electionstracker

United Kingdom 1987 general election

What was the result of the 1987 general election in the United Kingdom?

Conservative Party won 376 of 650 seats with 42.3% of the vote. 75.4% 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 376 of 650 seats with 42.3% of the vote; 75.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 2.6 points on 1983.

  • Conservative Party 376 −21 seats 42.3% −0.1 points
  • Labour Party 229 +20 seats 30.8% +3.2 points
  • Liberal Party 17 0 seats 22.6% −2.8 points
  • Scottish National Party 3 +1 seat 1.3% +0.2 points
  • Ulster Unionist Party 9 −2 seats 0.8% 0.0 points
  • Plaid Cymru 3 +1 seat 0.4% 0.0 points
  • Green Party of England and Wales 0 0 seats 0.3% +0.1 points
  • Democratic Unionist Party 3 0 seats 0.3% −0.2 points
  • Sinn Féin 1 0 seats 0.3% −0.1 points
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 3 +2 seats 0.5% +0.1 points
  • Ulster Popular Unionist Party 1 0 seats 0.1% 0.0 points
  • Social Democratic Party 5 −1 seat
  • 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 1983 general election, party by party.

326 of 650 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 42.3%

    Share of the vote won by Conservative Party

    Conservative Party won 376 of 650 seats. A majority needs 326.

  2. +20 seats

    Seats gained by Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1983. Conservative Party lost 21 seats.

  3. 75.4%

    Voter turnout

    Up 2.6 points on 1983.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Conservative Party376−2142.3−0.113,760,583
Labour Party229+2030.8+3.210,029,807
Liberal Party17022.6−2.87,341,633
Scottish National Party3+11.3+0.2416,473
Ulster Unionist Party9−20.80.0276,230
Plaid Cymru3+10.40.0123,599
Green Party of England and Wales000.3+0.189,753
Democratic Unionist Party300.3−0.285,642
Sinn Féin100.3−0.183,389
Social Democratic and Labour Party3+20.5+0.172,671
Ulster Popular Unionist Party100.10.018,420
Social Democratic Party5−1

± is the change against the United Kingdom 1983 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Conservative Party 13,760,583
  • Labour Party 10,029,807
  • Liberal Party 7,341,633
  • Scottish National Party 416,473
  • Ulster Unionist Party 276,230
  • Plaid Cymru 123,599
  • Green Party of England and Wales 89,753
  • Democratic Unionist Party 85,642
  • Sinn Féin 83,389
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 72,671
  • Ulster Popular Unionist Party 18,420
  • 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?

75.4% of the 43,180,573 registered voters cast a ballot (32,566,523 ballots), up 2.6 points on 1983. 32,529,578 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Conservative Party42.3% of votes57.8% of seats
  • Labour Party30.8% of votes35.2% of seats
  • Liberal Party22.6% of votes2.6% of seats
  • Ulster Unionist Party0.8% of votes1.4% of seats
  • Scottish National Party1.3% of votes0.5% of seats
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party0.5% of votes0.5% of seats
  • Plaid Cymru0.4% of votes0.5% of seats
  • Democratic Unionist Party0.3% of votes0.5% 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 18.2 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.1 by votes and 2.2 by seats; Conservative Party led Labour Party by 11.5 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of