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United Kingdom general election, October 1974

United Kingdom general election, October 1974
United Kingdom
February 1974 ←
10 October 1974 → 1979
outgoing members ← → elected members

All 635 seats in the House of Commons
318 seats needed for a majority
Turnout 72.8% (Decrease6.0%)
  First party Second party Third party
  Harold Wilson Number 10 official.jpg Edward Heath No image.png
Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath Jeremy Thorpe
Party Labour Conservative Liberal
Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965 18 January 1967
Leader's seat Huyton Sidcup North Devon
Last election 301 seats, 37.2% 297 seats, 37.9% 14 seats, 19.3%
Seats won 319 277 13
Seat change Increase 18 Decrease 20 Decrease 1
Popular vote 11,457,079 10,462,565 5,346,704
Percentage 39.2% 35.8% 18.3%
Swing Increase 2% Decrease 2.1% Decrease 1%

UK General Election, October 1974.svg

Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

PM before election

Harold Wilson
Labour

Subsequent PM

Harold Wilson
Labour

1970 election MPs
February 1974 election MPs
October 1974 election MPs
1979 election MPs
1983 election MPs

UK General Election, October 1974.svg

Harold Wilson
Labour

Harold Wilson
Labour

The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It was the second general election of that year and resulted in the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson winning an overall majority of just 3 seats.

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 their chances of forming a government were hindered by the Ulster Unionist Party refusing to take their whip at Westminster in response to the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973.


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