electionstracker

United Kingdom 1997 general election

What was the result of the 1997 general election in the United Kingdom?

Labour Party won 419 of 659 seats with 43.2% of the vote. 71.5% 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 419 of 659 seats with 43.2% of the vote; 71.5% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 6.2 points on 1992.

  • Labour Party 419 +148 seats 43.2% +8.3 points
  • Conservative Party 165 −171 seats 30.7% −11.2 points
  • Liberal Democrats 46 +26 seats 16.8% −1.0 points
  • Referendum Party 0 2.6%
  • Scottish National Party 6 +3 seats 2.0% +0.1 points
  • Ulster Unionist Party 10 +1 seat 0.8% 0.0 points
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 3 −1 seat 0.6% +0.1 points
  • Plaid Cymru 4 0 seats 0.5% 0.0 points
  • Sinn Féin 2 0.4%
  • Democratic Unionist Party 2 −1 seat 0.3% 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 1992 general election, party by party.

330 of 659 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 43.2%

    Share of the vote won by Labour Party

    Labour Party won 419 of 659 seats. A majority needs 330.

  2. +148 seats

    Seats gained by Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1992. Conservative Party lost 171 seats.

  3. 71.5%

    Voter turnout

    Down 6.2 points on 1992.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Labour Party419+14843.2+8.313,518,167
Conservative Party165−17130.7−11.29,600,943
Liberal Democrats46+2616.8−1.05,242,947
Referendum Party02.6811,849
Scottish National Party6+32.0+0.1621,550
Ulster Unionist Party10+10.80.0258,349
Social Democratic and Labour Party3−10.6+0.1190,814
Plaid Cymru400.50.0161,030
Sinn Féin20.4126,921
Democratic Unionist Party2−10.30.0107,348
Unnamed party with one seat10.012,817
Other parties (seats only)1

± is the change against the United Kingdom 1992 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Labour Party 13,518,167
  • Conservative Party 9,600,943
  • Liberal Democrats 5,242,947
  • Referendum Party 811,849
  • Scottish National Party 621,550
  • Ulster Unionist Party 258,349
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party 190,814
  • Plaid Cymru 161,030
  • Sinn Féin 126,921
  • Democratic Unionist Party 107,348
  • Unnamed party with one seat 12,817
  • 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?

71.5% of the 43,818,324 registered voters cast a ballot (31,349,744 ballots), down 6.2 points on 1992. 31,286,284 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout of this kind in our data, which begins in 1964.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Labour Party43.2% of votes63.6% of seats
  • Conservative Party30.7% of votes25.0% of seats
  • Liberal Democrats16.8% of votes7.0% of seats
  • Ulster Unionist Party0.8% of votes1.5% of seats
  • Scottish National Party2.0% of votes0.9% of seats
  • Plaid Cymru0.5% of votes0.6% of seats
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party0.6% of votes0.5% of seats
  • Sinn Féin0.4% of votes0.3% of seats
  • Democratic Unionist Party0.3% of votes0.3% of seats
  • Referendum Party2.6% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 16.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.2 by votes and 2.1 by seats; Labour Party led Conservative Party by 12.5 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of