2005 United Kingdom general election

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.

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

- **Labour Party** (355 MP's, 35.2% of vote)
- **Conservative Party** (198 MP's, 32.4% of vote)
- **Liberal Democrats** (62 MP's, 22.0% of vote)
- UK Independence Party (0 MP's, 2.2% of vote)
- **Scottish National Party** (6 MP's, 1.5% of vote) - Scotland only
- Green Party (0 MP's, 1.0% of vote) - England and Wales only
- **Democratic Unionist Party** (9 MP's, 0.9% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- **British National Party** (0 MP's, 0.7% of vote)
- **Plaid Cymru** (3 MP's, 0.6% of vote) - Wales only
- **Sinn Féin** (5 MP's, 0.6% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- **Ulster Unionist Party** (1 MP, 0.5% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- **Social Democratic and Labour Party** (3 MP's, 0.5% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- **Respect Party** (1 MP, 0.3% of vote)
- Scottish Socialist Party (0 MP's, 0.2% of vote) - Scotland only
- Veritas (0 MP's, 0.1% of vote)
- Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (0 MP's, 0.1% of vote) - Northern Ireland only
- Scottish Green Party (0 MP's, 0.1% of vote) - Scotland only
- Socialist Labour Party (0 MP's, 0.1% of vote)
- Liberal Party (0 MP's, 0.1% of vote)
- English Democrats (0 MP's, 0.1% of vote) - England only

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

- MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 2005 United Kingdom general election
- **country**: United Kingdom
- **type**: parliamentary
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: 2001 United Kingdom general election
- **previous year**: 2001
- **outgoing members**: List of MPs elected in the 2001 United Kingdom general election
- **elected members**: List of MPs elected in the 2005 United Kingdom general election
- **next election**: 2010 United Kingdom general election
- **next year**: 2010
- **seats for election**: All List of United Kingdom Parliament constituencies 2005–10, 646 seats to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons
- **majority seats**: 324
- **election date**: 5 May 2005
- **turnout**: 61.4% (2.0%)
- **opinion polls**: Opinion polling for the 2005 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**: 413 seats, 40.7%
- **seats before1**: 403
- **seats1**: **355**
- **seat change1**: 48*
- **popular vote1**: **9,552,436**
- **percentage1**: **35.2%**
- **swing1**: 5.5 Percentage point, pp
- **image2**:
- **leader2**: Michael Howard
- **leader since2**: 2003 Conservative Party leadership election, 6 November 2003
- **party2**: Conservative Party (UK)
- **leaders seat2**: Folkestone and Hythe (UK Parliament constituency), Folkestone & Hythe
- **last election2**: 166 seats, 31.7%
- **seats before2**: 165
- **seats2**: 198
- **seat change2**: 33*
- **popular vote2**: 8,784,915
- **percentage2**: 32.4%
- **swing2**: 0.7 Percentage point, pp
- **image3**:
- **leader3**: Charles Kennedy
- **leader since3**: 1999 Liberal Democrats leadership election, 9 August 1999
- **party3**: Liberal Democrats (UK)
- **leaders seat3**: Ross, Skye and Lochaber (UK Parliament constituency), Ross, Skye & Lochaber
- **last election3**: 52 seats, 18.3%
- **seats before3**: 51
- **seats3**: 62
- **seat change3**: 10*
- **popular vote3**: 5,985,454
- **percentage3**: 22.0%
- **swing3**: 3.7 Percentage point, pp
- **map image**: 2005UKElectionNominalMap.svg
- **map size**: 300px
- **map caption**: 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 of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), Speaker, Michael Martin, Baron Martin of Springburn, Michael Martin_
- **title**: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister
- **posttitle**: Prime Minister after election
- **before election**: Tony Blair
- **before party**: Labour Party (UK)
- **after election**: Tony Blair
- **after party**: Labour Party (UK)
- **map2 image**: House_of_Commons_2005_Election.svg
- **map2 caption**: Composition of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons after the election
- **map2 size**: 360px