1929 General Election

The Flapper election

30 May 1929 · Labour's Rise · 615 seats, 308 for a majority

The first election with equal franchise for women at 21, dubbed for that reason the Flapper election. Labour became the largest party for the first time and MacDonald formed his second minority government on the eve of the Depression.

Prime Minister before

Stanley Baldwin

Conservative

Prime Minister after

Ramsay MacDonald

Labour

Government formed

Labour

no overall majority

Turnout

76.3%

The result

Labour
Ramsay MacDonald · 37.1%
287
seats
Conservative
Stanley Baldwin · 38.1%
260
seats
Liberal
David Lloyd George · 23.6%
59
seats

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

Turnout by nation

England

76.6%

Wales

82.4%

Scotland

73.5%

N. Ireland

63.8%

United Kingdom

76.3%

The result by constituency

All 595 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. 5 seats were returned unopposed, with no poll held.

Highest turnout

92.3%

Lancashire Darwen, North West

Lowest turnout

40.5%

Inverness Shire & Ross & Cromarty Western Isles, Scotland

Biggest single-party share

85.7%

Labour, West Ham Silvertown

Tightest main-family margin

0.0 pts

Cheshire Northwich, North West

London
Conservative 40.2% · most votes in 42Liberal / Lib Dem 20.1% · most votes in 2Labour 39.2% · most votes in 53Other 0.5%
97
seats · turnout 68.1%
North West
Conservative 37.9% · most votes in 32Liberal / Lib Dem 20.9% · most votes in 6Labour 39.8% · most votes in 41Other 1.4% · most votes in 2
81
seats · turnout 81.4%
Scotland
Conservative 35.9% · most votes in 20Liberal / Lib Dem 18.1% · most votes in 13Labour 43.1% · most votes in 36Other 2.9% · most votes in 1
70
seats · turnout 73.5%
Yorkshire and the Humber
Conservative 32.5% · most votes in 16Liberal / Lib Dem 22.3% · most votes in 1Labour 45.1% · most votes in 39Other 0.1%
56
seats · turnout 79.1%
South East
Conservative 49.9% · most votes in 44Liberal / Lib Dem 26.8% · most votes in 1Labour 22.6% · most votes in 5Other 0.6%
50
seats · turnout 72.3%
West Midlands
Conservative 40.5% · most votes in 20Liberal / Lib Dem 19.6% · most votes in 2Labour 39.9% · most votes in 25
47
seats · turnout 78.8%
South West
Conservative 40.1% · most votes in 26Liberal / Lib Dem 32.7% · most votes in 8Labour 25.1% · most votes in 8Other 2.1% · most votes in 1
43
seats · turnout 81.1%
East Midlands
Conservative 34.4% · most votes in 14Liberal / Lib Dem 24.7% · most votes in 3Labour 40.8% · most votes in 20
37
seats · turnout 81.4%
Wales
Conservative 22.0% · most votes in 1Liberal / Lib Dem 33.5% · most votes in 9Labour 43.9% · most votes in 25Other 0.7%
35
seats · turnout 82.4%
East of England
Conservative 41.9% · most votes in 21Liberal / Lib Dem 32.3% · most votes in 8Labour 24.8% · most votes in 4Other 0.9%
33
seats · turnout 76.2%
North East
Conservative 28.9% · most votes in 5Liberal / Lib Dem 22.8% · most votes in 2Labour 47.7% · most votes in 23Other 0.5%
30
seats · turnout 79.4%
Northern Ireland
Conservative 67.8% · most votes in 8Liberal / Lib Dem 17.0%Other 15.1% · most votes in 1
9
seats · turnout 63.9%
Show all 13 regions
University
Conservative 55.4% · most votes in 5Liberal / Lib Dem 26.2% · most votes in 1Labour 6.3%Other 12.1% · most votes in 1
7
seats · turnout 65.8%
595 of 595 constituencies
Aberdeen North
Labour
60.8%
Aberdeen South
Conservative
60.8%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Central
Conservative
43.7%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Eastern
Conservative
56.9%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Kincardine & Western
Liberal / Lib Dem
51.8%
Accrington
Labour
52.3%
Anglesey
Liberal / Lib Dem
49.4%
Antrim
Conservative
73.9%
Argyll
Conservative
44.1%
Armagh
Conservative
67.4%
Ashton Under Lyne
Labour
44.5%
Ayr District Of Burghs
Conservative
45.9%

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.