1970 United Kingdom general election in England
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All 511 English seats in the House of Commons 256 seats needed for English majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1970 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 18 June 1970 to elect 630 members of the House of Commons, of which 511 constituencies were in England.
In England, the Conservative Party led by Edward Heath scored a decisive victory by winning 292 seats over the incumbent Labour Party led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson which was restricted to 216 seats. Overall, the Conservative Party won 330 seats in the House of Commons while Labour won 288 seats.
This was the first general election to be held after the passage of the Representation of the People Act, thereby enabling citizens gain the eligibility to vote from the age of 18 (previously, it was 21).
Result Table
| Party | Seats won | Net change in seats | Total votes | Voteshare | Change in voteshare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | 292 | 73 | 11,282,524 | 48.3% | 5.6% |
| Labour | 216 | 69 | 10,131,555 | 43.4% | 4.6% |
| Liberal | 2 | 4 | 1,853,616 | 7.9% | 1.1% |
References
- Pilling, Sam; Cracknell, Richard (18 August 2021). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2021: A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library.
- "Heath: The victory few predicted", BBC News,
- "1970: Heath's surprise victory", BBC News
- Richard Rose (1970). "Voting Trends Surveyed". The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1970. London: Times Newspapers Ltd. p. 31.