United Kingdom general election, 1983

United Kingdom general election, 1983

1979 ← 9 June 1983 → 1987

outgoing members ← → elected members

All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326 seats needed for a majority Turnout 72.7% (3.3%)   First party Second party Third party   Leader Margaret Thatcher Michael Foot David Steel (Liberal) Roy Jenkins (SDP) Party Conservative Labour SDP–Liberal Alliance Leader since 11 February 1975 4 November 1980 7 July 1976 (Steel) 2 July 1982 (Jenkins) Leader's seat Finchley Blaenau Gwent Tweeddale (Steel) Glasgow Hillhead (Jenkins) Last election 339 seats, 43.9% 269 seats, 36.9% 11 seats, 13.8% (as Liberal party only) Seats before 359 261 11 Seats won 397 209 23 (6 SDP, 17 Liberal) Seat change 38 52 12 Popular vote 13,012,316 8,456,934 7,780,949 Percentage 42.4% 27.6% 25.4% Swing 1.5% 9.3% 11.6%

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

PM before election Margaret Thatcher Conservative Subsequent PM Margaret Thatcher Conservative

October 1974 election • MPs

1979 election • MPs

1983 election • MPs

1987 election • MPs

1992 election • MPs

Margaret Thatcher
Conservative

Margaret Thatcher
Conservative

The 1983 United Kingdom general election was held on 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher the most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945.

Thatcher's first four years as prime minister had not been an easy time. Unemployment increased during the first three years of her term and the economy went through a recession. However, the British victory in the Falklands War led to a recovery of her popularity; the economy had also returned to growth. By the time Thatcher called the election in May 1983, the Conservatives were most people's firm favourites to win the election. The Labour Party had been led by Michael Foot since the resignation of James Callaghan. They had fared well in opinion polls and local elections during this time, but issues developed which would lead directly to their defeat. Labour adopted a platform that was considered more left-wing than usual. Several moderate Labour MPs had left the party to form the Social Democrats. The Social Democrats then formed the SDP-Liberal Alliance with the existing Liberal Party.

...
Wikipedia