October 1974 United Kingdom general election

← Feb 1974 10 October 1974 1979 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All635 seats in theHouse of Commons 318 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	29,189,104 72.8% (6.0pp)
First party Second party   Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath Party Labour Conservative Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965 Leader's seat Huyton Sidcup Last election 301 seats, 37.2% 297 seats, 37.9% Seats won 319 277[note 1] Seat change 18 20 Popular vote 11,457,079 10,462,565 Percentage 39.2% 35.8% Swing 2.0pp 2.1pp   Third party Fourth party   Lib SNP Leader Jeremy Thorpe William Wolfe Party Liberal SNP Leader since 18 January 1967 1 June 1969 Leader's seat North Devon None (ContestedWest Lothian) Last election 14 seats, 19.3% 7 seats, 2.0% Seats won 13 11 Seat change 1 4 Popular vote 5,346,704 839,617 Percentage 18.3% 2.9% Swing 1.0pp 0.9pp
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in§ Results
Composition of theHouse of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election Harold Wilson Labour Prime Minister after election Harold Wilson Labour

TheOctober 1974 United Kingdom general election took place on Thursday 10 October 1974 toelect 635 members of theHouse of Commons. It was the second general election held that year; the first year in which two general elections had been held in the same year since1910; and the first time that two general elections had been held less than a year apart from each other since the1923 and1924 elections, which took place 10 months apart.

The election resulted in a narrow victory for theLabour Party, led by Prime MinisterHarold Wilson, which won a wafer-thin majority of three seats, the narrowest in modern British history. It was to remain the last general election victory for the Labour Party until1997, with the Conservative Party winning majorities in the next four general elections. It would also be the last time Labour won more seats at a national election than the Conservatives until the1989 European Parliament election. This remains the most recent General Election that Labour made net gains in seats whilst in government.

The narrowness of the majority meant that theLabour government saw a gradual loss of its majority by 1977 through a series ofby-election losses and defections, thus requiring deals with the Liberals, the Ulster Unionists, the Scottish Nationalists and theWelsh Nationalists. It led to the eventual defeat of the government in a no-confidence motion in March 1979, six months before the mandatory dissolution of Parliament was set to take place.

This election was held just seven months after the previous general election, held inFebruary 1974, had led to ahung parliament, with Labour winning 301 seats and the Conservatives left with 297. Following the inconclusive nature of coalition talks between theConservatives and other parties such as theLiberals and theUlster Unionists, the Labour Leader Harold Wilson went on to form aminority government.

The October campaign was not as vigorous or exciting as the one in February. Despite continuing highinflation, Labour boasted that it had ended the miners' strike, which had dogged Heath's premiership, and had returned some stability. The Conservative Party, led by Leader of the Opposition and former Prime MinisterEdward Heath, released a manifesto promoting national unity, but its chances of forming a government were hindered by the Ulster Unionist Party refusing to take the Conservativewhip at Westminster in response to theSunningdale Agreement of 1973.

Both the Conservatives and the Liberals saw their vote share decline, and Heath, who had lost three of the four elections that he contested, was ousted as Conservative leader in February 1975 and replaced with future Prime MinisterMargaret Thatcher. TheScottish National Party won 30% of the Scottish popular vote and 11 of Scotland's 71 seats in the party's most successful general election result until2015.

The election was broadcast live on the BBC and was presented byDavid Butler,Alastair Burnet,Robert McKenzie,Robin Day andSue Lawley.^[1]

Since Jeremy Thorpe's death in December 2014, this is the latest election where all the three major party leaders are deceased.

The brief period between the elections gave Wilson the opportunity to demonstrate reasonable progress. Despite high inflation and highbalance-of-trade deficits, the miners' strike, which had dogged Heath was over, and some stability had been restored. After the February election, Heath had remained largely out of the public eye.^{[citation needed]}

As was expected, the campaign was not as exciting as the one in February, and overall coverage by broadcasters was significantly scaled back. The Conservatives campaigned on a manifesto of national unity in response to the mood of the public. Labour campaigned on its recent successes in government, and although the party was divided over Europe, the party's strengths outweighed that of Heath, who knew that his future relied on an election victory.Devolution was a key issue for the Liberals and the Scottish National Party, and it was now one that the two main parties also felt the need to address. The Liberals did not issue a new manifesto but simply reissued the one they had created for the last election.^[2][3]

Prime MinisterHarold Wilson's decision to call a general election on 10 October was reported in the newspapers that were dated back to 9 September. The announcement was made through a ministerial broadcast on television on 18 September to announce that the election would be held on 10 October, less than eight months since the previous election. The key dates were as follows:

Labour achieved a swing of 2% against the Conservatives. It was the first time since1922 that a government had won an overall majority with less than 40% of the vote, albeit a majority of only three seats. The Conservatives won just under 36% of the vote, their worst share since1918. A slight drop in the Liberals' vote saw them suffer a net loss of one seat. In Scotland, the Scottish National Party added another 4 seats to their successes in the previous election and became the fourth-largest party.

Turnout was 72.8%, which was a significant decline on the February election's 78.8% turnout.

• Labour government, 1974–1979
• List of MPs elected in the October 1974 United Kingdom general election
• October 1974 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• October 1974 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• October 1974 United Kingdom general election in England

• Butler, David E.; et al. (1975),The British General Election of October 1974, the standard scholarly study
• Craig, F. W. S. (1989),British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower,ISBN 0900178302

• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979

• Putting Britain First, October 1974 Conservative Party manifesto
• Britain Will Win With Labour, October 1974 Labour Party manifesto
• Why Britain Needs Liberal Government, October 1974 Liberal Party manifesto

• October 1974 United Kingdom general election
• General elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom
• 1974 elections in the United Kingdom
• October 1974 in the United Kingdom
• Harold Wilson
• Edward Heath
• History of the Labour Party (UK)

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