2015 United Kingdom general election in England

The 2015 United Kingdom general election in England was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 for 533 English seats to the House of Commons. The Conservatives won a majority of seats in England for the second time since 1992.

2015 United Kingdom general election in England

7 May 2015 (2015-05-07)
All 533 English seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader David Cameron Ed Miliband Nick Clegg Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Leader since 6 December 2005 25 September 2010 18 December 2007 Leader's seat Witney Doncaster North Sheffield Hallam Last election 297 seats, 39.5% 191 seats, 28.1% 43 seats, 24.2% Seats won 318* 206 6 Seat change 21 15 37 Popular vote 10,483,261 8,087,706 2,098,430 Percentage 40.9% 31.6% 8.2% Swing 1.4% 3.6% 16.0%
A map of English parliamentary constituencies *Seat figure does not include the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, who was included in the Conservative seat total by some media outlets.

Main article: 2015 United Kingdom general election

Both major parties made gains at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, whose support collapsed to its lowest level since 1970. Their vote share declined by 16 percentage points, and the party lost 37 of its 43 seats. The party won 6 seats and 8% of the vote overall. This was the worst result for the Lib Dems or the Liberals in 45 years, while the 16-point drop in vote share was the biggest decline in Lib Dem or Liberal support since 1931.

Although Labour increased their share of the vote by 4% and gained 15 seats, the Conservatives made 21 gains for a total of 318, including winning 6 seats directly from Labour. Together with seats from Scotland and Wales, this allowed the Conservatives to form a majority government with 330 seats, leading to the first majority Conservative government since 1992.

Political context

The general election was fought with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats having been in coalition since 2010, with Labour being the main opposition, though with the Conservatives holding the majority of English seats. It was also fought following the victory of the UK Independence Party at the European Parliament Elections and in two by-elections the year before, along with George Galloway of the Respect Party having won the 2012 Bradford West by-election from Labour.

Results summary

Party[1]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Conservative	318	32	11	21	59.7	10,483,261	40.9	1.4
	Labour	206	21	6	15	38.6	8,087,684	31.6	3.6
	UKIP	1	1	0	1	0.2	3,611,367	14.1	10.7
	Liberal Democrats	6	0	37	37	1.1	2,098,404	8.2	16.0
	Green	1	0	0		0.2	1,073,242	4.2	3.2
	Speaker	1	0	0		0.2	34,617	0.1
	TUSC	0	0	0		—	32,868	0.1	0.1
	National Health Action	0	0	0		—	20,210	0.1	N/A
	Respect	0	0	0		—	9,989	0.0	0.1
	Yorkshire First	0	0	0		—	6,811	0.0	N/A
	English Democrat	0	0	0		—	6,431	0.0	0.2
	CISTA	0	0	0		—	4,569	0.0	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	0	0	0		—	3,432	0.0
	Christian Peoples Alliance	0	0	0		—	3,260	0.0
	BNP	0	0	0		—	1,667	0.0	2.1
	Class War	0	0	0		—	526	0.0	N/A
	Other parties	0	0	0		—	127,133	0.5	0.2
							25,571,204	65.9	0.4

Popular vote Conservative   40.9% Labour   31.6% UKIP   14.1% Liberal Democrats   8.2% Greens   4.2% Other   0.9%

Parliament seats Conservative   59.7% Labour   38.6% Liberal Democrats   1.1% UKIP   0.2% Greens   0.2% Speaker   0.2%

Analysis

The Conservatives emerged as the largest party, increasing both their seats and votes. They took seats both from the Liberal Democrats and from the Labour Party, as well as holding on to many of their key marginal seats.

Labour increased its numbers both in number of votes and seats after making gains against the Liberal Democrats, along with limited gains against the Conservatives, but failed to become the largest party. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls lost his seat in Morley and Outwood to the Conservative candidate Andrea Jenkyns,[2] whilst Ed Miliband resigned as Labour leader.[3]

The Liberal Democrats lost the vast majority of their seats, going from 43 seats down to just 6.[4] Leader Nick Clegg, who saw his nearly 30-point majority in Sheffield Hallam massively reduced to 4.2%, resigned on the morning of the election results.[5]

UKIP made large gains in the percentage of votes, but failed to retain Rochester and Strood or take any other seats, leading to the resignation of party leader Nigel Farage. His resignation was rejected, however, and he subsequently stayed on.[6]

The Green Party increased their share of the vote and held Brighton Pavilion, but failed to gain any new seats.[7]

Regional results

Regional vote shares and changes are sourced from the House of Commons Library.[8]

East Midlands

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	32	1	-	+1	969,379	43.5	+2.3
	Labour	14	-	1	-1	705,767	31.6	+1.9
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	351,777	15.8	+12.5
	Liberal Democrats	-	-	-	-	124,039	5.6	-15.3
	Others	-	-	-	-	79,440	3.6	—
Total		46		Turnout		2,230,402	66.5

East of England

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	52	1	1	-	1,445,946	49.0	+1.9
	Labour	4	2	-	+2	649,321	22.0	+2.4
	UKIP	1	1	-	+1	478,517	16.2	+12.0
	Liberal Democrats	1	-	3	-3	243,191	8.2	-15.8
	Others	-	-	-	-	131,648	4.6	—
Total		58		Turnout		2,948,623	67.5

London

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	45	7	-	+7	1,545,048	43.7	+7.3
	Conservative	27	3	4	-1	1,233,386	34.9	+0.3
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	286,981	8.1	+6.4
	Liberal Democrats	1	-	6	-6	272,544	7.7	-14.4
	Green	-	-	-	-	171,670	4.9	+3.3
	Others	-	-	-	-	26,622	0.8	—
Total		73		Turnout		3,536,251	65.4

North East

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	26	1	-	+1	557,100	46.9	+3.3
	Conservative	3	1	-	+1	300,883	25.3	+1.6
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	198,823	16.7	+14.0
	Liberal Democrats	-	-	2	-2	77,095	6.5	-17.1
	Others	-	-	-	-	54,252	4.6	—
Total		29		Turnout		1,188,153	61.8

North West

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	51	5	1	+4	1,502,047	44.6	+5.2
	Conservative	22	3	3	-	1,050,124	31.2	-0.5
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	459,071	13.6	+10.5
	Liberal Democrats	2	-	4	-4	219,998	6.5	-15.1
	Others	-	-	-	-	132,815	4.1	—
Total		75		Turnout		3,364,055	64.3

South East

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	78	5	1	+4	2,234,360	50.8	+1.5
	Labour	4	1	1	-	804,774	18.3	-0.5
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	646,959	14.7	+10.6
	Liberal Democrats	-	-	4	-4	413,586	9.4	-16.8
	Green	1	-	-	-	227,882	5.2	+3.7
	Speaker	1	-	-	-	34,617	0.8	-
	Others	-	-	-	-	32,315	0.7	—
Total		84		Turnout		4,394,493	68.6

South West

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	51	15	-	+15	1,319,994	46.5	+3.7
	Labour	4	1	1	-	501,684	17.7	+2.3
	Liberal Democrats	-	-	15	-15	428,927	15.1	-19.6
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	384,546	13.6	+9.1
	Green	-	-	-	-	168,130	5.9	+4.8
	Others	-	-	-	-	33,013	1.2	—
Total		55		Turnout		2,836,294	69.5

West Midlands

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	34	2	1	+1	1,097,750	41.8	+2.2
	Labour	25	2	1	+1	865,075	32.9	+2.3
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	412,770	15.7	+11.7
	Liberal Democrats	-	-	2	-2	145,009	5.5	-14.9
	Others	-	-	-	-	107,975	4.1	—
Total		59		Turnout		2,628,579	64.1

Yorkshire and the Humber

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	33	2	1	+1	956,837	39.1	+4.8
	Conservative	19	1	1	-	796,822	32.6	-0.2
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	391,923	16.0	+13.2
	Liberal Democrats	2	-	1	-1	174,069	7.1	-15.8
	Others	-	-	-	-	124,526	5.1	—
Total		54		Turnout		2,444,177	63.3

Campaign events

• 31 March: First official day of the general election campaign
• 13 April: The Labour Party launched its manifesto[9]
• 14 April: The Conservative Party and The Green Party launched their manifestos
• 15 April: UKIP and the Liberal Democrats launched their manifestos
• 7 May: BBC Exit poll showed the Conservative party as the largest single party
• 8 May: The Conservative Party emerges as the largest party in England, gaining a majority of MPs in the House of Commons and forming the next Government of the United Kingdom as a majority, contrary to predictions made at the start of the election campaign.

Target seats

The recorded swing in each case is calculated as two-way swing from the party that won in 2010 to the party targeting the seat. Negative swing implies that the targeting party lost votes to the incumbent party.

Conservative Party

Rank	Constituency	Region	Winning party 2010		Swing required (%)	Result		Swing to CON (±%)
1	Hampstead and Kilburn	London		Labour	0.10		Labour hold	-1.0
2	Bolton West	North West England		Labour	0.10		Conservative gain	+0.9
3	Solihull	West Midlands		Liberal Democrats	0.16		Conservative gain	+11.9
4	Southampton Itchen	South East England		Labour	0.22		Conservative gain	+2.8
5	Mid Dorset and North Poole	South West England		Liberal Democrats	0.29		Conservative gain	+11.6
6	Wirral South	North West England		Labour	0.66		Labour hold	-4.8
7	Derby North	East Midlands		Labour	0.68		Conservative gain	+0.8
8	Wells	South West England		Liberal Democrats	0.72		Conservative gain	+7.4
9	Dudley North	West Midlands		Labour	0.84		Labour hold	-4.7
10	Great Grimsby	Yorkshire and the Humber		Labour	1.08		Labour hold	-5.7

Labour Party

Rank	Constituency	Region	Winning party 2010		Swing required (%)	Result		Swing to LAB (±%)
1	North Warwickshire	West Midlands		Conservative	0.06		Conservative hold	−3.1
2	Thurrock	South East England		Conservative	0.10		Conservative hold	−0.5
3	Hendon	London		Conservative	0.11		Conservative hold	−3.7
4	Sherwood	East Midlands		Conservative	0.22		Conservative hold	−4.4
5	Norwich South	East of England		Liberal Democrats	0.33		Labour gain	+13.2
6	Stockton South	North East England		Conservative	0.33		Conservative hold	−4.6
7	Broxtowe	East Midlands		Conservative	0.37		Conservative hold	−3.7
8	Lancaster and Fleetwood	North West England		Conservative	0.39		Labour gain	+1.9
9	Bradford East	Yorkshire and the Humber		Liberal Democrats	0.45		Labour gain	+9.0
10	Amber Valley	East Midlands		Conservative	0.58		Conservative hold	−4.1

Liberal Democrats

Rank	Constituency	Region	Winning party 2010		Swing required (%)	Result		Swing to LD (±%)
1	Camborne and Redruth	South West England		Conservative	0.08		Conservative hold	−13.8
2	Oxford West and Abingdon	South East England		Conservative	0.16		Conservative hold	−8.3
3	Sheffield Central	Yorkshire and the Humber		Labour	0.20		Labour hold	−22.5
4	Ashfield	East Midlands		Labour	0.20		Labour hold	−12.9
5	Truro and Falmouth	South West England		Conservative	0.45		Conservative hold	−13.2

UKIP

Rank[10]	Constituency	Region	Winning party 2010		Swing required (%)	Result		Swing to UKIP (±%)
1	Thanet South	South East England		Conservative	21.2		Conservative hold	+18.4
2	Thurrock	East of England		Conservative	14.7		Conservative hold	+13.7
3	Castle Point	East of England		Conservative	(No candidate in 2010)		Conservative hold	(Vote share: 31.2%)
4	Boston and Skegness	East of England		Conservative	20.0		Conservative hold	+15.0
5	Great Grimsby	Yorkshire and the Humber		Labour	13.3		Labour hold	+5.9

Green Party

Swing for the Greens is measured as one-party swing, i.e. the change in the party's share of the vote.

Rank[11]	Constituency	Region	Winning party 2010		Result		Swing to GRN (±%)
1	Norwich South	East of England		Liberal Democrats		Labour gain	−1.0
2	Bristol West	South East England		Liberal Democrats		Labour gain	+23.0
3	St Ives	South West England		Liberal Democrats		Conservative gain	+3.5
4	Sheffield Central	Yorkshire and the Humber		Labour		Labour hold	+12.1
5	Liverpool Riverside	North West England		Labour		Labour hold	+8.6

Opinion polling

Date(s) conducted	Polling organisation/client	Sample size	Con	Lab	LD	UKIP	Green	Others	Lead
7 May 2015	Election 2015 Results	25,571,204	41.0%	31.6%	8.2%	14.1%	4.2%	0.9%	9.4%
30 Apr–1 May 2015	Survation/Daily Mirror	978	36%	34%	10%	17%	4%	<0.5%	2%
30 Apr 2015	Question Time featuring David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Milliband broadcast on BBC One; Ask Nicola Sturgeon, Ask Leanne Wood and Ask Nigel Farage programmes also shown
27–28 Apr 2015	ComRes/ITV News, Daily Mail	872	36%	36%	8%	12%	6%	2%	Tied
25–27 Apr 2015	BMG/May2015.com	877	39%	31%	11%	15%	4%	<0.5%	8%
24–26 Apr 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	870	37%	32%	9%	12%	8%	1%	5%
24–26 Apr 2015	ICM/The Guardian[13]	863	39%	32%	7%	15%	6%	<0.5%	7%
24–25 Apr 2015	Survation/Mail on Sunday	879	36%	31%	9%	20%	4%	<0.5%	5%
21–24 Apr 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,668	36%	33%	9%	15%	7%	1%	3%
22–23 Apr 2015	Survation/Daily Mirror	1,072	36%	29%	10%	20%	5%	<0.5%	7%
21–22 Apr 2015	ComRes/ITV News, Daily Mail	890	39%	34%	8%	11%	5%	3%	5%
17–19 Apr 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	863	36%	33%	9%	14%	5%	2%	3%
17–19 Apr 2015	ICM/The Guardian[13]	863	38%	35%	9%	12%	5%	1%	3%
16–17 Apr 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,655	38%	32%	9%	14%	6%	1%	6%
16–17 Apr 2015	Survation/Daily Mirror	986	35%	34%	8%	18%	3%	1%	1%
16 Apr 2015	Five-way Opposition Leaders' Debate held on BBC One
12–15 Apr 2015	Ipsos MORI/Evening Standard	600	35%	37%	8%	11%	8%	1%	2%
10–12 Apr 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	870	34%	36%	9%	14%	6%	1%	2%
10–12 Apr 2015	ICM/The Guardian[13]	900	41%	35%	7%	8%	8%	1%	6%
8–9 Apr 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,626	39%	35%	8%	12%	6%	1%	4%
8–9 Apr 2015	Survation/Daily Mirror	838	33%	36%	9%	16%	5%	1%	3%
7–8 Apr 2015	ComRes/ITV News, Daily Mail	718	36%	35%	11%	13%	4%	1%	1%
2–3 Apr 2015	Survation/Daily Mirror	856	34%	33%	9%	21%	3%	<0.5%	1%
2–3 Apr 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,710	35%	34%	7%	15%	7%	1%	1%
2 Apr 2015	Seven-way Leaders' Debate on ITV
30 Mar 2015	Dissolution of Parliament and the official start of the election campaign
28–29 Mar 2015	ComRes/ITV News, Daily Mail	864	38%	32%	9%	13%	6%	2%	6%
27–29 Mar 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	865	40%	34%	7%	11%	7%	1%	6%
26 Mar 2015	First TV election interview by Jeremy Paxman with David Cameron and Ed Miliband on Sky and Channel 4
24–25 Mar 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,690	35%	34%	9%	13%	7%	<0.5%	1%
24–25 Mar 2015	Survation/Daily Mirror	851	34%	34%	8%	20%	4%	<0.5%	Tied
20–22 Mar 2015	ComRes/ITV News, Daily Mail	864	38%	35%	8%	11%	7%	1%	3%
20–22 Mar 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	860	36%	33%	8%	14%	6%	2%	3%
20–21 Mar 2015	Survation/Mail on Sunday	861	31%	35%	10%	19%	3%	1%	4%
18–19 Mar 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,702	37%	33%	7%	14%	7%	1%	4%
13–15 Mar 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	863	34%	29%	8%	18%	9%	3%	5%
13–15 Mar 2015	ICM/The Guardian[13]	910	38%	37%	6%	11%	5%	3%	1%
10–12 Mar 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,654	35%	35%	7%	15%	7%	<0.5%	Tied
8–11 Mar 2015	Ipsos MORI/Evening Standard	863	34%	37%	8%	14%	6%	1%	3%
6–8 Mar 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	859	36%	31%	5%	18%	9%	1%	5%
3–6 Mar 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,626	36%	33%	7%	15%	7%	3%	3%
27 Feb–1 Mar 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	860	36%	32%	8%	14%	7%	2%	4%
24–26 Feb 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,679	35%	36%	7%	14%	6%	1%	1%
23 Feb 2015	Survation/Daily Mirror	921	30%	34%	10%	21%	3%	2%	4%
20–23 Feb 2015	ComRes/Daily Mail	865	36%	32%	7%	14%	9%	2%	4%
20–22 Feb 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	867	32%	38%	6%	13%	8%	2%	6%
17–20 Feb 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,704	36%	33%	7%	16%	7%	1%	3%
13–15 Feb 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	863	31%	31%	9%	18%	9%	3%	Tied
13–15 Feb 2015	ICM/The Guardian[13]	860	38%	34%	7%	10%	8%	2%	4%
10–12 Feb 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,713	35%	35%	8%	15%	5%	1%	Tied
8–10 Feb 2015	Ipsos MORI/Evening Standard	844	38%	37%	7%	10%	8%	0%	1%
6–8 Feb 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	860	36%	31%	9%	16%	7%	1%	5%
3–6 Feb 2015	Opinium/The Observer	1,947	33%	35%	7%	15%	8%	2%	2%
30 Jan–1 Feb 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	857	34%	30%	8%	17%	10%	1%	4%
25 Jan 2015	Survation/Daily Mirror	890	34%	30%	7%	25%	4%	<0.5%	4%
23–25 Jan 2015	ComRes/The Independent	852	33%	29%	9%	20%	8%	1%	4%
22–25 Jan 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	859	33%	34%	5%	17%	9%	2%	1%
16–19 Jan 2015	ICM/The Guardian[13]	863	32%	35%	8%	14%	10%	1%	3%
16–18 Jan 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	871	31%	27%	9%	17%	12%	4%	4%
11–13 Jan 2015	Ipsos MORI/Evening Standard	854	35%	35%	8%	12%	8%	2%	Tied
9–11 Jan 2015	Lord Ashcroft[12]	858	37%	29%	7%	17%	8%	2%	8%
12–16 Dec 2014	ICM/The Guardian[13]	861	31%	33%	11%	17%	5%	3%	2%
13–15 Dec 2014	Ipsos MORI/Evening Standard	840	36%	31%	9%	14%	10%	0%	5%
12–14 Dec 2014	ComRes/The Independent	897	29%	34%	12%	17%	6%	2%	5%
5–7 Dec 2014	Lord Ashcroft[12]	860	31%	31%	7%	23%	6%	2%	Tied
6 May 2010	General Election Results	25,085,097	39.6%	28.1%	24.2%	3.5%	1.0%	3.6%	11.5%

Endorsements

Main article: Endorsements in the 2015 United Kingdom general election

Donations

Electoral commission data[14] shows that in 2015 Q2, total donations for each major political party, over £7,500, are as follows:

Party		Donations
	Conservative	£9,159,884
	Labour	£8,783,492
	Liberal Democrats	£2,434,159
	UKIP	£2,203,921
	Green	£55,152

See also

• 2015 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 2015 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 2015 United Kingdom general election in Wales

References

1. Election 2015 Results England BBC News
2. "Balls ousted after ballot recount". BBC News. 8 May 2015. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
3. Wright, Oliver (8 May 2015). "Ed Miliband resigns: Labour leader quits after humiliating night for party that gives the Conservatives an overall majority". The Independent. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
4. Galston, William A. (8 May 2015). "UK elections: Where did support for the Liberal Democrats go?". Brookings. Retrieved 17 May 2020.
5. Watt, Nicholas (8 May 2015). "Nick Clegg resigns as Lib Dem leader". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 March 2020.
6. Adam, Karla (11 May 2015). "Nigel Farage, one of Britain's most controversial politicians, resigned after the election. Then he un-resigned". The Washington Post. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
7. Walker, Peter (8 May 2015). "Green vote increases four-fold, but Caroline Lucas remains party's only MP". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
8. Cracknell, Richard; Johnston, Neil; Bolton, Paul; Harker, Rachael; Baker, Carl; Ayres, Steven; Nakatudde, Nambassa; Keen, Richard; Hawkins, Oliver (28 July 2015). "General Election 2015". Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
9. Gosden, Emily (13 April 2015). "General Election 2015: Monday 13 April as it happened". The Telegraph.
10. "Ukip target seats to secure a breakthrough in the 2015 general election". Mirror Online. 1 April 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
11. "Green Party's top target seats in the General Election if Natalie Bennett is to lead a breakthrough". Mirror Online. 2 April 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
12. Lord Ashcroft adjusts for don't know/refusers by reallocating a proportion of those to the party they tend to support. The England figures are based on a table that does not adjust for don't knows/refusers.
13. ICM adjust for don't know/refusers by reallocating a proportion of those to the major party they tend to support. Percentages for England are based on a table that does not adjust for don't know/refusers.
14. "Donations accepted". www.electoralcommission.org.uk. Retrieved 3 April 2020.