electionstracker

United Kingdom 1979 European Parliament election

What was the result of the 1979 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom?

Conservative Party won 60 of 81 seats with 48.4% of the vote. 32.7% 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 60 of 81 seats with 48.4% of the vote; 32.7% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Conservative Party 60 48.4%
  • Labour Party 17 31.6%
  • Liberal Party 0 12.6%
  • Scottish National Party 1 1.9%
  • Democratic Unionist Party 1 1.3%
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 1 1.1%
  • Ulster Unionist Party 1 0.9%
  • Seats won
  • Share of the vote

Key numbers

  1. 48.4%

    Share of the vote won by Conservative Party

    It led Labour Party by 16.8 points of the vote.

  2. 32.7%

    Voter turnout

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats%Votes
Conservative Party6048.46,508,492
Labour Party1731.64,253,247
Liberal Party012.61,690,638
Scottish National Party11.9247,836
Democratic Unionist Party11.3170,688
Social Democratic and Labour Party11.1140,622
Ulster Unionist Party10.9125,169
Votes by party
  • Conservative Party 6,508,492
  • Labour Party 4,253,247
  • Liberal Party 1,690,638
  • Scottish National Party 247,836
  • Democratic Unionist Party 170,688
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 140,622
  • Ulster Unionist Party 125,169

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?

32.7% of the 41,155,166 registered voters cast a ballot (13,446,091 ballots). 13,397,858 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Conservative Party48.4% of votes74.1% of seats
  • Labour Party31.6% of votes21.0% of seats
  • Scottish National Party1.9% of votes1.2% of seats
  • Democratic Unionist Party1.3% of votes1.2% of seats
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party1.1% of votes1.2% of seats
  • Ulster Unionist Party0.9% of votes1.2% of seats
  • Liberal Party12.6% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 21.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.9 by votes and 1.7 by seats; Conservative Party led Labour Party by 16.8 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of