electionstracker

United Kingdom 1970 general election

What was the result of the 1970 general election in the United Kingdom?

Conservative Party won 330 of 630 seats with 46.4% of the vote. 72.2% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • United Kingdom
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Conservative Party won 330 of 630 seats with 46.4% of the vote; 72.2% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 3.8 points on 1966.

  • Conservative Party 330 +80 seats 46.4%
  • Labour Party 288 −76 seats 43.1% −4.9 points
  • Liberal Party 6 −6 seats 7.5% −1.1 points
  • Scottish National Party 1 +1 seat 1.1% +0.6 points
  • Plaid Cymru 0 0.6%
  • Unity 2 0.5%
  • Republican Labour Party 1 0 seats 0.1% 0.0 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the United Kingdom 1966 general election, party by party.

316 of 630 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 46.4%

    Share of the vote won by Conservative Party

    Conservative Party won 330 of 630 seats. A majority needs 316.

  2. +80 seats

    Seats gained by Conservative Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1966. Labour Party lost 76 seats.

  3. 72.2%

    Voter turnout

    Down 3.8 points on 1966.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Conservative Party330+8046.413,145,123
Labour Party288−7643.1−4.912,208,758
Liberal Party6−67.5−1.12,117,035
Scottish National Party1+11.1+0.6306,802
Plaid Cymru00.6175,016
Unity20.5140,930
Unnamed party with one seat10.135,303
Republican Labour Party100.10.030,649
Other parties (seats only)1

± is the change against the United Kingdom 1966 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Conservative Party 13,145,123
  • Labour Party 12,208,758
  • Liberal Party 2,117,035
  • Scottish National Party 306,802
  • Plaid Cymru 175,016
  • Unity 140,930
  • Unnamed party with one seat 35,303
  • Republican Labour Party 30,649
  • Other parties (seats only)

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

72.2% of the 39,342,013 registered voters cast a ballot (28,386,145 ballots), down 3.8 points on 1966. 28,344,798 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Conservative Party46.4% of votes52.4% of seats
  • Labour Party43.1% of votes45.7% of seats
  • Liberal Party7.5% of votes1.0% of seats
  • Unity0.5% of votes0.3% of seats
  • Scottish National Party1.1% of votes0.2% of seats
  • Republican Labour Party0.1% of votes0.2% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 6.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.5 by votes and 2.1 by seats; Conservative Party led Labour Party by 3.3 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of