1950 United Kingdom general election

← 1945 23 February 1950 1951 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All625 seats in theHouse of Commons 313 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	28,771,124 83.9% (11.1pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Clement Attlee Winston Churchill Clement Davies Party Labour Conservative Liberal Leader since 25 October 1935 9 October 1940 2 August 1945 Leader's seat Walthamstow West[a] Woodford Montgomeryshire Last election 393 seats, 49.7% 208 seats, 39.1%[b] 12 seats, 9.0% Seats won 315 298[note 1] 9 Seat change 78 90 3 Popular vote 13,226,176 12,494,404 2,621,487 Percentage 46.1% 43.4% 9.1% Swing 3.6pp 4.3pp 0.1pp
Colours denote the winning party
Composition of theHouse of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election Clement Attlee Labour Prime Minister after election Clement Attlee Labour

Ageneral election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday, 23 February 1950, and was the first after a full term of a majorityLabour government. It was also the first general election after the abolition ofplural voting anduniversity constituencies. The general election saw Labour returned to power, but its majority was dramatically reduced from 146 seats to just 5, with a sizeable swing towards theConservatives, who gained 90 seats.

Another general election was called for the following year, which the Conservative Party won, returningChurchill to power after six years in opposition. Turnout in this general election increased to 83.9%, the highest turnout in a United Kingdom general election underuniversal suffrage,^[1] and represented an increase of 11.1 percentage points from 72.8% turnout in1945.

1950 was also the first general election to be covered on television, although no recording was made of the live broadcast, which was the standard practice at the time.Richard Dimbleby hosted theBBC coverage of the election, which he would later do again for the 1951,1955,1959 and the1964 general elections. On this occasion, Dimbleby was joined in the BBCAlexandra Palace studios byR. B. McCallum, Fellow ofPembroke College, Oxford, and author ofThe British General Election of 1945, andDavid Butler, research student ofNuffield College. The programme ran from 10:45 pm until just after 1:00 am.^[2]

Labour hadgoverned the nation ever since their landslide in1945. During its first term in office, the government introduced several major reforms: aNational Health Service was established, around 20% of the economy was nationalised, a comprehensive system ofsocial security was implemented, and, under theNew Towns Act 1946, development corporations were set up to construct new towns.

Britain was confronted with severe economic challenges: Britain faced a large national debt,^[3] its industries were weakened, and there were many shortages of food and raw materials. As a result, the Labour government continued rationing, and austerity was implemented, relying heavily on American loans and theMarshall Plan. While these measures were enacted to contain inflationary pressures, the British public suffered a fatigue. This prevented the Labour government from implementing some of its ambitious programmes.

Before the general election, major significant changes to the electoral system had occurred, including the abolition ofplural voting by theRepresentation of the People Act 1948, and a major reorganisation of constituencies by theHouse of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949. Eleven new English seats were created and six were abolished, and there were over 170 major alterations to constituencies across the country.

Prime MinisterClement Attlee planned to call a summer general election. However, hisChancellor,Stafford Cripps, refused to present a budget before a general election.^[4] As a result, Attlee was persuaded to call a February general election. Parliament was dissolved on 3 February 1950.^[2]

The Conservatives, having recovered from their landslide election defeat in 1945, accepted the broad framework of thewelfare state andnationalisation that had taken place under theAttlee government, which included theNational Health Service and themixed economy. The Conservative manifesto,This Is The Road, accepted the new welfare state's foundations but criticised what it saw as the loss of freedoms and aspirations under Labour, with Churchill claiming Attlee had not "levelled up" but had actually "levelled down".^[5]

The campaign essentially focused on the possible future nationalisation of other sectors and industries, which was opposed by the Conservatives but supported by Labour. TheLiberals essentially viewed the struggle between the two parties on this issue as aclass struggle.^[6]

The Liberal Party fielded 475 candidates, more than at any general election since1929. Liberal Party leaderClement Davies felt that the party had been at a disadvantage at the 1945 general election when they ran fewer candidates than needed to form a government. Davies arranged for the cost of running extra candidates to be offset by the party taking out insurance withLloyd's of London against more than fifty candidateslosing their deposits.

In the event, the strategy only succeeded in causing a very marginal increase in the overall Liberal vote over the previous election (although it was still their best popular vote percentage since 1929); the number of votes per candidate declined sharply, resulting in them losing a further three seats from their already-disappointing 1945 showing. A total of 319 Liberal candidates lost their deposits, a record number^{[7][page needed]} until the2015 general election, when candidates for theLiberal Democrats lost 335 deposits at thegeneral election held in that year.^[8]

In the end, Labour lost 78 seats and its majority was reduced from 146 seats to just 5 seats. The Conservatives recovered significantly, seeing a resurgence in their support: they gained 90 seats and saw their vote share improve by 4.3 percentage points. With such a slender majority, Attlee had very little room for political manoeuvring, and passing legislation became difficult, with continued austerity and rationing straining Attlee's government from public support. As a result, seeking a better mandate,a general election was called the following year. However, despite winning the most votes (48.8% and 13,948,385 votes), they lost 20 seats, and Churchill was returned to power with a majority of 17 seats.

Analysis showed that Labour suffered huge losses of seats due to a "revolt of the suburbs", with substantial swings against them amongMiddle England voters inLondon, theHome Counties,Essex andMiddlesex. The effects of the Labour government's continued austerity and inflation had a negative effect for middle-income voters, with rationing of basic foods like bread and powdered egg proving incredibly unpopular. While campaigning inLeicester, Attlee was met with "catcalls" and chants of "vermin" whileHugh Gaitskell observed there was "a collection of grievances among the lower middle class and middle class" against Labour.^[5]

The election began the factionalization of the Labour Party into theBevanite andGaitskellite factions. Following the general election,Hugh Gaitskell blamedAneurin Bevan for their party's disappointing performance, which led to a growing rift between the two.^[9]

Prominent personalities entering Parliament in this election includedEdward Heath (Bexley),Jo Grimond (Orkney and Shetland),Enoch Powell(Wolverhampton South West),Reginald Maudling (Barnet) andIain Macleod(Enfield West).

Scottish politicianWillie Gallacher lost hisWest Fife seat to Labour; he was the last MP in Parliament for theCommunist Party of Great Britain.

• List of MPs elected in the 1950 United Kingdom general election
• 1950 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 1950 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 1950 United Kingdom general election in England

Wikimedia Commons has media related to1950 United Kingdom general election.

• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979Archived 30 January 2012 at theWayback Machine

• This is the Road: The Conservative and Unionist Party's Policy, 1950 Conservative Party manifesto
• Let Us Win Through Together: A Declaration of Labour Policy for the Consideration of the Nation, 1950 Labour Party manifesto
• No Easy Way: Britain's Problems and the Liberal Answers, 1950 Liberal Party manifesto

• 1950 United Kingdom general election
• General elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom
• 1950 elections in the United Kingdom
• Austerity in the United Kingdom (1939–1954)
• February 1950 in the United Kingdom
• Electoral history of Winston Churchill
• Clement Attlee

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from May 2014
• Use British English from May 2014
• All Wikipedia articles written in British English
• Pages using infobox election with conflicting parameters
• Wikipedia articles needing page number citations from May 2018
• Pages using bar box without float left or float right
• CS1 errors: ISBN date
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Webarchive template wayback links