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United Kingdom general election, February 1974
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| 1966 election • MPs |
| 1970 election • MPs |
| February 1974 election • MPs |
| October 1974 election • MPs |
| 1979 election • MPs |
The UK general election of February 1974 was held on 28 February 1974. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the only election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party, instead producing a hung parliament. The incumbent Conservative government of Edward Heath polled the most votes by a small margin, but the Tories were overtaken in terms of Commons seats by Harold Wilson's Labour Party due to the decision by Ulster Unionist MPs not to take the Conservative whip. After failed negotiations between Heath and Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, Heath resigned and Wilson returned for his second spell as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He would call another election in October of the same year.
This election saw Northern Ireland diverging heavily from the rest of the UK, with all twelve MPs elected being from local parties, following the decision of the Ulster Unionists to withdraw support from the Conservative Party in protest over the Sunningdale Agreement. It also saw the first Plaid Cymru MPs to be elected in a general election, in Wales (they had previously won a by-election).
| UK General Election February 1974 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net Gain/Loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/- | |
| Conservative | 297 | 2 | 35 | - 33 | 37.9 | 11,872,180 | - 8.5 | ||
| Labour | 301 | 22 | 9 | + 13 | 37.2 | 11,645,616 | - 5.9 | ||
| Liberal | 14 | 8 | 0 | + 8 | 19.3 | 6,059,519 | + 11.8 | ||
| Scottish National | 7 | 6 | 0 | + 6 | 2.0 | 633,180 | + 0.9 | ||
| Ulster Unionist | 7 | 1 | 2 | - 1 | 0.8 | 232,103 | N/A | ||
| Plaid Cymru | 2 | 2 | 0 | + 2 | 0.5 | 171,374 | - 0.1 | ||
| Social Democratic and Labour | 1 | 1 | 0 | + 1 | 0.5 | 160,137 | N/A | ||
| Pro-Assembly Unionist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 94,301 | N/A | ||
| National Front | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 76,865 | + 0.1 | ||
| Vanguard Progressive Unionist | 3 | 3 | 0 | + 3 | 0.2 | 75,944 | N/A | ||
| Democratic Unionist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 58,656 | + 0.1 | ||
| Independent Liberal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 38,437 | + 0.2 | ||
| Communist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 32,743 | 0.0 | ||
| Independent Labour | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.1 | 29,892 | 0.0 | ||
| Alliance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 22,660 | N/A | ||
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 18,180 | 0.0 | ||
| Unity | 0 | 0 | 2 | - 2 | 0.0 | 17,593 | - 0.4 | ||
| Independent Socialist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 17,300 | N/A | ||
| Labour (NI) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 17,284 | N/A | ||
| Republican Clubs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 15,152 | N/A | ||
| Democratic Labour | 1 | 1 | 0 | + 1 | 0.0 | 14,780 | N/A | ||
| Independent Conservative | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 11,451 | - 0.1 | ||
| Independent Republican | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5,662 | N/A | ||
| People Movement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,576 | N/A | ||
| Workers' Revolutionary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,191 | N/A | ||
| Social Democracy | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,646 | N/A | ||
| Independent Democratic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,976 | N/A | ||
| Marxist-Leninist (England) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,419 | N/A | ||
| National Independence Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,373 | N/A | ||
| National Democratic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,161 | - 0.1 | ||
| Mebyon Kernow | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 850 | |||
| International Marxist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 716 | |||
| British Movement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 711 | |||
| Independent Social Democrat | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 661 | |||
| Wessex Regionalist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 521 | |||
| Independent Democratic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 386 | |||
| More Prosperous Britain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 234 | |||
| National Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 229 | |||
| John Hampden New Freedom | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 203 | |||
Total votes: 31,321,982. All parties are shown. The seats won by the Ulster Unionists are compared with those won by Unionist MPs in the 1970 election. The Protestant Unionist Party became the core of the Democratic Unionist Party and their candidates are compared with the result of the Protestant Unionist in 1970. The sole Republican Labour Party MP elected in 1970 subsequently left that party to co-found the Social Democrat and Labour Party in 1970 and the remains of the party disintegrated by 1974.
- Firm action for a fair Britain - Feb 1974 Conservative manifesto.
- Let us work together - Labour's way out of the crisis - Feb 1974 Labour Party manifesto.
- Change the face of Britain - Liberal Party manifesto.
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