2005 United Kingdom general election in England

The 2005 United Kingdom general election in England took place on 5 May 2005 for 529 English seats in the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won an overall majority of seats for the third successive election.

2005 United Kingdom general election in England
5 May 2005 (2005-05-05)
All 529 English seats to the House of Commons
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Tony Blair Michael Howard Charles Kennedy
Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats
Leader since 21 July 1994 6 November 2003 9 August 1999
Last election 323 seats, 41.4% 165 seats, 35.2% 40 seats, 19.4%
Seats won 286 194 47
Seat change 37 29 7
Popular vote 8,043,461 8,116,005 5,201,286
Percentage 35.4% 35.7% 22.9%
Swing 6.0% 0.5% 3.6%
Main article: 2005 United Kingdom general election

Within England, the Conservative Party received 72,544 more votes than the Labour Party, but Labour won an overall majority of English seats.[1][2] The Liberal Democrats made modest gains, finishing with 23% of the vote and 47 seats. The only other parties to win seats were the Respect Party, who gained Bethnal Green and Bow from Labour, and Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, who won Wyre Forest for the second election in a row.

Results table

Below is a table summarising the results of the 2005 general election in England.

Party[3] Seats Votes
TotalGainsLosses Net +/- % seats Total votes % votes Change
Labour 286 0 37 37 54.1 8,043,461 35.4 6.0
Conservative 194 32 3 29 36.7 8,116,005 35.7 0.5
Liberal Democrats 47 12 5 7 8.9 5,201,286 22.9 3.6
Respect 1 1 0 1 0.2 67,422 0.3 0.3
Health Concern 1 0 0 0.2 18,739 0.1
UKIP 0 0 0 0.0 592,417 2.6 0.9
Green 0 0 0 0.0 251,051 1.1 0.4
BNP 0 0 0 0.0 189,570 0.8 0.6
Veritas 0 0 0 0.0 39,044 0.2 N/A
Liberal 0 0 0 0.0 17,547 0.1
Others 0 0 0 0.0 177,343 0.8 N/A
22,713,855 61.0 1.9
Popular vote
Conservative
 
 35.7%
Labour
 
 35.4%
Liberal Democrats
 
 22.9%
UKIP
 
 2.6%
Greens
 
 1.1%
Other
 
 2.3%
Parliament seats
Labour
 
 54.1%
Conservative
 
 36.7%
Liberal Democrats
 
 8.9%
Respect
 
 0.2%
ICHC
 
 0.2%

Regional results

Regional vote shares and changes are sourced from the BBC.

East Midlands
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Conservative 19 - +4.1
Labour 26 -9.2
Liberal Democrats 1 -
UKIP - - - − 72,659 3.3 +0.6
BNP - - - - 69,706 3.1 +2.6
  Others - - - - 41,044 1.8 —
Total 46 Turnout 2,224,143 66.5

East of England
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Conservative 52 10 - +10 1,356,739 47.1 + 3.8
Liberal Democrats 4 1 - +1 692,932 24.1 +2.2
Labour 2 - 11 -11 564,581 19.6 -10.2
UKIP - - - − 123,237 4.3 +1.1
  Others - - - - 141,638 4.9 —
Total 58 Turnout 2,879,117 67.3

London
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Labour 38 1 7 -6 1,245,637 36.6 -2.3
Conservative 28 7 - +7 1,174,568 34.5 +2.6
Liberal Democrats 7 1 1 - 751,561 22.1 +0.2
UKIP - - - − 59,452 1.7 +0.3
Green - - - − 54,316 1.6 -1.1
BNP - - - − 52,095 1.5 +0.9
Respect - - 1 -1 17,368 0.5 -0.9
  Others - - - - 46,320 1.3 —
Total 73 Turnout 3,401,317 64.6

North East
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Labour 25 - 2 -2 518,261 43.6 -9.3
Conservative 2 1 - +1 282,347 23.7 +4.2
Liberal Democrats 2 1 - +1 280,468 23.6 +0.2
BNP - - - − 51,940 4.4 +3.5
  Others - - - - 56,907 4.7 —
Total 29 Turnout 1,189,923 60.9

North West
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Labour 47 - 13 -13 1,292,978 39.5 -5.6
Conservative 22 12 - +12 1,038,967 31.7 +3.0
Liberal Democrats 6 1 - +1 707,770 21.6 +0.2
UKIP - - - − 103,782 3.2 +1.2
  Others - - - - 132,733 4.0 —
Total 75 Turnout 3,276,230 63.6

South East
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Conservative 75 15 1 +14 2,140,895 49.9 +4.9
Liberal Democrats 4 1 3 -2 1,124,786 26.2 +0.8
Labour 4 - 13 -13 697,567 16.2 -8.1
Green 1 1 - 1 62,124 1.4 +0.1
UKIP - - - - 177,269 4.1 +1.0
  Others - - - - 91,599 2.2 —
Total 84 Turnout 4,294,240 68.0

South West
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Conservative 36 12 1 +11 1,187,637 42.8 +4.2
Liberal Democrats 15 1 4 -3 962,954 34.7 +2.2
Labour 4 - 8 -8 426,910 15.4 -7.4
UKIP - - - - 123,975 4.5 +0.7
  Others - - - - 71,967 2.6 —
Total 55 Turnout 2,773,443 69.1

West Midlands
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Conservative 33 16 1 +15 1,044,081 39.5 +4.5
Labour 24 - 14 -14 808,114 30.6 -8.9
Liberal Democrats 2 1 1 - 540,160 20.5 +1.9
UKIP - - - − 105,685 4.0 +0.8
BNP - - - - 73,394 2.8 +1.0
Health Concern - - 1 -1 16,150 0.6 -0.2
  Others - - - - 52,881 2.1 —
Total 59 Turnout 2,640,465 64.6

Yorkshire and Humber
Party Seats Votes
Total Gained Lost Net Total % Change (%)
Labour 32 - 9 -9 821,368 34.7 -9.3
Conservative 18 10 - +10 769,895 32.5 +3.9
Liberal Democrats 3 1 2 -1 543,684 23.0 +2.2
BNP - - - - 104,177 4.4 +1.6
  Others - - - - 129,153 5.4 —
Total 53 Turnout 2,368,277 63.2

Analysis

The total Labour vote in England declined by 6% and by varying amounts in every English Region, but with sharp variations locally. For example, in Bethnal Green and Bow, London, former Labour MP George Galloway, running as a candidate for the anti-war Respect, defeated Oona King (Labour) who in the previous General Election had a majority of 10,057. Labour polled 70,000 fewer votes in England than the Conservatives, but won ninety-two more seats.[3] Labour regained one of its by-election losses, Leicester South, but saw an increased Liberal Democrat majority in the other, Brent East. Overall, Labour lost 37 English MPs compared to 2001.

The Conservatives made gains in most regions of England, though their vote declined in some areas, notably the East Midlands and Yorkshire (2% and 1.5% declines, respectively). However, even in regions where the Conservative vote declined, the Labour vote declined by a greater margin, allowing the Conservatives to make gains against Labour. Overall, the Conservatives gained 0.5% of the vote in England compared to 2001, and gained 29 seats. In Enfield Southgate, Conservative David Burrowes ousted Labour Stephen Twigg, who had famously defeated Michael Portillo for that seat in the 1997 elections.

The Liberal Democrats made modest gains in all regions of England, improving by at least 1% in every region. The party made a net gain of 7 seats, winning a total of 47, the best result for the Liberal Democrats or Liberals in England since 1923.

Former BBC presenter, Robert Kilroy-Silk, who had joined the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) before leaving to set up Veritas, came fourth in Erewash in what was the best performance by Veritas, receiving 2,957 votes. The seat was won by Labour's Liz Blackman.

There were regional surges in support for the British National Party, who however failed to win any seats, their highest poll being 16.9% in the Labour stronghold of Barking, East London. The party fielded 119 candidates in seats throughout the country, gaining 0.7% of the total votes cast. The 119 candidates fielded represented a significant rise as in 2001, the BNP only fielded 33 candidates.

The Green Party came third in Brighton Pavilion (with Keith Taylor as candidate) behind Labour and the Conservatives, taking 21.9% of the votes cast. Despite this unprecedented high share of the vote Taylor was not selected to contest the seat in the 2010 general election, losing his prospective position to Caroline Lucas.

The English Democrats gained their highest percentage of the vote in Greenwich and Woolwich, winning 3.4% of votes cast.

The Independent Working Class Association stood for the first time in a general election, having previously only stood in local council elections. The party gained 2.1% of the vote in Oxford East.

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See also

References
  1. Sparrow, Andrew (6 May 2005). "Tories won more votes in England than Labour". www.telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
  2. Agrawal, Manoj (2015). Electoral Reforms: A Step Towards Good Governance. India: Prabhat Prakashan. p. 32. ISBN 978-93-5186-426-4. The growth in support for PR has stemmed largely from recent concerns about the First Past the Post system. [...] In [the 2005] election, popular vote actually saw the Conservatives getting more support than Labour. The vote share of Conservatives was 35.7% and that of Labour Party was 35.4%.
  3. "Election 2005 - Results, England". BBC News. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
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