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All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326[n 1] seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Registered | 46,836,533 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 68.8% ( 2.4 pp)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015; it was the first since 1992 to be held on a day that did not coincide with any local elections.[2] It resulted in the incumbent Conservative Party receiving a landslide victory and majority of 138 seats.[n 3] The Conservatives made a net gain of 101 seats and won 48.6% of the popular vote, which was the highest percentage for any party since the 1959 United Kingdom general election.[4]
The Conservative Party, which had governed as a senior coalition partner from 2010 and as a single-party majority government from 2015, was led by Theresa May as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. It was defending a working majority of 17 seats against the Labour Party, the official opposition led by Jeremy Corbyn. It was the first general election to be contested by either May or Corbyn as party leader; May had succeeded David Cameron following his resignation as prime minister the previous summer, while Corbyn had succeeded Ed Miliband after he resigned following Labour's failure to win the general election two years earlier.
Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 an election had not been due until May 2020, but Prime Minister May's call for a snap election was ratified by the necessary two-thirds vote in the House of Commons on 19 April 2017. May said that she hoped to secure a larger majority to "strengthen [her] hand" in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.[5]
The Conservatives won 431 seats, their highest number and proportion of seats since 1931, and recorded their highest share of the popular vote since 1959; many of their gains were made in long-held Labour seats, dubbed the red wall, which had registered a strong Leave vote in the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum. Labour won 154 seats, its lowest number and proportion of seats since 1931.[6][7][8] The Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats, the third- and fourth-largest parties, both had lackluster campaigns, which produced disappointing results. The SNP, which had won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at the previous general election in 2015, lost 26. The Liberal Democrats made a net gain of twoseats. UKIP, the third-largest party in 2015 by number of votes, saw its share of the vote reduced from 12.6% to 6.7% and lost its only seat.
In Wales, Plaid Cymru gained one seat, giving it a total of four seats. The Green Party gained a single seat, Bristol West, but its share of the vote declined. In Northern Ireland, the DUP won 10 seats, Sinn Féin won seven, and Independent Unionist Sylvia Hermon retained her seat. The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) and Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) lost all their seats.
Negotiation positions following the UK's invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union in March 2017 to leave the EU were expected to feature significantly in the campaign, but did not as domestic issues took precedence instead. The campaign was interrupted by two major terrorist attacks: Manchester and London Bridge; thus, national security became a prominent issue in its final weeks.
The election result gave May the mandate she sought from the electorate to formally implement the Exit Day of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019 and repeal the European Communities Act 1972, thereby ending hopes of the Remain movement and those opposed to Brexit. Labour's defeat led to Jeremy Corbyn conceding defeat and announcing his intention to resign, triggering a leadership election that was won by Yvette Cooper.[8][9] For the Liberal Democrats leader Tim Farron, the loss of his constituency seat in Westmorland and Lonsdale disqualified him as party leader under the party's rules, triggering a leadership election,[10] which was won by Norman Lamb.[11]
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Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
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Conservative | James Airey | 23,686 | 45.8 | +12.6 | |
Liberal Democrats | Tim Farron | 22,909 | 44.3 | ―7.2 | |
Labour | Eli Aldridge | 4,783 | 9.3 | +3.8 | |
Independent | Mr Fishfinger | 309 | 0.6 | N/A | |
Majority | 777 | 1.5 | ―16.8 | ||
Turnout | 51,687 | 77.9 | +3.6 | ||
Conservative gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | +11.4 |
Cite error: There are <ref group=n>
tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=n}}
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- ^ "General Election 2017: full results and analysis". UK Parliament (second ed.). 29 January 2019. Retrieved 6 April 2022.
- ^ Boyle, Danny; Maidment, Jack (18 April 2017). "Theresa May announces snap general election on June 8 to 'make a success of Brexit'". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 25 February 2018.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
working
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Election results 2019: Boris Johnson hails 'new dawn' after historic victory". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ McAuley, James (9 June 2017). "After shocking British vote result, Europe ponders fate of Brexit negotiations". The Washington Post. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
- ^ "Results". BBC News. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ "Share of votes in general elections in the United Kingdom from 1918 to 2017, by political party". Statista. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ a b "Jeremy Corbyn: 'I will not lead Labour at next election'". BBC News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ "Labour leadership winner: Sir Keir Starmer". BBC News. 4 April 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Swinson Defeat
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Sir Ed Davey wins Liberal Democrat leadership race". BBC News. 27 August 2020. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ "UK Parliamentary election: Westmorland & Lonsdale constituency - Statement of Persons Nominated and Notice of Poll" (PDF). South Lakeland District Council. 11 May 2017. Retrieved 8 June 2017.