October 1974 United Kingdom general election

A general election was held on the 10 October 1974 to elect all 635 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party won the election with a very small majority of 3 seats and Harold Wilson stayed as Prime Minister.

This was the second general election to happen in 1974. The last election in February ended in a hung parliament and no parties wanted to start a coalition government. This meant Labour had to start a minority government. This is why a second election was held, because governments are very hard to run if they do not have a majority.

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: October 1974 United Kingdom general election
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **type**: parliamentary
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: February 1974 United Kingdom general election
- **previous year**: Feb 1974
- **outgoing members**: List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, February 1974
- **next election**: 1979 United Kingdom general election
- **next year**: 1979
- **elected members**: List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, October 1974
- **seats for election**: All List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies (1974–1983), 635 seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons
- **majority seats**: 318
- **elected mps**: List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, October 1974
- **election date**: 10 October 1974
- **turnout**: 72.8%, 6.0%
- **image1**:
- **leader1**: Harold Wilson
- **leader since1**: 1963 Labour Party leadership election (UK), 14 February 1963
- **party1**: Labour Party (UK)
- **leaders seat1**: Huyton (UK Parliament constituency), Huyton
- **last election1**: 301 seats, 37.2%
- **seats1**: **319**
- **seat change1**: 18
- **popular vote1**: **11,457,079**
- **percentage1**: **39.2%**
- **swing1**: 2.0%
- **image2**:
- **leader2**: Edward Heath
- **leader since2**: 1965 Conservative Party leadership election, 28 July 1965
- **party2**: Conservative Party (UK)
- **leaders seat2**: Sidcup (UK Parliament constituency), Sidcup
- **last election2**: 297 seats, 37.9%
- **seats2**: 277
- **seat change2**: 20
- **popular vote2**: 10,462,565
- **percentage2**: 35.8%
- **swing2**: 2.1%
- **leader4**: Jeremy Thorpe
- **leader since4**: 1967 Liberal Party leadership election, 18 January 1967
- **party4**: Liberal Party (UK)
- **leaders seat4**: North Devon (UK Parliament constituency), North Devon
- **last election4**: 14 seats, 19.3%
- **seats4**: 13
- **seat change4**: 1
- **popular vote4**: 5,346,704
- **percentage4**: 18.3%
- **swing4**: 1.0%
- **leader5**: William Wolfe
- **leader since5**: 1969 Scottish National Party leadership election, 1 June 1969
- **party5**: Scottish National Party
- **leaders seat5**: _Stood in West Lothian (UK Parliament constituency), West Lothian (lost)_
- **last election5**: 7 seats, 2.0%
- **seats5**: 11
- **seat change5**: 4
- **popular vote5**: 839,617
- **percentage5**: 2.9%
- **swing5**: 0.9%
- **map image**: UK General Election, October 1974.svg
- **map size**: 300px
- **map caption**: Colours show the winning party—as shown in
- **map2 image**:
- **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**: Harold Wilson
- **before party**: Labour Party (UK)
- **after election**: Harold Wilson
- **after party**: Labour Party (UK)