total votes cast – 15,292,722. All parties shown.

Northern Ireland

Map of Northern Irish results

European Parliament election, 1994 (United Kingdom): Northern Ireland – 3 seats

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2
	DUP	Ian Paisley	29.2	163,246
	SDLP	John Hume	28.9	161,992
	UUP	Jim Nicholson	23.8	133,459	149,541.25
	Alliance	Mary Clark-Glass	4.1	23,157	23,375.55
	Sinn Féin	Tom Hartley	3.8	21,273	21,278.10
	Sinn Féin	Dodie McGuinness	3.1	17,195	17,238.95
	Sinn Féin	Francie Molloy	3.0	16,747	16.756.60
	Ulster Independence	Hugh Ross	1.4	7,858	12,575.05
	NI Conservatives	Myrtle Boal	1.0	5,583	6,106.95
	Workers' Party	John Lowry	0.5	2,543	2,579.00
	Labour Party NI	Niall Cusack	0.4	2,464	2,518.90
	Natural Law	James Anderson	0.2	1,418	1,492.70
	Independent	June Campion	0.2	1,088	1,127.15
	Independent	David Kerr	0.1	571	877.15
	Natural Law	Susannah Thompson	0.1	454	534.40
	Independent	Robert Mooney	0.1	400	455.95
	Natural Law	Michael Kennedy	0.1	419	443.90
Electorate: 1,151,389   Valid: 559,867   Spoilt: 9,234   Quota: 139,967   Turnout: 49.4%

• Note 1: Campion's candidacy, with the ballot paper description 'Peace Coalition', was supported by Democratic Left, the Greens and some Labour groups.
• Note 2: Kerr appeared on the ballot paper with the description Independence for Ulster.
• Note 3: Mooney appeared on the ballot paper with the description Constitutional Independent Northern Ireland.

MEPs retiring

Conservative

• Peter Beazley (Bedfordshire South)
• Sir Fred Catherwood (Cambridge & Bedfordshire North)
• Derek Prag (Hertfordshire)
• Madron Seligman (Sussex West)

Labour

• John Bird (Midlands West)
• Janey Buchan (Glasgow)
• Geoff Hoon (Derbyshire)

MEPs defeated

Labour

• Henry McCubbin (North East Scotland)

Conservative

• Christopher Beazley (Cornwall and Plymouth)
• Nicholas Bethell, 4th Baron Bethell (London North West)
• Margaret Daly (Somerset and North Devon)
• Richard Fletcher-Vane, 2nd Baron Inglewood (Cumbria and Lancashire North)
• Paul Howell (Norfolk)
• Christopher Jackson (Kent East)
• Bill Newton Dunn (Lincolnshire)
• Ben Patterson (Kent West)
• Peter Price (London South East)
• Christopher Prout (Herefordshire and Shropshire)
• Patricia Rawlings (Essex West and Hertfordshire East)
• Anthony Simpson (Northamptonshire and Blaby)
• Amédée Turner (Suffolk)
• Michael Welsh (Central Lancashire)

See also

• Elections in the United Kingdom: European elections
• List of members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom (1994–1999)