October 1974 United Kingdom general election

The October 1974 United Kingdom general election took place on Thursday 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members of the House of Commons. It was the second general election held that year; the first year that two general elections were held in the same year since 1910; and the first time that two general elections were held less than a year apart from each other since the 1923 and 1924 elections, which took place 10 months apart.

October 1974 United Kingdom general election

← Feb 1974 10 October 1974 1979 →

All 635 seats in the House of Commons
318 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout72.8% (Decrease6.0 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Harold Wilson 1975.jpg
Golda Meir and Edward Heath cropped (cropped).jpg
Lib
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 Sidcup North Devon
Last election 301 seats, 37.2% 297 seats, 37.9% 14 seats, 19.3%
Seats won 319 277[note 1] 13
Seat change Increase18 Decrease20 Decrease1
Popular vote 11,457,079 10,462,565 5,346,704
Percentage 39.2% 35.8% 18.3%
Swing Increase2.0% Decrease2.1% Decrease1.0%

Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results

Composition of the House of Commons after the election

Prime Minister before election

Harold Wilson
Labour

Prime Minister after election

Harold Wilson
Labour

The election resulted in a narrow victory for the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson, which won a wafer-thin majority of 3 seats, the narrowest in modern British history. It was to remain the last general election victory for the Labour Party until 1997, with the Conservative Party winning majorities in the next four general elections. It would also be the last time Labour won more seats at a national election than the Conservatives until the 1989 European Parliament election. This remains the most recent General Election that Labour made net gains in seats whilst in government.

The narrowness of the majority meant that the Labour government saw a gradual loss of its majority by 1977 through a series of by-election losses and defections, thus requiring deals with the Liberals, the Ulster Unionists, the Scottish Nationalists and the Welsh Nationalists. It led to the eventual defeat of the government in a no-confidence motion in March 1979, six months before the mandatory dissolution of Parliament was set to take place.

This election was held just seven months after the previous general election, held in February 1974, had led to a hung parliament, with Labour winning 301 seats and the Conservatives left with 297. Following the inconclusive nature of coalition talks between the Conservatives and other parties such as the Liberals and the Ulster Unionists, the Labour Leader Harold Wilson went on to form a minority government.

The October campaign was not as vigorous or exciting as the one in February. Despite continuing high inflation, Labour boasted that it had ended the miners' strike, which had dogged Heath's premiership, and had returned some stability. The Conservative Party, led by Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister Edward Heath, released a manifesto promoting national unity, but its chances of forming a government were hindered by the Ulster Unionist Party refusing to take the Conservative whip at Westminster in response to the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberals saw their vote share decline, and Heath, who had lost three of the four elections that he contested, was ousted as Conservative leader in February 1975 and replaced with future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Scottish National Party won 30% of the Scottish popular vote and 11 of Scotland's 71 seats in the party's most successful general election result until 2015.

The election was broadcast live on the BBC and was presented by David Butler, Alastair Burnet, Robert McKenzie, Robin Day and Sue Lawley.[1]

Since Jeremy Thorpe's death in December 2014, this is the latest election where all the three major party leaders are deceased.

Campaign

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The brief period between the elections gave Wilson the opportunity to demonstrate reasonable progress. Despite high inflation and high balance-of-trade deficits, the miners' strike, which had dogged Heath was over, and some stability had been restored. After the February election, Heath had remained largely out of the public eye.[citation needed]

As was expected, the campaign was not as exciting as the one in February, and overall coverage by broadcasters was significantly scaled back. The Conservatives campaigned on a manifesto of national unity in response to the mood of the public. Labour campaigned on its recent successes in government, and although the party was divided over Europe, the party's strengths outweighed that of Heath, who knew that his future relied on an election victory. Devolution was a key issue for the Liberals and the Scottish National Party, and it was now one that the two main parties also felt the need to address. The Liberals did not issue a new manifesto but simply reissued the one they had created for the last election.[2][3]

Timeline

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Prime Minister Harold Wilson's decision to call a general election on October 10th 1974 was reported in the newspapers that were dated September 9th 1974 and made a ministerial broadcast on television on 18 September to announce that the election would be held on 10 October, less than eight months since the previous election. The key dates were as follows:

Friday 20 September Dissolution of the 46th Parliament and campaigning officially begins
Monday 30 September Last day to file nomination papers
Wednesday 9 October Campaigning officially ends
Thursday 10 October Polling day
Friday 11 October The Labour Party wins control with a majority of 3
Tuesday 22 October 47th Parliament assembles
Tuesday 29 October State Opening of Parliament

Results

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Labour achieved a swing of 2% against the Conservatives. It was the first time since 1922 that a government had won an overall majority with less than 40% of the vote, but the majority of only three seats. The Conservatives won just under 36% of the vote, their worst share since 1918. A slight drop in the Liberals' vote saw them suffer a net loss of one seat. In Scotland, the Scottish National Party added another 4 seats to their successes in the previous election and became the fourth-largest party.

Turnout was 72.8%, which was a significant decline on the February election's 78.8% turnout.

 
UK General Election October 1974
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Stood Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  Labour Harold Wilson 623 319 19 1 +18 50.2 39.2 11,457,079 +2.0
  Conservative Edward Heath 622 277[note 1] 2 22 −20 43.6 35.8 10,462,565 −2.1
  Liberal Jeremy Thorpe 619 13 1 2 −1 2.1 18.3 5,346,704 −1.0
  SNP William Wolfe 71 11 4 0 +4 1.7 2.9 839,617 +0.9
  UUP Harry West 7 6 0 1 −1 0.9 0.9 256,065 +0.1
  Plaid Cymru Gwynfor Evans 36 3 1 0 +1 0.5 0.6 166,321 +0.1
  SDLP Gerry Fitt 9 1 0 0 0 0.2 0.6 154,193 +0.1
  National Front John Kingsley Read 90 0 0 0 0 0.4 113,843 +0.2
  Vanguard William Craig 3 3 0 0 0 0.5 0.3 92,262 +0.1
  DUP Ian Paisley 2 1 0 0 0 0.2 0.3 59,451 +0.1
  Alliance Oliver Napier 5 0 0 0 0 0.2 44,644 +0.1
  Independent Labour N/A 7 0 0 1 −1 0.2 33,317 +0.1
  Ind. Republican N/A 1 1 1 0 +1 0.2 0.2 32,795 +0.2
  Republican Clubs Tomás Mac Giolla 5 0 0 0 0 0.1 21,633 +0.1
  Unionist Party NI Brian Faulkner 2 0 0 0 0 0.1 20,454 N/A
  Communist John Gollan 29 0 0 0 0 0.1 17,426 0.0
  Democratic Labour Dick Taverne 1 0 0 1 −1 0.1 13,714 +0.1
  NI Labour Alan Carr 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 11,539 0.0
  Independent N/A 32 0 0 0 0 0.0 8,812 −0.1
  Independent Ulster Unionist N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 4,982 N/A
  United Democratic James Tippett 13 0 0 0 0 0.0 4,810 N/A
  Ind. Conservative N/A 4 0 0 0 0 0.0 4,559 0.0
  More Prosperous Britain Tom Keen and Harold Smith 25 0 0 0 0 0.0 4,301 0.0
  Workers Revolutionary Gerry Healey 10 0 0 0 0 0.0 3,404 0.0
  Independent Liberal N/A 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 3,277 −0.2
  Volunteer Political Ken Gibson 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 2,690 N/A
  Irish Civil Rights N/A 7 0 0 0 0 0.0 2,381 N/A
  PEOPLE Tony Whittaker 5 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,996 0.0
  Marxist-Leninist (England) John Buckle 8 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,320 0.0
  English National Frank Hansford-Miller 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 1,115 N/A
  United English National John Kynaston 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 793 N/A
  Marxist–Leninist (Ireland) Carole Reakes 3 0 0 0 0 0.0 540 N/A
  Mebyon Kernow Richard Jenkin 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 384 N/A
  Socialist (GB) N/A 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 118 N/A
All parties shown.
Government's new majority 3
Total votes cast 29,189,104
Turnout 72.8%

Votes summary

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Popular vote
Labour
39.25%
Conservative
35.84%
Liberal
18.32%
Scottish National
2.88%
Others
3.71%

Seats summary

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Parliamentary seats
Labour
50.24%
Conservative
43.62%
Liberal
2.05%
Scottish National
1.73%
Others
2.36%

Incumbents defeated

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Party Name Constituency Office held whilst in Parliament Year elected Defeated by Party
Conservative Jock Bruce-Gardyne Angus South 1964 Andrew Welsh SNP
Michael Ancram Berwick and East Lothian Feb 1974 John Mackintosh Labour
Harold Gurden Birmingham Selly Oak 1955 Tom Litterick Labour
Robert Redmond Bolton West 1970 Ann Taylor Labour
Martin McLaren Bristol North West 1970 Ronald Thomas Labour
Michael Fidler Bury and Radcliffe 1970 Frank White Labour
Barry Henderson East Dunbartonshire Feb 1974 Margaret Bain SNP
James Allason Hemel Hempstead 1959 Robin Corbett Labour
Tom Iremonger Ilford North 1954 by-election Millie Miller Labour
Ernle Money Ipswich 1970 Ken Weetch Labour
Tom Boardman Leicester South Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1974) 1967 by-election Jim Marshall Labour
Jack d'Avigdor-Goldsmid Lichfield and Tamworth 1970 Bruce Grocott Labour
David Waddington Nelson and Colne 1968 by-election Doug Hoyle Labour
Montague Woodhouse Oxford 1970 Evan Luard Labour
Ian MacArthur Perth and East Perthshire 1959 Douglas Crawford SNP
Harmar Nicholls Peterborough 1950 Michael Ward Labour
Peggy Fenner Rochester and Chatham Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (1972–1974) 1970 Robert Bean Labour
Ronald Bray Rossendale 1970 Michael Noble Labour
James Hill Southampton Test 1970 Bryan Gould Labour
Piers Dixon Truro 1970 David Penhaligon Liberal
Robert Lindsay Welwyn and Hatfield Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (1972–1974) 1955 Helene Hayman Labour
Labour Gwynoro Jones Carmarthen 1970 Gwynfor Evans Plaid Cymru
Liberal Paul Tyler Bodmin, Cornwall Feb 1974 Robert Hicks Conservative
Michael Winstanley Hazel Grove Feb 1974 Tom Arnold Conservative
Christopher Mayhew[4] Woolwich East (contested Bath) 1951 by-election Edward Brown Conservative
Independent Eddie Milne[5] Blyth 1960 by-election John Ryman Labour
Edward Griffiths[6] Sheffield Brightside 1968 by-election Joan Maynard Labour
UUP Harry West Fermanagh and South Tyrone Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (1974 –1979) Feb 1974 Frank Maguire Independent
Democratic Labour Dick Taverne[7] Lincoln Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1969–1970) 1962 by-election Margaret Jackson Labour

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ a b The seat and vote count figures for the Conservatives given here include the Speaker of the House of Commons

References

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  1. ^ Election 1974 (October) – Part 1 on YouTube, UK General Election 1974 – Results Round-up on YouTube
  2. ^ 1974 Oct: Wilson makes it four, BBC News, 5 April 2005, retrieved 8 June 2018
  3. ^ "10 October 1974", BBC Politics 97, retrieved 8 June 2018
  4. ^ Elected as a Labour MP
  5. ^ Elected as a Labour MP
  6. ^ Elected as a Labour MP
  7. ^ Elected as a Labour MP

Further reading

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Manifestos

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