1918 General Election

The Coupon election

14 December 1918 · Labour's Rise · 707 seats

Held days after the Armistice under a transformed franchise: all men over 21 and most women over 30, tripling the electorate. Lloyd George's couponed coalition swept Britain while Sinn Féin swept Ireland and never took its seats.

Prime Minister before

David Lloyd George

National Liberal

Prime Minister (continued)

David Lloyd George

National Liberal

Government formed

Coalition

majority of 283

Turnout

57.2%

The result

Conservative
Bonar Law · 38.4%
379
seats
Coalition Liberal
David Lloyd George · 13.4%
127
seats
Sinn Féin
Éamon de Valera · 4.6%
73
seats
Labour
William Adamson · 20.8%
57
seats
Liberal
H. H. Asquith · 13.0%
36
seats
Irish Parliamentary
John Dillon · 2.2%
7
seats

28 further seats went to parties and independents outside the main contenders listed above.

Turnout by nation

England

55.7%

Wales

65.9%

Scotland

55.1%

N. Ireland

69.5%

United Kingdom

57.2%

The government it made

The Conservatives and Prime Minister David Lloyd George's wing of the Liberal Party contested the 1918 General Election as a Coalition. More than half of House of Commons seats were won by Conservative candidates, so that the subsequent Coalition government was Conservative dominated. Majority of 283 is calculated including the 73 Sinn Fein Members who did not take their seats.

The result by constituency

All 688 constituencies on the 1918-1935 boundaries, from the House of Commons Library dataset. Search, filter by country or region, and click any column heading to sort. 103 seats were returned unopposed, with no poll held.

Highest turnout

89.7%

Fermanagh North, Ireland

Lowest turnout

27.8%

Armagh South, Ireland

Biggest single-party share

94.9%

Labour, West Ham Plaistow

Tightest main-family margin

0.4 pts

Yorkshire (North Riding) Cleveland, North East

Ireland
Conservative 25.8% · most votes in 19Other 74.2% · most votes in 81
100
seats · turnout 69.5%
London
Conservative 52.8% · most votes in 71Liberal / Lib Dem 11.9% · most votes in 2Labour 16.0% · most votes in 3Other 19.3% · most votes in 21
97
seats · turnout 47.8%
North West
Conservative 45.0% · most votes in 57Liberal / Lib Dem 11.8% · most votes in 1Labour 29.0% · most votes in 14Other 14.2% · most votes in 9
81
seats · turnout 61.3%
Scotland
Conservative 32.7% · most votes in 30Liberal / Lib Dem 15.0% · most votes in 7Labour 24.9% · most votes in 5Other 27.4% · most votes in 28
70
seats · turnout 55.1%
Yorkshire and the Humber
Conservative 27.9% · most votes in 26Liberal / Lib Dem 15.9% · most votes in 2Labour 25.4% · most votes in 6Other 30.8% · most votes in 22
56
seats · turnout 57.2%
South East
Conservative 63.2% · most votes in 46Liberal / Lib Dem 9.4% · most votes in 1Labour 17.7%Other 9.7% · most votes in 3
50
seats · turnout 53.0%
West Midlands
Conservative 44.2% · most votes in 31Liberal / Lib Dem 13.8% · most votes in 2Labour 24.9% · most votes in 6Other 17.1% · most votes in 8
47
seats · turnout 55.6%
South West
Conservative 46.2% · most votes in 31Liberal / Lib Dem 21.7% · most votes in 3Labour 18.2% · most votes in 1Other 13.9% · most votes in 8
43
seats · turnout 60.3%
East Midlands
Conservative 28.9% · most votes in 18Liberal / Lib Dem 16.0% · most votes in 4Labour 27.3% · most votes in 6Other 27.8% · most votes in 9
37
seats · turnout 59.8%
Wales
Conservative 11.3% · most votes in 4Liberal / Lib Dem 9.7% · most votes in 3Labour 30.8% · most votes in 9Other 48.2% · most votes in 19
35
seats · turnout 65.9%
East of England
Conservative 41.5% · most votes in 21Liberal / Lib Dem 19.6% · most votes in 2Labour 17.2%Other 21.6% · most votes in 10
33
seats · turnout 54.7%
North East
Conservative 22.5% · most votes in 10Liberal / Lib Dem 20.7% · most votes in 6Labour 30.2% · most votes in 5Other 26.6% · most votes in 9
30
seats · turnout 57.1%
Show all 13 regions
University
Conservative 54.6% · most votes in 6Liberal / Lib Dem 1.8%Labour 13.1%Other 30.5% · most votes in 3
9
seats · turnout 58.9%
688 of 688 constituencies
Aberdeen North
Other
100.0%
Aberdeen South
Conservative
62.4%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Central
Conservative
52.6%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Eastern
Other
100.0%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Kincardine & Western
Other · unopposed
—
Accrington
Conservative
47.1%
Anglesey
Other
100.0%
Antrim East
Conservative
94.6%
Antrim Mid
Conservative
79.3%
Antrim North
Conservative
78.3%
Antrim South
Conservative
85.1%
Argyll
Other
100.0%

The dataset groups candidates into five party families: Conservative (including Ulster Unionists before February 1974), the Liberal family (Liberal, SDP–Liberal Alliance, Liberal Democrats), Labour, SNP and Plaid Cymru, and all others combined. “Most votes” marks the family with the largest vote in each constituency, not necessarily the seat's winner: the Other column aggregates many parties, and some constituencies elected two or three members in this period.