February 1974 General Election

The Who governs? election

28 February 1974 · Crisis and Thatcherism · 635 seats, 318 for a majority

Heath called a snap election on 'Who governs Britain?' during the miners' strike and three-day week; the country answered ambiguously. The first hung parliament since 1929 ended with Wilson governing in minority after coalition talks failed.

Prime Minister before

Edward Heath

Conservative

Prime Minister after

Harold Wilson

Labour

Government formed

Labour

no overall majority

Turnout

78.8%

electorate 40,255,611

The result

Labour
Harold Wilson · 37.2%
301
seats
Conservative
Edward Heath · 37.9%
297
seats
Liberal
Jeremy Thorpe · 19.3%
14
seats

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

Turnout by nation

England

79.0%

Wales

80.0%

Scotland

79.0%

N. Ireland

69.9%

United Kingdom

78.8%

The result by constituency

All 635 constituencies on the 1974-1979 boundaries, from the House of Commons Library dataset. Search, filter by country or region, and click any column heading to sort.

Highest turnout

91.2%

Aylesbury, South East

Lowest turnout

58.5%

Liverpool Scotland Exchange, North West

Biggest single-party share

83.0%

Labour, Hemsworth

Tightest main-family margin

0.0 pts

Ipswich, East of England

London
Conservative 37.6% · most votes in 42Liberal / Lib Dem 20.8%Labour 40.4% · most votes in 50Other 1.2%
92
seats · turnout 74.9%
North West
Conservative 37.5% · most votes in 28Liberal / Lib Dem 19.3% · most votes in 2Labour 41.5% · most votes in 51Other 1.7% · most votes in 1
82
seats · turnout 78.2%
South East
Conservative 46.9% · most votes in 66Liberal / Lib Dem 27.6% · most votes in 1Labour 25.1% · most votes in 5Other 0.4%
72
seats · turnout 81.2%
Scotland
Conservative 32.9% · most votes in 21Liberal / Lib Dem 7.9% · most votes in 3Labour 36.7% · most votes in 40SNP / Plaid Cymru 21.9% · most votes in 7Other 0.6%
71
seats · turnout 78.9%
West Midlands
Conservative 40.8% · most votes in 23Liberal / Lib Dem 14.9%Labour 43.1% · most votes in 33Other 1.1%
56
seats · turnout 77.7%
Yorkshire and the Humber
Conservative 35.0% · most votes in 15Liberal / Lib Dem 19.3% · most votes in 1Labour 45.1% · most votes in 38Other 0.6%
54
seats · turnout 78.9%
East of England
Conservative 41.2% · most votes in 35Liberal / Lib Dem 25.5% · most votes in 1Labour 33.1% · most votes in 9Other 0.2%
45
seats · turnout 82.6%
South West
Conservative 43.5% · most votes in 34Liberal / Lib Dem 29.5% · most votes in 3Labour 26.6% · most votes in 7Other 0.3%
44
seats · turnout 82.0%
East Midlands
Conservative 40.9% · most votes in 20Liberal / Lib Dem 17.1%Labour 40.3% · most votes in 19Other 1.7% · most votes in 1
40
seats · turnout 80.6%
Wales
Conservative 25.9% · most votes in 8Liberal / Lib Dem 16.0% · most votes in 2Labour 46.8% · most votes in 24SNP / Plaid Cymru 10.8% · most votes in 2Other 0.6%
36
seats · turnout 80.0%
North East
Conservative 33.4% · most votes in 4Liberal / Lib Dem 12.4% · most votes in 1Labour 52.4% · most votes in 25Other 1.8% · most votes in 1
31
seats · turnout 77.0%
Northern Ireland
Other 100.0% · most votes in 12
12
seats · turnout 69.9%
635 of 635 constituencies
Aberavon
Labour
65.0%
Aberdare
Labour
60.0%
Aberdeen North
Labour
48.0%
Aberdeen South
Conservative
40.0%
Aberdeenshire East
SNP / Plaid Cymru
51.0%
Aberdeenshire West
Conservative
39.0%
Abertillery
Labour
70.0%
Abingdon
Conservative
47.0%
Accrington
Labour
47.0%
Acton
Conservative
43.0%
Aldershot
Conservative
45.0%
Aldridge-Brownhills
Labour
39.0%

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.