October 1974 United Kingdom general election in England

On Thursday 10 October 1974, the October 1974 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 635 members of the House of Commons, with 516 constituencies being in England. It was the second general election held that year.

Quick facts All 516 English seats in the House of Commons, Turnout ...

October 1974 United Kingdom general election in England

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All 516 English seats in the House of Commons
Turnout	72.6% (6.4 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Lib Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath Jeremy Thorpe Party Labour Conservative Liberal Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965 18 January 1967 Leader's seat Huyton Sidcup North Devon Last election 237 seats, 37.7% 268 seats,[a] 40.2% 9 seats, 21.3% Seats won 255 253[a] 8 Seat change 18 15 1 Popular vote 9,695,051 9,414,008 4,878,792 Percentage 40.1% 38.9% 20.2% Swing 2.4 pp 1.3 pp 1.1 pp

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While the Labour Party led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson clinched an overall narrow majority of 3 seats in the House of Commons,^[1] the Labour Party won just two seats over the opposition Conservative Party led by Edward Heath in England. Overall, although Labour gained 18 seats, the party, fell short of winning a majority of seats in England by four seats.^[2]

Both Labour and the Conservatives stood candidates in every seat in England, while the Liberal Party stood 515. Other parties stood a collective 219 candidates.^[3] Notable figures who entered Parliament in English seats included Margaret Beckett in Lincoln and Bryan Gould in Southampton Test for the Labour party.^[4]

This remains the last general election in which a party won an overall majority in the Commons without winning a majority of seats in England. Since this election, the Labour Party has only won more seats in England on four other occasions following this election: 1997, 2001, 2005 and 2024.