List of United Kingdom general elections

This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland, before being co-opted to serve in the first Parliament of the United Kingdom, so that Parliament is not included in the table below.

Election results

Shares of the vote in general elections since 1832 received by Conservatives^[1] (blue), Liberals/Liberal Democrats^[2] (orange), Labour (red) and others (grey).^[3][4]

In 1801 the right to vote in the United Kingdom was a severely restricted practice. Universal suffrage, on an equal basis for men and women over the age of 21, was established in 1929. Before 1918, general elections did not occur on a single day and polling was spread over several weeks. The date given in the table for elections prior to 1918 is the date Parliament assembled after the election, which could be in the year after the general election.

The majority figure given is for the difference between the number of MPs elected at the general election from the party (or parties) of the government, as opposed to all other parties (some of which may have been giving some support to the government, but were not participating in a coalition). The Speaker is excluded from the calculation. A negative majority means that there was a hung parliament (or minority parliament) following that election. For example, in the 1929 election, Labour was 42 seats short of forming a majority, and so its majority is listed as −42. If the party in office changed the figure is re-calculated, but no allowance is made for changes after the general election.

No attempt is made to define a majority before 1832, when the Reform Act disenfranchised the rotten boroughs; before then the Tory party had an undemocratically entrenched dominance. Particularly in the early part of the period the complexity of factional alignments, with both the Whig and Tory traditions tending to have some members in government and others in opposition factions simultaneously, make it impossible to produce an accurate majority figure. The figures between 1832 and about 1859 are approximate due to problems of defining what was a party in government, as the source provides figures for all Liberals rather than just the Whig component in what developed into the Liberal Party. The Whig and Peelite Prime Ministers in the table below are regarded as having the support of all Liberals.

Election	Date	Prime Minister(s) (during term)	Winning Party	Majority	Turnout (%)[5]	Notes
1802 (MPs)	22 July 1802	Henry Addington William Pitt the Younger[6] The Lord Grenville	Tory Tory (Pittite who called himself a Whig) Whig	...
1806 (MPs)	17 November 1806	The Lord Grenville The Duke of Portland	Whig Tory (Pittite who called himself a Whig)	...
1807 (MPs)	22 June 1807	The Duke of Portland Spencer Perceval[7] The Earl of Liverpool	Tory (Pittite who called himself a Whig) Tory Tory	...
1812 (MPs)	24 November 1812	The Earl of Liverpool	Tory	...
1818 (MPs)	4 August 1818	The Earl of Liverpool	Tory	...
1820 (MPs)	16 January 1821	The Earl of Liverpool	Tory	...
1826 (MPs)	19 June 1826	The Earl of Liverpool George Canning[8] The Viscount Goderich The Duke of Wellington	Tory Tory Tory Tory	...
1830 (MPs)	9 August 1830	The Duke of Wellington[9] The Earl Grey	Tory Whig	...
1831 (MPs)	25 July 1831	The Earl Grey	Whig	136
At this point, the Reform Act 1832 gave suffrage to propertied male adults and disenfranchised almost all of the rotten boroughs.
1832 (MPs)	29 January 1833	The Earl Grey The Viscount Melbourne[10] The Duke of Wellington Sir Robert Peel	Whig Whig Conservative Conservative	225 (L) −308 (C)
1835 (MPs)	19 February 1835	Sir Robert Peel[11] The Viscount Melbourne	Conservative Whig	−113 (C) 113 (L)
1837 (MPs)	15 November 1837	The Viscount Melbourne[12]	Whig	29
1841 (MPs)	19 August 1841	The Viscount Melbourne[13] Sir Robert Peel[14] Lord John Russell	Whig Conservative Whig	77
1847 (MPs)	9 August 1847	Lord John Russell[15] The Earl of Derby	Whig Conservative	−72
1852 (MPs)	4 November 1852	The Earl of Derby[16] The Earl of Aberdeen[17] The Viscount Palmerston	Conservative Peelite Whig	7
1857 (MPs)	30 April 1857	The Viscount Palmerston[18] The Earl of Derby	Whig Conservative	100
1859 (MPs)	31 May 1859	The Earl of Derby[19] The Viscount Palmerston	Conservative Liberal	59
1865 (MPs)	11 July 1865	The Viscount Palmerston[20] The Earl Russell[21] The Earl of Derby Benjamin Disraeli	Liberal Liberal Conservative Conservative	81
At this point, the Reform Act 1867 significantly widened the suffrage and disenfranchised more smaller boroughs.
1868 (MPs)	10 December 1868	William Ewart Gladstone	Liberal	115
1874 (MPs)	5 March 1874	Benjamin Disraeli	Conservative	49
1880 (MPs)	29 April 1880	William Ewart Gladstone[22] The Marquess of Salisbury	Liberal Conservative	51
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1884 extended the borough franchise of 1867 to the counties, increasing the electorate to about 5,500,000 men.
1885 (MPs)	12 January 1886	The Marquess of Salisbury[23] William Ewart Gladstone[24]	Conservative Liberal	−172
1886 (MPs)	5 August 1886	The Marquess of Salisbury	Conservative	116
1892 (MPs)	4 August 1892	The Marquess of Salisbury[25] William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery[26] The Marquess of Salisbury[27]	Conservative Liberal Liberal Conservative	−126
1895 (MPs)	12 August 1895	The Marquess of Salisbury	Conservative	153
1900 (MPs)	3 December 1900	The Marquess of Salisbury Arthur Balfour Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman[28]	Conservative Conservative Liberal	135		Khaki election
1906 (MPs)	13 February 1906	Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman H. H. Asquith	Liberal	129
January 1910 (MPs)	15 February 1910	H. H. Asquith	Liberal	−122
December 1910 (MPs)	31 January 1911	H. H. Asquith David Lloyd George	Liberal	−126
The Parliament Act 1911 reduced the maximum life of a Parliament from seven years to five; however, the election that would have been due by 1915 as a result of the Act was not held due to World War I (1914–1918) At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1918 gave suffrage to most of the adult population (men over 21, women over 30).
1918 (MPs)	14 December 1918	David Lloyd George Andrew Bonar Law[29]	Liberal (Coalition government) Conservative	238	57.2	Coalition Coupon
1922 (MPs)	15 November 1922	Andrew Bonar Law Stanley Baldwin	Conservative	74	73
1923 (MPs)	6 December 1923	Stanley Baldwin[30] Ramsay MacDonald	Conservative Labour	−98	71.1
1924 (MPs)	29 October 1924	Stanley Baldwin	Conservative	210	77
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1928 gave universal suffrage to the adult population over 21.
1929 (MPs)	30 May 1929	Ramsay MacDonald	Labour	−42	76.3	The "flapper" election
1931 (MPs)	27 October 1931	Ramsay MacDonald	National Labour (National Government)	492	76.4
1935 (MPs)	14 November 1935	Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill Winston Churchill	Conservative (National Government) Conservative (National Government) Conservative (Wartime Coalition) Conservative (Caretaker Government)	242 242 609 242	71.1
The election due by 1940 was not held due to World War II (1939–1945)
1945 (MPs)	5 July 1945	Clement Attlee	Labour	146	72.8	640 seats in Commons
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1948 abolished plural voting, university constituencies and the few remaining two-member constituencies.
1950 (MPs)	23 February 1950	Clement Attlee	Labour	5	83.9	625 seats in Commons
1951 (MPs)	25 October 1951	Sir Winston Churchill Sir Anthony Eden	Conservative	17	82.6
1955 (MPs)	26 May 1955	Sir Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan	Conservative	60	76.8	630 seats in Commons
1959 (MPs)	8 October 1959	Harold Macmillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home	Conservative	100	78.7
1964 (MPs)	15 October 1964	Harold Wilson	Labour	4	77.1
1966 (MPs)	31 March 1966	Harold Wilson	Labour	98	75.8
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1969 gave suffrage to the adult population over 18 years old.
1970 (MPs)	18 June 1970	Edward Heath	Conservative	30	72
February 1974 (MPs)	28 February 1974	Harold Wilson	Labour (minority government)	−33	78.8	Hung Parliament
October 1974 (MPs)	10 October 1974	Harold Wilson James Callaghan	Labour	3	72.8	635 seats in Commons
1979 (MPs)	3 May 1979	Margaret Thatcher	Conservative	43	76
1983 (MPs)	9 June 1983	Margaret Thatcher	Conservative	144	72.7	650 seats in Commons
1987 (MPs)	11 June 1987	Margaret Thatcher John Major	Conservative	102	75.3
1992 (MPs)	9 April 1992	John Major	Conservative	21	77.7	651 seats in Commons
1997 (MPs)	1 May 1997	Tony Blair	Labour	179	71.4	659 seats in Commons
2001 (MPs)	7 June 2001	Tony Blair	Labour	167	59.4
2005 (MPs)	5 May 2005	Tony Blair Gordon Brown	Labour	66	61.4	646 seats in Commons
2010 (MPs)	6 May 2010[31]	David Cameron	Conservative (formed coalition with Liberal Democrats)	78 (combined coalition)	65.1	650 seats in Commons Hung Parliament
At this point, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 was passed. Elections are now every 5 years, barring parliamentary vote. Before this, the election could be called at any point the Prime Minister wished.
2015 (MPs)	7 May 2015	David Cameron	Conservative	12	66.1	650 seats in Commons

See also

• List of UK Conservative Party general election manifestos
• List of UK Labour Party general election manifestos
• List of UK Liberal Party general election manifestos
• United Kingdom general elections overview
• Referendums in the United Kingdom

References

1. Including |alt=A graph showing shares of the vote received by each political party in the UK since 1832. The graphs shows the UK being dominated by two political parties, a conservative party and a liberal party, until around 1900, when the Labour Party rises and takes a large share of votes away from the more liberal political party. Miscellaneous parties and independents represent an insignificant amount of vote share until around 1996.Tory (1832), Conservative (from 1835), Liberal Conservative (1847–59), Liberal Unionist (1886–1910), National parties (1931–45).
2. Including Whig (to mid-19th century), Liberal (mid-19th century to 1979), National Liberal (1922), Independent Liberal (1931), SDP-Liberal Alliance (1983–87) and Liberal Democrat (from 1992).
3. Table 2.01 "Summary Results of General Elections 1832–2005 (UK)", British electoral facts, 1832–2006, by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher, 7th edition, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7546-2712-8, p. 59.
4. Election 2010 Results, BBC News.
5. Rogers, Simon (16 November 2012). "UK election historic turnouts since 1918 | News". theguardian.com. Retrieved 2013-10-05.
6. Died in office.
7. Was murdered in office.
8. Died in office.
9. Was defeated on a motion to examine the accounts of the Civil List on 15 November 1830 and resigned on 16 November
10. Was dismissed by William IV on 14 November 1834
11. Was defeated on a report on the Irish Church on 7 April 1835 and resigned on 8 April
12. Was defeated on a motion of no confidence on 4 June 1841 and advised the Queen to dissolve Parliament, which she did on 23 June
13. Ministry met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 27 August 1841 and resigned on 30 August
14. Was defeated on an Irish Coercion Bill on 25 June 1846 and resigned on 29 June
15. Was defeated on a militia Bill on 20 February 1852 and resigned on 23 February
16. Was defeated on the Budget on 16 December 1852 and resigned on 19 December
17. Was defeated on a vote in favour of a select committee to enquire into alleged mismanagement during the Crimean War on 29 January 1855 and resigned the next day
18. Was defeated on a Bill, which made it a felony to plot in Britain to murder someone abroad, on 19 February 1858 and resigned on the same day
19. Ministry met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 10 June 1859 and resigned on 11 June
20. Died in office
21. Was defeated on Parliamentary reform proposals on 18 June 1866 and resigned on 26 June
22. Was defeated on the Budget on 8 June 1885 and resigned the next day
23. Met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 26 January 1886 and resigned on 28 January
24. Was defeated on the Government of Ireland Bill on 7 June 1886 and advised the Queen to dissolve Parliament, which she did on 26 June.
25. Met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 11 August 1892 and resigned the same day
26. Was defeated on the Cordite Vote on 21 June 1895 and resigned that day
27. Became Prime Minister on 25 June 1895 and immediately advised the dissolution of Parliament
28. Became Prime Minister on 5 December 1905 and immediately advised the dissolution of Parliament
29. Became Prime Minister on 23 October 1922 and immediately advised the dissolution of Parliament
30. Met the Commons, but was defeated on an amendment to the Address on 21 January 1924 and resigned the next day
31. "Gordon Brown calls 6 May general election". BBC News. 6 April 2010. Retrieved 6 April 2010.