page_title: 1979 United Kingdom general election
section_title: Opinion polling
hierarchical_section_title: 1979 United Kingdom general election / Opinion polling
caption_attribution_description: English: Moving average of opinion polls for the 1979 United Kingdom general election
context_page_description: The 1979 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher, ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats. The election was the first of four consecutive election victories for the Conservative Party, and Thatcher became the United Kingdom's and Europe's first elected female head of government.
  The previous parliamentary term had begun in October 1974, when Harold Wilson led Labour to a majority of three seats. However, within eighteen months he had resigned as Prime Minister, to be succeeded by James Callaghan, and within a year the government's narrow parliamentary majority had gone. Callaghan made agreements with the Liberals and later the Ulster Unionists, as well as the Scottish and Welsh nationalists, in order to remain in power. However, on 28 March 1979, following the defeat of the Scottish devolution referendum, Thatcher tabled a motion of no confidence in Callaghan's Labour government, which was passed by just one vote, triggering a general election five months before the end of the government's term.
caption:   Conservatives    Labour    Liberals
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