1997 United Kingdom general election

The **UK general election, 1997** was an election held on 1 May 1997 to elect 659 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The three main candidates to become Prime Minister are shown to the right:

The Labour Party and its leader Tony Blair gained the majority of seats and created the first Labour government since 1979. The Labour Party won 418 seats which was the highest majority of seats for any party since the Conservatives in the 1931 General Election. The Conservative Party suffered it's lowest number of seats since 1906 and lost all of its seats in Scotland and Wales. Several prominent Conservative politicians lost their seats such as Defence Secretary Michael Portillo, Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind, Scottish Secretary Michael Forsyth as well as Edwina Currie, David Mellor and Ian Lang.

The Liberal Democrats won 46 seats, which was the highest number of seats for a third party since 1929. The Referendum Party ran on the single issue of taking Britain out of the European Union and won 2.6% of the vote but no seats.

The final results of the election were:

- **Labour Party** (418 MP's, 43.2% of vote)
- **Conservative Party** (165 MP's, 30.7% of vote)
- **Liberal Democrats** (46 MP's, 16.8% of vote)
- Referendum Party (0 MP's, 2.6% of vote)
- **Scottish National Party** (6 MP's, 2.0% of vote) - Scotland only
- **Ulster Unionist Party** (10 MP's, 0.8% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- **Social Democratic and Labour Party** (3 MP's, 0.6% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- **Plaid Cymru** (4 MP's, 0.5% of vote) - Wales only
- **Sinn Fein** (2 MP's, 0.4% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- **Democratic Unionist Party** (2 MP's, 0.3% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- UK Independence Party (0 MP's, 0.3% of vote)
- Green Party (0 MP's, 0.3% of vote)
- Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (0 MP's, 0.2% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- Socialist Labour Party (0 MP's, 0.2% of vote)
- Liberal Party (0 MP's, 0.1% of vote)
- British National Party (0 MP's, 0.1% of vote)

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 1997 United Kingdom general election
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **type**: parliamentary
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: 1992 United Kingdom general election
- **previous year**: 1992
- **outgoing members**: List of MPs elected in the 1992 United Kingdom general election
- **next election**: 2001 United Kingdom general election
- **next year**: 2001
- **elected members**: List of MPs elected in the 1997 United Kingdom general election
- **seats for election**: All 659 seats to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons
- **majority seats**: 330
- **elected mps**: List of MPs elected in the 1997 United Kingdom general election, Members elected
- **election date**: 1 May 1997
- **turnout**: 71.3% (6.4%)
- **opinion polls**: Opinion polling for the 1997 United Kingdom general election
- **image1**:
- **leader1**: Tony Blair
- **leader since1**: 1994 Labour Party leadership election, 21 July 1994
- **party1**: Labour Party (UK)
- **leaders seat1**: Sedgefield (UK Parliament constituency), Sedgefield
- **last election1**: 271 seats, 34.4%
- **seats before1**: 273<sup>†</sup>
- **seats1**: ** 418**
- **seat change1**: 145*
- **popular vote1**: **13,518,167**
- **percentage1**: **43.2%**
- **swing1**: 8.8%
- **image2**:
- **leader2**: John Major
- **leader since2**: 1995 Conservative Party leadership election, 4 July 1995
- **party2**: Conservative Party (UK)
- **leaders seat2**: Huntingdon (UK Parliament constituency), Huntingdon
- **last election2**: 336 seats, 41.9%
- **seats before2**: 343<sup>†</sup>
- **seats2**: 165
- **seat change2**: 171*
- **popular vote2**: 9,600,943
- **percentage2**: 30.7%
- **swing2**: 11.2%
- **image3**:
- **leader3**: Paddy Ashdown
- **leader since3**: 1988 Social and Liberal Democrats leadership election, 16 July 1988
- **party3**: Liberal Democrats (UK)
- **leaders seat3**: Yeovil (UK Parliament constituency), Yeovil
- **last election3**: 20 seats, 17.8%
- **seats before3**: 18<sup>†</sup>
- **seats3**: 46
- **seat change3**: 26*
- **popular vote3**: 5,242,947
- **percentage3**: 16.8%
- **swing3**: 1.0%
- **map image**: UK General Election, 1997.svg
- **map size**: 370px
- **map caption**: Colours show the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
* Indicates boundary change, so this is a nominal figure.
 <sup>†</sup> Notional 1992 results on new boundaries.
^ Figure does not include the speaker.
- **map2 image**: File:House of Commons elected members, 1997.svg
- **map2 size**: 360px
- **map2 caption**: Composition of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons after the election
- **title**: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister
- **posttitle**: Prime Minister after election
- **before election**: John Major
- **before party**: Conservative Party (UK)
- **after election**: Tony Blair
- **after party**: Labour Party (UK)