1945 General Election

The postwar landslide

5 July 1945 · The Postwar Settlement · 640 seats, 321 for a majority

The wartime coalition dissolved and Labour won its first majority, a landslide that stunned Churchill weeks after victory in Europe. The Attlee government built the NHS and the postwar welfare state.

Prime Minister before

Winston Churchill

Conservative

Prime Minister after

Clement Attlee

Labour

Government formed

Labour

majority of 147

Turnout

72.8%

electorate 33,672,036

The result

Labour
Clement Attlee · 49.7%
393
seats
Conservative
Winston Churchill · 36.2%
197
seats
Liberal
Archibald Sinclair · 9.0%
12
seats
Liberal National
Ernest Brown · 2.9%
11
seats

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

Turnout by nation

England

73.4%

Wales

75.7%

Scotland

69.0%

N. Ireland

67.4%

United Kingdom

72.8%

The result by constituency

All 620 constituencies on the 1945 boundaries, from the House of Commons Library dataset. Search, filter by country or region, and click any column heading to sort. 3 seats were returned unopposed, with no poll held.

Highest turnout

88.5%

Fermanagh & Tyrone, Northern Ireland

Lowest turnout

48.7%

Down, Northern Ireland

Biggest single-party share

91.3%

Labour, West Ham Silvertown

Tightest main-family margin

0.0 pts

Manchester Rusholme, North West

London
Conservative 36.6% · most votes in 24Liberal / Lib Dem 7.8%Labour 52.9% · most votes in 86Other 2.7% · most votes in 3
113
seats · turnout 71.3%
North West
Conservative 40.4% · most votes in 26Liberal / Lib Dem 9.4% · most votes in 1Labour 47.5% · most votes in 55Other 2.8% · most votes in 1
83
seats · turnout 75.5%
Scotland
Conservative 37.4% · most votes in 24Liberal / Lib Dem 5.1%Labour 47.6% · most votes in 36Other 10.0% · most votes in 10
70
seats · turnout 69.0%
Yorkshire and the Humber
Conservative 30.2% · most votes in 12Liberal / Lib Dem 10.0% · most votes in 1Labour 53.5% · most votes in 43Other 6.2%
56
seats · turnout 75.6%
South East
Conservative 48.5% · most votes in 38Liberal / Lib Dem 9.5%Labour 38.5% · most votes in 15Other 3.6%
53
seats · turnout 71.0%
West Midlands
Conservative 35.8% · most votes in 15Liberal / Lib Dem 7.7%Labour 51.2% · most votes in 34Other 5.4% · most votes in 1
50
seats · turnout 71.9%
South West
Conservative 38.7% · most votes in 22Liberal / Lib Dem 16.6% · most votes in 2Labour 38.3% · most votes in 15Other 6.4% · most votes in 4
43
seats · turnout 73.4%
East Midlands
Conservative 33.4% · most votes in 8Liberal / Lib Dem 7.9%Labour 52.3% · most votes in 27Other 6.4% · most votes in 2
37
seats · turnout 76.1%
Wales
Conservative 18.1% · most votes in 3Liberal / Lib Dem 14.9% · most votes in 6Labour 58.6% · most votes in 24Other 8.4% · most votes in 2
35
seats · turnout 75.7%
East of England
Conservative 35.0% · most votes in 8Liberal / Lib Dem 11.4% · most votes in 1Labour 43.2% · most votes in 21Other 10.4% · most votes in 4
34
seats · turnout 71.5%
North East
Conservative 25.7% · most votes in 3Liberal / Lib Dem 5.4%Labour 59.9% · most votes in 27Other 9.0%
30
seats · turnout 76.6%
Northern Ireland
Conservative 51.6% · most votes in 6Other 48.4% · most votes in 3
9
seats · turnout 67.3%
Show all 13 regions
University
Conservative 11.6% · most votes in 1Liberal / Lib Dem 6.1% · most votes in 1Labour 5.4%Other 76.8% · most votes in 5
7
seats · turnout 53.3%
620 of 620 constituencies
Aberdeen North
Labour
69.7%
Aberdeen South
Conservative
46.7%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Central
Conservative
52.3%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Eastern
Conservative
54.9%
Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire Kincardine & Western
Conservative
51.5%
Accrington
Labour
48.7%
Altrincham & Sale
Conservative
55.6%
Anglesey
Liberal / Lib Dem
52.2%
Antrim
Conservative
75.7%
Argyll
Conservative
56.6%
Armagh
Conservative · unopposed
—
Ashton Under Lyne
Labour
56.4%

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.