United Kingdom general election, October 1974
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The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on October 10, 1974. It was the second of two United Kingdom general elections held that year. Prime Minister Harold Wilson, having taken power in a minority government after the February election, returned to the polls and won a tiny majority of 3. Both of these results were due to the Ulster Unionist Party no longer willing to sit in a coalition government with the Conservatives after Edward Heath's 1973 Sunningdale Agreement.
It was at this election that the Scottish National Party secured their best ever representation inside the House of Commons: 11 elected MPs as well as their largest total number of votes in a UK general election.
[edit] Results
| UK General Election October 1974 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net Gain/Loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/- | |
| Labour | 319 | 20 | 2 | + 18 | 39.2 | 11,457,079 | + 2.0 | ||
| Conservative | 277 | 2 | 22 | - 20 | 35.8 | 10,462,565 | - 2.1 | ||
| Liberal | 13 | 1 | 2 | - 1 | 18.3 | 5,346,704 | - 1.0 | ||
| Scottish National Party | 11 | 4 | 0 | + 4 | 2.9 | 839,617 | + 0.9 | ||
| Ulster Unionist | 6 | 0 | 1 | - 1 | 0.9 | 256,065 | + 0.1 | ||
| Plaid Cymru | 3 | 1 | 0 | + 1 | 0.6 | 166,321 | + 0.1 | ||
| Social Democratic & Labour | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.6 | 154,193 | + 0.1 | ||
| National Front | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.4 | 113,843 | + 0.2 | ||
| Vanguard Progressive Unionist | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 92,262 | + 0.1 | ||
| Democratic Unionist | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 59,451 | + 0.1 | ||
| Alliance (NI) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 44,644 | + 0.1 | ||
| Independent Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 33,317 | + 0.1 | ||
| Independent Republican | 1 | 1 | 0 | + 1 | 0.2 | 32,795 | + 0.2 | ||
| Republican Clubs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 21,633 | + 0.1 | ||
| Unionist Party NI | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 20,454 | N/A | ||
| Communist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 17,426 | 0.0 | ||
| Democratic Labour | 0 | 0 | 1 | - 1 | 0.1 | 13,714 | + 0.1 | ||
| Labour (NI) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 11,539 | 0.0 | ||
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 8,812 | - 0.1 | ||
| Independent Ulster Unionist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,982 | N/A | ||
| United Democratic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,810 | N/A | ||
| Independent Conservative | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,559 | 0.0 | ||
| More Prosperous Britain | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,301 | 0.0 | ||
| Workers' Revolutionary | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,404 | 0.0 | ||
| Independent Liberal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,277 | - 0.2 | ||
| Volunteer Political | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,690 | N/A | ||
| Northern Ireland Civil Rights | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,381 | N/A | ||
| People Movement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,996 | 0.0 | ||
| Communist (England, M-L) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,320 | 0.0 | ||
| English National | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,115 | N/A | ||
| United English National | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 793 | N/A | ||
| Communist (Ireland, M-L) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 540 | N/A | ||
| Mebyon Kernow | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 384 | N/A | ||
| Socialist Party (GB) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 118 | N/A | ||
Total number of votes: 29,189,104. All parties shown.
See also MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1974 (October).
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