electionstracker

United Kingdom February 1974 general election

What was the result of the February 1974 general election in the United Kingdom?

Labour Party won 301 of 635 seats with 37.2% of the vote. 78.9% 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 : Labour Party won 301 of 635 seats with 37.2% of the vote; 78.9% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 6.8 points on 1970.

  • Conservative Party 297 −33 seats 38.0% −8.4 points
  • Labour Party 301 +13 seats 37.2% −5.9 points
  • Liberal Party 14 +8 seats 19.3% +11.8 points
  • Scottish National Party 7 +6 seats 2.0% +0.9 points
  • United Ulster Unionist Council 0 1.2%
  • Plaid Cymru 2 +2 seats 0.6% 0.0 points
  • National Front 0 0.2%
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 1 0.5%
  • Ulster Unionist Party 7
  • Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party 3
  • Democratic Unionist Party 1
  • 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 1970 general election, party by party.

318 of 635 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 37.2%

    Share of the vote won by Labour Party

    Labour Party won 301 of 635 seats. A majority needs 318.

  2. +13 seats

    Seats gained by Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1970. Conservative Party lost 33 seats.

  3. 78.9%

    Voter turnout

    Up 6.8 points on 1970.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Conservative Party297−3338.0−8.411,872,180
Labour Party301+1337.2−5.911,645,616
Liberal Party14+819.3+11.86,059,519
Scottish National Party7+62.0+0.9633,180
United Ulster Unionist Council01.2366,703
Plaid Cymru2+20.60.0171,374
National Front00.276,865
Social Democratic and Labour Party10.522,660
Ulster Unionist Party7
Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party3
Other parties (seats only)2+1
Democratic Unionist Party1

± is the change against the United Kingdom 1970 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Conservative Party 11,872,180
  • Labour Party 11,645,616
  • Liberal Party 6,059,519
  • Scottish National Party 633,180
  • United Ulster Unionist Council 366,703
  • Plaid Cymru 171,374
  • National Front 76,865
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 22,660
  • Ulster Unionist Party
  • Vanguard Unionist Progressive Party
  • Other parties (seats only)
  • Democratic Unionist Party

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?

78.9% of the 39,753,863 registered voters cast a ballot (31,382,414 ballots), up 6.8 points on 1970. 31,340,162 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout of this kind in our data, which begins in 1964.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Labour Party37.2% of votes47.4% of seats
  • Conservative Party38.0% of votes46.8% of seats
  • Liberal Party19.3% of votes2.2% of seats
  • Scottish National Party2.0% of votes1.1% of seats
  • Plaid Cymru0.6% of votes0.3% of seats
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party0.5% of votes0.2% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 15.4 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.1 by votes and 2.3 by seats; Conservative Party led Labour Party by 0.8 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of