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All646 seats to theHouse of Commons 324[n 1] seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Registered | 44,245,939 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 27,148,510 61.4% (  2.0pp) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. * Indicates boundary change – so this is a notional figure ‡ Figure does not include theSpeaker,Michael Martin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Composition of theHouse of Commons after the election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect646 members to theHouse of Commons. The governingLabour Party led byPrime MinisterTony Blair won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader afterHarold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, itsmajority fell to 66 seats; the majority it wonfour years earlier had been of 167 seats. TheUK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and especially in Blair.
This was the first time the Labour Party had won a third consecutive election, but would be the last election victory for Labour until2024. TheLiberal Democrats, led byCharles Kennedy, increased its seat count for a third consecutive election, netting the most seats in its history until 2024 and the most of any of theconnected British Liberal parties since1929. The Labour campaign emphasised a strong economy; however, Blair had suffered a decline in popularity, which was exacerbated by the controversial decision to send British troops toinvade Iraq in 2003. Despite this, Labour mostly retained its leads over theConservatives in opinion polls on economic competence and leadership, andConservative leadersIain Duncan Smith (2001–2003) andMichael Howard (2003–2005) struggled to capitalise on Blair's unpopularity, with the party consistently trailing behind Labour in the polls throughout the 2001–2005 parliament.[2] The Conservatives campaigned on policies such as immigration limits, improving poorly managed hospitals, and reducing high crime rates. The Liberal Democrats took a strong stance against theIraq War, particularly due to the absence of a secondUnited Nations resolution;[3] this anti-war position resonated with disenchanted Labour voters,[4] leading to the Liberal Democrats achieving what was at that point their largest vote share in their history.
Blair won a third term as prime minister, with Labour having 355 MPs, but with a popular vote share of just 35.2%. This was the smallest of any majority government in UK electoral history untilKeir Starmer won an even lower share in 2024. In terms of votes, Labour was only narrowly ahead of the Conservatives, but the party still held a comfortable lead in terms of seats. The Conservatives returned 198 MPs, with 32 more seats than they had won at the previous general election, and won the popular vote inEngland, while still ending up with 91 fewer MPs in England than Labour. The Liberal Democrats saw their share of the popular vote increase by 3.7%, and won the most seats of any third party since1923, with 62 MPs. Anti-war activist and former Labour MPGeorge Galloway was elected as the MP forBethnal Green and Bow under theRespect – The Unity Coalition banner, unseatingOona King;Richard Taylor was re-elected forKidderminster Health Concern inWyre Forest; andindependent candidatePeter Law was elected inBlaenau Gwent.[5]
InNorthern Ireland, theUlster Unionist Party (UUP), the more moderate of the mainunionist parties, which had dominated Northern Irish politics since the 1920s, was reduced from six MPs to one, with party leaderDavid Trimble himself being unseated. The more hardlineDemocratic Unionist Party became the largest Northern Irish party, with nine MPs elected. Apart from Trimble, notable MPs leaving the House of Commons at this election included formerSDLP leaderJohn Hume, former Cabinet ministersEstelle Morris,Paul Boateng,Chris Smith,Gillian Shephard,Virginia Bottomley andMichael Portillo, the Father of the House of CommonsTam Dalyell,Tony Banks and SirTeddy Taylor, whileStephen Twigg lost theEnfield Southgate constituency back to the Conservatives. Notable MPs who joined the House of Commons at this election include future Labour leader andenergy secretaryEd Miliband, futurechancellor of the Exchequer andhealth secretaryJeremy Hunt and futureeducation secretaryMichael Gove.
Following the election, Michael Howardconceded defeat, resigned as Conservative leader and wassucceeded by future prime ministerDavid Cameron. Blair resigned as both prime minister and leader of the Labour Party in June 2007, and was replaced byGordon Brown, the thenChancellor of the Exchequer. The election results were broadcast live on the BBC and presented byPeter Snow,David Dimbleby,Tony King,Jeremy Paxman, andAndrew Marr.
The governingLabour Party, led byTony Blair, was looking to secure a third consecutive term in office and to retain a large majority. TheConservative Party was seeking to regain seats lost to both Labour and theLiberal Democrats since the1992 general election, and move from being theOfficial Opposition into government. The Liberal Democrats hoped to make gains from both main parties, but especially the Conservative Party, with a "decapitation" strategy targeting members of theShadow Cabinet. The Lib Dems had also wished to become the governing party, or to make enough gains to become the Official Opposition, but more realistically hoped to play a major part in a parliament led by a minority Labour or Conservative government. In Northern Ireland theDemocratic Unionist Party sought to make further gains from theUlster Unionist Party inunionist politics, andSinn Féin hoped to overtake theSocial Democratic and Labour Party innationalist politics. (Sinn Féin MPs do not take their seats in theHouse of Commons—they follow a policy ofabstentionism.) The pro-independenceScottish National Party andPlaid Cymru (Party of Wales) stood candidates in every constituency inScotland andWales respectively.
Many seats were contested by other parties, including several parties without incumbents in the House of Commons. Parties that were not represented at Westminster, but had seats in thedevolved assemblies and/or theEuropean Parliament, included theAlliance Party of Northern Ireland, theUK Independence Party, theGreen Party of England and Wales, theScottish Green Party, and theScottish Socialist Party. TheHealth Concern party also stood again. A full list of parties which declared their intention to run can be found on thelist of parties contesting the 2005 general election.
All parties campaigned using such tools as partymanifestos,party political broadcasts and touring the country in what are commonly referred to asbattle buses.
Local elections in parts ofEngland and inNorthern Ireland were held on the same day. The polls were open for fifteen hours, from 07:00 to 22:00BST (UTC+1). The election came just over three weeks after thedissolution of parliament on 11 April by QueenElizabeth II, at the request of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.
Following the death ofPope John Paul II on 2 April, it was announced that the calling of the election would be delayed until 5 April.[6]
Thanks to eight years of sustained economic growth Labour could point to a strong economy, with greater investment in public services such as education and health. This was overshadowed, however, by the issue of the controversial2003 invasion of Iraq, which met widespread public criticism at the time, and would dog Blair throughout the campaign. The Chancellor,Gordon Brown, played a prominent role in the election campaign, frequently appearing with Blair and ensuring that the economy would remain the central focus of Labour's message.
Recently elected Conservative leaderMichael Howard brought a great level of experience and stability to a party that had ousted its former leaderIain Duncan Smith[7] just 18 months prior. The Conservative campaign was managed by Australian strategistLynton Crosby.[8] The campaign focused on more traditional conservative issues like immigration, which created some controversy with the slogan "It's not racist to impose limits on immigration".[9] They also criticised Labour's "dirty" hospitals and high crime levels, under the umbrella of the slogan "Are you thinking what we're thinking?"[10]
However, Labour counter-attacked, by emphasising Howard's role in the unpopularMajor Government of 1992–1997, airing aparty election broadcast attacking Howard, showing a montage of scenes from Howard's tenure asHome Secretary, including prison riots and home repossessions. It also launched a billboard campaign showing Howard, and the Conservative Party's four previous leaders (Iain Duncan Smith,William Hague,John Major andMargaret Thatcher), with the caption "Britain's working, don't let the Tories wreck it again."[11]
For the Liberal Democrats, this was the second and final election campaign fought by leaderCharles Kennedy, who strongly opposed the Iraq War and personally offered a more down-to-earth approach to voters, which proved popular. There were some questions, however, over Kennedy's abilities when, at the Liberal Democrat manifesto launch, he was asked about local income tax, but appeared confused on the figures.[12] Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives were keen to tackle Labour's introduction oftuition fees, which both opposition parties opposed and promised to abolish.[13]
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At the close of voting (2200BST) the ballot boxes were sealed and returned to the counting centres, where counting proceeded under the supervision of thereturning officer who was obliged to declare the result as soon as it was known. As previously, there was serious competition amongst constituencies to be first to declare.Sunderland South repeated its performance in the last three elections and declared Labour incumbentChris Mullin re-elected as MP with a majority of 11,059 at approximately 2245 BST (failing by two minutes to beat its previous best, but making it eligible for entry into theGuinness Book of World Records as longest consecutive delivery of first results). The vote itself represented a swing (in a safe Labour seat, in a safe Labour region) of about 4% to the Conservatives and 4.5% to the Liberal Democrats, somewhat below the prediction of BBC/ITV exit polls published shortly after 2200 BST.
Sunderland North was the next to declare, followed byHoughton and Washington East, both of whose Labour MPs retained their seats but with reductions in the incumbent majorities of up to 9%. The first Scottish seat to declare wasRutherglen and Hamilton West — another safe Labour seat, also a Labour hold, but with the majority reduced by 4%. The first seat to change hands wasPutney, where Labour's majority of 2,771 fell to a strong Conservative challenge, with a total swing of about 5,000 (6.2%). This was also the first seat to be declared for the Conservatives. The first Liberal Democrat seat to be declared wasNorth East Fife, the constituency of Lib Dem deputy leader SirMenzies Campbell which he had held since1987.
The constituency ofCrawley inWest Sussex had the slimmest majority of any seat, with Labour'sLaura Moffatt holding off the Conservatives'Henry Smith by 37 votes after three recounts.
| Opinion polling for UK general elections |
|---|
| 1997 election |
| Opinion polls |
| 2001 election |
| Opinion polls |
| 2005 election |
| Opinion polls |
| 2010 election |
| Opinion polls |
| 2015 election |
| Opinion polls •Leadership approval |
Following problems withexit polls in previous British elections, the BBC and ITV agreed for the first time to pool their respective data, using results from Mori and NOP. More than 20,000 people were interviewed for the poll at 120 polling stations across the country. The predictions were very accurate—initial projections saw Labour returned to power with a majority of 66 (down from 160),[14] and the final result (includingSouth Staffordshire, where the election was postponed due to the death of a candidate) was indeed a Labour majority of 66.
The projected shares of the vote in Great Britain were Labour 35% (down 6% on 2001), Conservatives 33% (up 1%), Liberal Democrats 22% (up 4%) and other parties 8% (up 1%).[14] The Conservatives were expected to make the biggest gains, however — 44 seats according to the exit poll — with the Liberal Democrats expected to take as few as two. While the Lib Dems' vote share predicted by the exit poll was accurate (22.6% compared to the actual 22.0%), they did better in some Lib Dem-Labour marginals than predicted on the basis of the national share of the vote, and achieved a net gain of 11 seats.
There were major boundary changes in Scotland, where the number of seats was reduced from 72 to 59. As a result of this each party lost some seats, and thisnotional election result below is based on the 2001 election results if they had been fought on these new 2005 boundaries.
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | 403 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 62.38 | 40.7 | 10,724,953 | ||
| Conservative | 165 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 25.54 | 31.7 | 8,357,615 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | 51 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 7.89 | 18.3 | 4,814,321 | ||
| SNP | 4 | -1 | 0.62 | 1.8 | 464,314 | ||||
| Other parties | 23 | 3.57 | 7.5 | ||||||
| Party | Labour Party | Conservative Party | Liberal Democrats | UK Independence Party | Scottish National Party | Greens (GPEW+SGP+GPNI) | Democratic Unionist Party |
| Leader | Tony Blair | Michael Howard | Charles Kennedy | Roger Knapman | Alex Salmond | Caroline Lucas (GPEW) | Ian Paisley |
 | .jpg) | .jpg) |  | .jpg) |  |  | |
| Votes | 9,552,376 (35.2%) | 8,785,942 (32.4%) | 5,985,704 (22.0%) | 605,973 (2.2%) | 412,267 (1.5%) | 257,758 (1.0%) | 241,856 (0.9%) |
| Seats | 355 (55.2%) | 198 (30.7%) | 62 (9.6%) | 0 (0.0%) | 6 (0.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | 9 (1.4%) |
At 04:28 BST, it was announced that Labour had wonCorby, giving them 324 seats in the House of Commons out of those then declared and an overall majority, Labour's total reaching 355 seats out of the 646 House of Commons seats. Labour received 35.3% of thepopular vote, equating to approximately 22% of the electorate on a 61.3% turnout, up from 59.4% turnout in 2001.[15]
As expected, voter disenchantment led to an increase of support for many opposition parties, and caused many eligible to vote, not to turn out. Labour achieved a third successive term in office for the first time in their history, though with reduction of the Labour majority from 167 to 67 (as it was before the declaration ofSouth Staffordshire). As it became clear that Labour had won an overall majority,Michael Howard, the leader of the Conservative Party, announced his intention to retire from frontline politics. The final seat to declare was the delayed poll in South Staffordshire, at just after 1 a.m. on Friday 24 June.
The election was followed by further criticism of the UK electoral system. Calls for reform came particularly from Lib Dem supporters, citing that they received only just over 10% of the overall seats with 22.1% of the popular vote. The only parties to win a substantially higher percentage of seats than they achieved in votes were Labour, the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Féin, andHealth Concern, which ran only one candidate. The results of the election give aGallagher index of dis-proportionality of 16.76.
The Labour government claimed that being returned to office for a third term for the first time ever showed the public approval ofLabour's governance and the continued unpopularity of the Conservatives. Nevertheless, Labour's vote declined to 35.3%, the second lowest share of the popular vote to have formed a majority government in the House of Commons. In many areas the collapse in the Labour vote resulted in a host of seats changing hands. Labour also failed to gain any new seats, almost unique in any election since 1945. As well as losing seats to the Tories and the Liberal Democrats, Labour also lostBlaenau Gwent, its safest seat in Wales,[16] to IndependentPeter Law, andBethnal Green and Bow to Respect candidateGeorge Galloway.
The Conservatives claimed that their increased number of seats showed disenchantment with the Labour government and was a precursor of a Conservative breakthrough at the next election. Following three consecutive elections of declining representation and then in 2001 a net gain of just one seat, 2005 was the first general election since their famous1983landslide victory where the number of Conservative seats increased appreciably, although the Conservatives' vote share increased only slightly and this election did mark the third successive general election in which the Conservatives polled below 35%. In some areas the Conservative vote actually fell. The Conservatives claimed to have won the general election in England, since they received more votes than Labour although Labour still won a majority of seats.[17]
The Liberal Democrats claimed that their continued gradual increase in seats and percentage vote showed they were in a position to make further gains from both parties. They pointed in particular to the fact that they were now in second place in roughly one hundred and ninety constituencies and that having had net losses to Labour in the1992 general election and having not taken a single seat off Labour in1997, they had held their gains off Labour from the 2001 general election and had actually made further gains from them. The Liberal Democrats also managed to take three seats from the Conservatives, one notable victory being that ofTim Farron overTim Collins inWestmorland and Lonsdale, through the use of a "decapitation strategy", which targeted senior Tories.[18]
The Liberal Democrats increased their percentage of the vote by 3.7%, the Conservatives by 0.6%, and Labour's dropped by 5.4%.
TheUK media interpreted the results as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and especially in Blair.
Meanwhile, theScottish National Party improved its position in Scotland, regaining theWestern Isles andDundee East from Labour, having lost both seats in 1987.[19] In Wales Plaid Cymru failed to gain any seats and lostCeredigion to the Liberal Democrats. In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionists were all but wiped out, only keepingNorth Down, with leader David Trimble losing his seat inUpper Bann. For the first time the DUP became the biggest party in Northern Ireland.
It was the first general election since1929 in which no party received more than ten million votes. It was the most "three-cornered" election since1923, though the Liberal Democrats failed to match the higher national votes of theSDP–Liberal Alliance in the 1980s either in absolute or percentage terms. The total combined vote for Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats proved to be the lowest main three-party vote since1922.
| Political party | Leader | Candidates | Elected | Seats gained | Seats lost | Net change in seats | % of seats | Number of votes | % of votes | Change in % of vote | Votes per seat won | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Tony Blair | 627[a] | 355[b] | 0 | 47 | –47[c] | 55.2[d] | 9,552,436[e] | 35.2[f] | –5.5[g] | 26,908[h] | |
| Conservative | Michael Howard | 630 | 198 | 36 | 3 | +33 | 30.7 | 8,784,915 | 32.4 | +0.7 | 44,368 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Charles Kennedy | 626 | 62 | 16 | 5 | +11 | 9.6 | 5,985,454 | 22.0 | +3.8 | 96,540 | |
| UKIP | Roger Knapman | 496 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 605,973 | 2.2 | +0.8 | N/A | |
| SNP | Alex Salmond | 59 | 6 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 0.9 | 412,267 | 1.5 | –0.2 | 68,711 | |
| Green | Caroline Lucas andKeith Taylor | 182 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 257,758 | 1.0 | +0.4 | N/A | |
| DUP | Ian Paisley | 18 | 9 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 1.4 | 241,856 | 0.9 | +0.2 | 26,873 | |
| BNP | Nick Griffin | 119 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 192,745 | 0.7 | +0.5 | N/A | |
| Plaid Cymru | Ieuan Wyn Jones | 40 | 3 | 0 | 1 | –1 | 0.5 | 174,838 | 0.6 | –0.1 | 58,279 | |
| Sinn Féin | Gerry Adams | 18 | 5 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0.8 | 174,530 | 0.6 | –0.1 | 34,906 | |
| UUP | David Trimble | 18 | 1 | 0 | 5 | –5 | 0.2 | 127,414 | 0.5 | –0.3 | 127,414 | |
| SDLP | Mark Durkan | 18 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 125,626 | 0.5 | –0.1 | 41,875 | |
| Independent | N/A | 180 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0.2 | 122,416 | 0.5 | +0.1 | 122,416 | |
| Respect | Linda Smith | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0.2 | 68,094 | 0.3 | N/A | 68,094 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Colin Fox | 58 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 43,514 | 0.2 | –0.1 | N/A | |
| Veritas | Robert Kilroy-Silk | 65 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 40,607 | 0.1 | N/A | N/A | |
| Alliance | David Ford | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 28,291 | 0.1 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Green | Shiona Baird andRobin Harper | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 25,760 | 0.1 | +0.1 | N/A | |
| Socialist Labour | Arthur Scargill | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 20,167 | 0.1 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Liberal | Michael Meadowcroft | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 19,068 | 0.1 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Health Concern | Richard Taylor | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 18,739 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 18,739 | |
| Speaker | N/A | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 15,153 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 15,153 | |
| English Democrat | Robin Tilbrook | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 15,149 | 0.1 | N/A | N/A | |
| Socialist Alternative | Peter Taaffe | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 9,398 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| National Front | Tom Holmes | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 8,079 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Legalise Cannabis | Alun Buffry | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 6,950 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Monster Raving Loony | Howling Laud Hope | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 6,311 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Community Action | Peter Franzen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5,984 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Christian Vote | George Hargreaves | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,004 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Mebyon Kernow | Dick Cole | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,552 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Forward Wales | John Marek | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,461 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| CPA | Alan Craig | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,291 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Rainbow Dream Ticket | Rainbow George Weiss | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,463 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Community Group | Martin Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,365 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Ashfield Independents | Roy Adkins | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,292 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Alliance for Green Socialism | Mike Davies | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,978 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Residents Association of London | Malvin Brown | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,850 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Workers' Party | Seán Garland | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,669 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Socialist Environmental | Goretti Horgan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,649 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Scottish Unionist | Daniel Houston | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,266 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Workers Revolutionary | Sheila Torrance | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,241 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| New England | Michael Tibby | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,224 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Communist | Robert Griffiths | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,124 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
| Community Group | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,118 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | ||
| Peace and Progress | Chris Cooper | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,036 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Scottish Senior Citizens | John Swinburne | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,017 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Your Party | Daniel Thompson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,006 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| SOS! Northampton | Yvonne Dale | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 932 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Ind. Working Class | None | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 892 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Democratic Labour | Brian Powell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 770 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| British Public Party | Kashif Rana | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 763 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Free Scotland Party | Brian Nugent | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 743 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Pensioners Party Scotland | George Rodger | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 716 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Publican Party | Kit Fraser and Don Lawson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 678 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| English Independence Party | Andrew Constantine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 654 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Socialist Unity | None | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 581 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Local Community Party | Jack Crossfield | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 570 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Clause 28 | David Braid | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 516 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| UK Community Issues Party | Michael Osman | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 502 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
| Total | 646 | Turnout | 27,148,510 | 61.4 | 42,026 | |||||||
The figure of 355 seats for Labour does not include the SpeakerMichael Martin. See also thelist of parties standing in Northern Ireland.
| Government's new majority | 66 |
|---|
| Labour | 35.2% | |||
| Conservative | 32.4% | |||
| Liberal Democrat | 22.1% | |||
| UK Independence | 2.2% | |||
| Scottish National | 1.5% | |||
| Green | 1.0% | |||
| Others | 5.7% | |||
| Labour | 55.1% | |||
| Conservative | 30.7% | |||
| Liberal Democrat | 9.6% | |||
| Democratic Unionist | 1.4% | |||
| Scottish National | 0.9% | |||
| Sinn Féin | 0.8% | |||
| Others | 1.6% | |||
Labour to Conservative (31)
Labour to Liberal Democrat (11)
Liberal Democrat to Conservative (5)
Conservative to Liberal Democrat (3)
Labour to SNP (2)
UUP to DUP (2)
Labour to Independent (1)
Liberal Democrat to Labour (1)
PC to Liberal Democrat (1)
UUP to SDLP (1)
Labour to Respect (1)
SDLP to Sinn Féin (1)
Following the election, Labour remained in power withTony Blair remaining as Prime Minister. The morning after the election, Blair travelled toBuckingham Palace to informThe Queen of the election result and to receive permission toform a government, consequently beginning his third term as prime minister. Blairreshuffled hisCabinet and junior ministers over the following weekend, with formal announcements made on 9 May 2005. The most senior positions ofChancellor,Home Secretary andForeign Secretary remained the same (Gordon Brown,Charles Clarke andJack Straw respectively), but a few new faces were added. Most notably,David Blunkett returned to cabinet as theWork and Pensions Secretary, although he was forced to resign again due to another scandal before the end of the year that spawned a national press and opposition campaign for his dismissal.[22]Patricia Hewitt became the newHealth Secretary,Tessa Jowell remained asCulture Secretary, whilstAlan Johnson was promoted toTrade and Industry Secretary. Meanwhile,Ruth Kelly retained theEducation job andMargaret Beckett stayed put atEnvironment.
The new Parliament met on 11 May for the election of theSpeaker of the House of Commons.
On 6 May,Michael Howard announced he would be standing down as leader of the Conservative Party, but not before a review of the leadership rules. The formalleadership election began in October, and was ultimately won byDavid Cameron. On 7 May,David Trimble resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party; SirReg Empey waselected as his successor at an Ulster Unionist Council meeting on 24 June.
Blair's successor as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown (who came to office on 27 June 2007), visitedBuckingham Palace on 6 April 2010 and asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament on 12 April. Thenext election was held on 6 May 2010.[23]
Media related to2005 United Kingdom general election at Wikimedia Commons
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