electionstracker

United Kingdom 1983 general election

What was the result of the 1983 general election in the United Kingdom?

Conservative Party won 397 of 650 seats with 42.4% of the vote. 72.8% 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 397 of 650 seats with 42.4% of the vote; 72.8% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 3.2 points on 1979.

  • Conservative Party 397 +58 seats 42.4% −1.5 points
  • Labour Party 209 −60 seats 27.6% −9.3 points
  • Liberal Party 17 +6 seats 25.4% +11.6 points
  • Scottish National Party 2 0 seats 1.1% −0.5 points
  • Ulster Unionist Party 11 +6 seats 0.8% 0.0 points
  • Democratic Unionist Party 3 0 seats 0.5% +0.3 points
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 1 0 seats 0.4% 0.0 points
  • Plaid Cymru 2 0 seats 0.4% 0.0 points
  • Sinn Féin 1 0.3%
  • Ulster Popular Unionist Party 1 0.1%
  • Social Democratic Party 6
  • 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 1979 general election, party by party.

326 of 650 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 42.4%

    Share of the vote won by Conservative Party

    Conservative Party won 397 of 650 seats. A majority needs 326.

  2. +58 seats

    Seats gained by Conservative Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1979. Labour Party lost 60 seats.

  3. 72.8%

    Voter turnout

    Down 3.2 points on 1979.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Conservative Party397+5842.4−1.513,012,316
Labour Party209−6027.6−9.38,456,934
Liberal Party17+625.4+11.67,780,949
Scottish National Party201.1−0.5331,975
Ulster Unionist Party11+60.80.0259,952
Democratic Unionist Party300.5+0.3152,749
Social Democratic and Labour Party100.40.0137,012
Plaid Cymru200.40.0125,309
Sinn Féin10.3102,701
Green Party of England and Wales00.253,848
Ulster Popular Unionist Party10.122,681
Social Democratic Party6

± is the change against the United Kingdom 1979 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Conservative Party 13,012,316
  • Labour Party 8,456,934
  • Liberal Party 7,780,949
  • Scottish National Party 331,975
  • Ulster Unionist Party 259,952
  • Democratic Unionist Party 152,749
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 137,012
  • Plaid Cymru 125,309
  • Sinn Féin 102,701
  • Green Party of England and Wales 53,848
  • Ulster Popular Unionist Party 22,681
  • Social Democratic 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?

72.8% of the 42,192,999 registered voters cast a ballot (30,722,241 ballots), down 3.2 points on 1979. 30,671,137 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1970 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Conservative Party42.4% of votes61.1% of seats
  • Labour Party27.6% of votes32.2% of seats
  • Liberal Party25.4% of votes2.6% of seats
  • Ulster Unionist Party0.8% of votes1.7% of seats
  • Democratic Unionist Party0.5% of votes0.5% of seats
  • Scottish National Party1.1% of votes0.3% of seats
  • Plaid Cymru0.4% of votes0.3% of seats
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party0.4% of votes0.2% of seats
  • Sinn Féin0.3% of votes0.2% of seats
  • Ulster Popular Unionist 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 21.1 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.1 by votes and 2.1 by seats; Conservative Party led Labour Party by 14.8 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of