2005 United Kingdom general election

election of members to the House of Commons in 2005

The 2005 United Kingdom General Election was an election held on May 5, 2005 to elect 646 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The three main candidates to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are shown to the right.

2005 United Kingdom general election

← 2001 5 May 2005 2010 →
← List of MPs elected in the 2001 United Kingdom general election

All 646 seats to the House of Commons
324 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout61.4% (Increase2.0%)
  First party Second party Third party
  Tony Blair Michael Howard
Leader Tony Blair Michael Howard Charles Kennedy
Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats
Leader's seat Sedgefield Folkestone & Hythe Ross, Skye & Lochaber
Last election 413 seats, 40.7% 166 seats, 31.7% 52 seats, 18.3%
Seats before 403 165 51
Seats won 355 198 62
Seat change Decrease 48* Increase 33* Increase 10*
Popular vote 9,552,436 8,784,915 5,985,454
Percentage 35.2% 32.4% 22.0%
Swing Decrease 5.5 pp Increase 0.7 pp Increase 3.7 pp

Colours show the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

* Indicates boundary change – so this is a nominal figure

Figure does not include the Speaker, Michael Martin

Composition of the House of Commons after the election

Prime Minister before election

Tony Blair
Labour

Prime Minister after election

Tony Blair
Labour

The election resulted in the Labour Party and it's leader Tony Blair winning a majority in the House of Commons for the third time in a row. The Labour Party did lose 47 of their seats in parliament and the amount of votes they got dropped by 5.5% from the 2001 General Election. Many people believe the Labour Party lost support because of Labour Prime Minister Tony Blair's unpopular decision to send troops to Iraq in 2003.

Results change

The constituencies of Blaenau Gwent and Wyre Forest elected Independent candidates. The seat of Glasgow East was won by the Speaker of the House of Commons Michael Martin, who is not considered to be of any political party.

The next election was held on May 6, 2010. See United Kingdom general election, 2010

Related pages change