The election was often referred to as the "Flapper Election", because it was the first in which women aged 21–29 had the right to vote (owing to theRepresentation of the People Act 1928). Women over 30, with some property qualifications, had been able to vote since the1918 general election, but the 1929 vote was the first general election withuniversal suffrage for adults over 21, which was then theage of majority.
The election was fought against a background of risingunemployment, with the memory of the1926 general strike still fresh in voters' minds. By 1929, theCabinet was being described by many as "old and exhausted".[2]
The Liberals campaigned on a comprehensive programme of public works under the title "We Can Conquer Unemployment". There was anticipation of a potential revival of the Liberal Party after the reunification ofIndependent Liberals andNational Liberals now under Lloyd George's leadership since 1926 and following some victories in a series of recent by-elections after 1926.[3] The incumbent Conservatives campaigned on the theme of "Safety First", with Labour campaigning on the theme of "Labour & the Nation".
This was the first general election to be contested by the newly formed Welsh nationalist partyPlaid Cymru.
It stood as the last time when a third party polled more than one-fifth of the popular vote until1983. The Liberals performed more successfully than at the previous general election in 1924, but could not regain their pre-World War I status as a party of government.[3]
In some cases, the change is due to the MP's having defected to the gaining party, and then retaining the seat in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
In other circumstances, the change is due to the seat's having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a †.
Howell, David (2002),MacDonald's Party: Labour Identities and Crisis, 1922–1939, Oxford
Redvaldsen, David (2010), "'Today is the Dawn': The Labour Party and the 1929 General Election",Parliamentary History,29 (3):395–415,doi:10.1111/j.1750-0206.2010.00213.x
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