United Kingdom European Parliament election records

This is an annotated list of notable records from United Kingdom elections to the European Parliament, which were held from 1979 through 2019.

European Parliament elections in Great Britain used two very different electoral systems. From 1979 until 1994, elections were conducted using first past the post (FPTP), with Great Britain divided into numerous single member constituencies. From 1999 through 2019, however, mainland elections used the d'Hondt method of proportional representation (PR), with 11 multi-member constituencies corresponding to Scotland, Wales and the regions of England. Northern Ireland always used the single transferable vote system.

As a result, comparisons between these two types elections are problematic, and the voting system will be noted by each record.

Numerical records

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Largest swings

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National two-party swings

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Swing between the largest party at the previous election and the largest party at the next, or the second-largest party if there was no change.

National Labour-Conservative (Butler) swings
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1 A majority of UKIP MEPs defected to the Brexit Party over the course of the 2014-2019 Parliament, and both UKIP in 2014 and the Brexit Party in 2019 were led by Nigel Farage.
2 The first election held under PR, swing is compared to previous FPTP election.
3 At least one major party was not in the top two.

Largest fall in percentage share of vote

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National

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1 The first election held under PR, fall is compared to previous FPTP election.
2 Compared to the UK Green Party in 1989.

Largest increase in percentage share of vote

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National

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Largest numbers of seats

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After the introduction of PR, the number of seats correlated closely with national vote share, and no party ever won a majority. Under FPTP, the number of seats won can diverge significantly from national vote share. In the following elections, all FPTP, a single party won a majority:

Since 1999, the following elections saw one party take at least a third of the available seats:

Highest turnout

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Turnout was historically low in UK EP elections compared to other European countries.

National

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Lowest turnout

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National

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Party records

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Largest national vote share under PR

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For parties that returned at least one MEP:

Party Election % Share Stood in
Conservative 1999 election 33.5 Great Britain
Brexit Party 2019 election 30.5 Great Britain
UKIP 2014 election 26.6 Great Britain
Liberal Democrats 2019 election 19.6 Great Britain
Labour 1999 election 26.3 Great Britain
Green 2019 election 11.8 England and Wales
BNP 2009 election 6.0 Great Britain
SNP 2019 election 3.6 Scotland
Plaid Cymru 1999 election 1.7 Wales

The use of multiple preference votes makes comparisons with Northern Irish parties difficult.

Smallest national vote share under PR

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For parties that returned at least one MEP:

Party Election % Share Stood in
Brexit Party 2019 election 30.5 Great Britain
Labour 2019 election 13.6 Great Britain
Conservative 2019 election 8.8 Great Britain
Liberal Democrats 2014 election 6.6 Great Britain
Green 1999 election 5.3 England and Wales
UKIP 2019 election 3.21 Great Britain
SNP 2004 election 1.4 Scotland
BNP 1999 election 1.0 Great Britain
Plaid Cymru 2014 election 0.7 Wales

1: Party failed to return any MEPs

Largest national vote share under FPTP

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For parties that returned at least one MEP:

Party Election % Share Stood in
Conservative 1979 election 48.4 Great Britain
Labour 1994 election 42.6 Great Britain
Liberal Democrats 1994 election 16.1 Great Britain
SNP 2014 election 3.1 Scotland

The Green Party won 14.5% of the vote in 1989, still the best Green performance at any nationwide election, but failed to win any seats due to the FPTP system. Similarly, the SDP–Liberal Alliance took 18.5% of the vote in 1984, again without winning a seat.

See also

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References

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