The map above shows the results of the February 1974 UK General Election. The number of seats won out of 635 by the major parties (and % vote share) were as follows:
Labour: 301. Leader and Prime Minister: Harold Wilson.
Conservatives: 297. Leader: Edward Heath.
Liberal: 14. Leader: Jeremy Thorpe.
SNP: 7. Leader: Willie Wolfe.
Notable things about the February 1974 election include:
- The Conservatives actually won the plurality of the popular vote – winning 11,872,180 votes to Labour’s 11,645,616 – but Labour won the most seats.
- This was known as the “crisis election” as it took place against the backdrop of the three day week, the 1973 oil crisis, major mining strikes and inflation at 20%.
- The Queen was in New Zealand when the election was called, so rather than visit the palace to dissolve Parliament, instead Heath sent the Queen a telegram.
- The government would barely last six months, with the country returning to the polls in October of the same year.
Other UK Elections:
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