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 British 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. The election resulted in the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson winning the narrowest majority recorded, 3 seats. This enabled the remainder of the Labour government, 1974–1979 to take place, which saw a gradual loss of its majority.

October 1974 United Kingdom general election
10 October 1974
All 635 seats in the House of Commons
318 seats needed for a majority
Turnout72.8%, 6.0%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath
Party Labour Conservative
Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965
Leader's seat Huyton Sidcup
Last election 301 seats, 37.2% 297 seats, 37.9%
Seats won 319 277
Seat change 18 20
Popular vote 11,457,079 10,462,565
Percentage 39.2% 35.8%
Swing 2.0% 2.1%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Jeremy Thorpe William Wolfe
Party Liberal SNP
Leader since 18 January 1967 1 June 1969
Leader's seat North Devon Stood in West Lothian (lost)
Last election 14 seats, 19.3% 7 seats, 2.0%
Seats won 13 11
Seat change 1 4
Popular vote 5,346,704 839,617
Percentage 18.3% 2.9%
Swing 1.0% 0.9%
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 of February that year had produced an unexpected hung parliament. Coalition talks between the Conservatives and other parties such as the Liberals and the Ulster Unionists failed, allowing Labour leader Harold Wilson to form a minority government. The October campaign was not as vigorous or exciting as the one in February. Despite continuing high inflation, Labour was able to boast that it had ended the miners' strike, which had dogged Heath's premiership, and had returned some stability. The Conservative Party, still led by Edward Heath, released a manifesto promoting national unity; however, 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.

The Conservatives and the Liberals each saw their vote share decline, and Conservative Party leader Edward Heath, who had lost three of the four elections he contested, was ousted as party 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; it was their most successful general election result until 2015.

Subsequently, Labour's narrow parliamentary majority had disappeared by 1977 through a series of by-election losses and defections. It then required deals with the Liberals, the Ulster Unionists, the Scottish Nationalists and the Welsh Nationalists.

This was the last general election victory for the Labour Party until 1997; each of the next four consecutive general elections produced a Conservative parliamentary majority.

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

Campaign

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 that had dogged Heath was over and some stability had been restored. Following the February election Heath had remained largely out of the public eye.

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, their strengths outweighed that of Heath, who knew his future relied on an election victory. Devolution was a key issue for the Liberals and the Scottish National Party, and was now one that the two main parties also felt the need to address. The Liberals did not issue a new manifesto, simply reissuing the one they had created for the last election.[2][3]

Timeline

Prime Minister Harold Wilson 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 SeptemberDissolution of the 46th Parliament and campaigning officially begins
Monday 30 SeptemberLast day to file nomination papers
Wednesday 9 OctoberCampaigning officially ends
Thursday 10 OctoberPolling day
Friday 11 OctoberThe Labour Party wins control with a majority of 3
Tuesday 22 October47th Parliament assembles
Tuesday 29 OctoberState Opening of Parliament

Results

Labour achieved a swing of 2% against the Conservatives. This was the first time since 1922 that a government had won an overall majority with less than 40% of the vote, albeit a majority of only 3. The Conservatives won just under 36% of the vote, their worst share since 1918; and a slight drop in the Liberal vote saw them suffer a net loss of 1 seat. In Scotland, the SNP added another 4 seats to their successes in the previous election to become the 4th largest party. Turnout was 72.8%, which was a significant decline on the February election's 78.8% turnout.

↓ 
319 277 13 11 15
Labour Conservative Liberal SNP O
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 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
  Independent 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
Popular vote
Labour
 
 39.25%
Conservative
 
 35.84%
Liberal
 
 18.32%
Scottish National
 
 2.88%
Others
 
 3.71%

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

Incumbents defeated
Party Name Constituency Office held whilst in Parliament Year elected Seat held by party since Defeated by Party
Conservative Jock Bruce-Gardyne Angus South 1964 1964 Andrew Welsh Scottish Nationalist
Michael Ancram Berwick and East Lothian Feb 1974 Feb 1974 John Mackintosh Labour
Harold Gurden Birmingham Selly Oak 1955 1955 Tom Litterick Labour
Robert Redmond Bolton West 1970 1970 Ann Taylor Labour
Martin McLaren Bristol North West 1970 1970 Ronald Thomas Labour
Michael Fidler Bury and Radcliffe 1970 1970 Frank White Labour
Barry Henderson East Dunbartonshire Feb 1974 Feb 1974 Margaret Bain Scottish Nationalist
James Allason Hemel Hempstead 1959 1924 Robin Corbett Labour
Tom Iremonger Ilford North 1954 by-election 1950 Millie Miller Labour
Ernle Money Ipswich 1970 1970 Kenneth Weetch Labour
Tom Boardman Leicester South 1967 by-election 1967 by-election Jim Marshall Labour
James d'Avigdor-Goldsmid Lichfield and Tamworth 1970 1970 Bruce Grocott Labour
David Waddington Nelson and Colne 1968 by-election 1968 by-election Doug Hoyle Labour
Montague Woodhouse Oxford 1970 1970 Evan Luard Labour
Ian MacArthur Perth and East Perthshire 1959 1950 Douglas Crawford Scottish Nationalist
Harmar Nicholls Peterborough 1950 1950 Michael Ward Labour
Peggy Fenner Rochester and Chatham 1970 1970 Robert Bean Labour
Ronald Bray Rossendale 1970 1970 Michael Noble Labour
James Hill Southampton Test 1970 1970 Bryan Gould Labour
Piers Dixon Truro 1970 1950 David Penhaligon Liberal
Robert Lindsay Welwyn and Hatfield Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (1972–1974) Feb 1974 Feb 1974 Helene Hayman Labour
Liberal Paul Tyler Bodmin, Cornwall Feb 1974 Feb 1974 Robert Hicks Conservative
Michael Winstanley Hazel Grove Feb 1974 Feb 1974 Tom Arnold Conservative
Christopher Mayhew Woolwich East (contested Bath) elected as Labour 1951 by-election 1974 Edward Brown Conservative
Independent Labour Eddie Milne Blyth former Labour MP 1960 by-election Feb 1974 John Ryman Labour
Edward Griffiths Sheffield Brightside elected as Labour 1968 by-election 1974 Joan Maynard Labour
Ulster Unionist Harry West Fermanagh and South Tyrone Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (1974 –1979) February 1974 February 1974 Frank Maguire Independent Republican
Democratic Labour Dick Taverne Lincoln Financial Secretary to the Treasury (1969–1970) 1962 by-election 1973 by-election Margaret Jackson Labour
Labour Gwynoro Jones Carmarthen Parliamentary Secretary to Roy Jenkins 1970 1970 Gwynfor Evans Plaid Cymru

See also

References
  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

Further reading
  • Butler, David E.; et al. (1975), The British General Election of October 1974, the standard scholarly study
  • Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302

Manifestos
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