United Kingdom general election, 2005

United Kingdom general election, 2005

2001 ← 5 May 2005 → 2010

outgoing members ← → elected members

All 646 seats to the House of Commons 324 seats needed for a majority Opinion polls Turnout 61.4% (2.0%)   First party Second party Third party   Leader Tony Blair Michael Howard Charles Kennedy Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrat Leader since 21 July 1994 6 November 2003 9 August 1999 Leader's seat Sedgefield Folkestone and Hythe Ross, Skye and Lochaber Last election 413 seats, 40.7% 166 seats, 31.7% 52 seats, 18.3% Seats before 403 165 51 Seats won 355 198 62 Seat change 48^ 33* 11* Popular vote 9,552,436 8,784,915 5,985,454 Percentage 35.2% 32.4% 22.0% Swing 5.5% 0.7% 3.7%

Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. * Indicates boundary change – so this is a nominal figure ^ Figure does not include the speaker

PM before election Tony Blair Labour Subsequent PM Tony Blair Labour

1997 election • MPs

2001 election • MPs

2005 election • MPs

2010 election • MPs

* Indicates boundary change – so this is a nominal figure ^ Figure does not include the speaker

Tony Blair
Labour

Tony Blair
Labour

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but its majority now stood at 66 seats compared to the 160-seat majority it had previously held. As of 2015, it remains the last Labour general election victory in the UK.

The Labour campaign emphasised a strong economy; however, Blair had suffered a decline in popularity even before the decision to send British troops to invade Iraq in 2003. The Conservative Party, led by Michael Howard since late 2003, campaigned on policies, such as immigration limits, improving poorly-managed hospitals and reducing high crime rates, all under the slogan 'Are you thinking what we're thinking?'. The Liberal Democrats, led by Charles Kennedy, were opposed to the Iraq War given that there had been no second UN resolution, and collected votes from disenchanted Labour voters.

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