October 1974 UK general election

United Kingdom general election, October 1974

← February 1974 10 October 1974 1979 →
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All 635 seats in the House of Commons 318 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	72.8% (6.0%)
First party Second party Third party   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 18 20 1 Popular vote 11,457,079 10,462,565 5,346,704 Percentage 39.2% 35.8% 18.3% Swing 2% 2.1% 1%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Prime Minister before election Harold Wilson Labour Subsequent Prime Minister Harold Wilson Labour

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, 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.

In the election the Labour Party won 319 seats, allowing it to form a majority government, albeit with a majority of only 3. The Conservatives and the Liberals each saw their vote share fall, and Conservative 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, its highest Westminster representation until 2015. Subsequently, Labour's narrow parliamentary majority 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.