2001 United Kingdom general election

2001 United Kingdom general election

←  1997 7 June 2001 2005  →
←  outgoing members elected members  →
All 659 seats to the House of Commons 330 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	59.4% (11.9%)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tony Blair William Hague Charles Kennedy Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 21 July 1994 19 June 1997 9 August 1999 Leader's seat Sedgefield Richmond (Yorks) Ross, Skye and Inverness West Last election 418 seats, 43.2% 165 seats, 30.7% 46 seats, 16.8% Seats won 412 166 52 Seat change 6 1 6 Popular vote 10,724,953 8,357,615 4,814,321 Percentage 40.7% 31.7% 18.3% Swing 2.5% 1.0% 1.5%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election Tony Blair Labour Prime Minister after election Tony Blair Labour

Seats won in the election (outer ring) against number of votes (inner ring).

The 2001 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 7 June 2001, four years after the previous election on 1 May 1997, to elect 659 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party was re-elected to serve a second term in government with another landslide victory with a 167 majority, returning 412 members of Parliament versus 418 from the 1997 general election, a net loss of six seats, though with a significantly lower turnout than before—59.4%, compared to 71.6% at the previous election. ^[1] The number of votes Labour received fell by nearly three million. Tony Blair went on to become the only Labour Prime Minister to serve two consecutive full terms in office. As Labour retained almost all of their seats won in the 1997 landslide victory, the media dubbed the 2001 election "the quiet landslide". ^[2]

There was little change outside Northern Ireland, with 620 out of the 641 seats in Great Britain electing candidates from the same party as they did in 1997. Factors contributing to the Labour victory included a strong economy, falling unemployment, and public perception that the Labour government had delivered on many key election pledges that it had made in 1997.^{[ citation needed ]}

The opposition Conservative Party, under William Hague's leadership, was still deeply divided on the issue of Europe and the party's policy platform had drifted considerably to the right. The party put the issue of European monetary union (and in particular, the prospect of the UK joining the Eurozone) at the centre of its campaign, but it failed to resonate with the electorate. A series of publicity stunts that backfired also harmed Hague, and he immediately announced his resignation as party leader when the election result was clear, formally stepping down three months later, therefore becoming the first leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party in the House of Commons since Austen Chamberlain nearly eighty years prior not to serve as prime minister.

The election was largely a repeat of the 1997 general election, with Labour losing only six seats overall and the Conservatives making a net gain of one seat (gaining nine seats but losing eight). The Conservatives gained a seat in Scotland, which ended the party's status as an "England-only" party in the prior parliament, but failed again to win any seats in Wales. Although they did not gain many seats, three of the few new MPs elected were future Conservative Prime Ministers David Cameron and Boris Johnson and future Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne; Osborne would serve in the same Cabinet as Cameron from 2010 to 2016. The Liberal Democrats made a net gain of six seats.

The 2001 general election is the last to date in which any government has held an overall majority of more than 100 seats in the House of Commons, and the second of only two since the Second World War (the other being 1997) in which a single party won over 400 MPs. Notable departing MPs included former Prime Ministers Edward Heath (also Father of the House) and John Major, former Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine, former Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown, former Cabinet ministers Tony Benn, Tom King, John Morris, Mo Mowlam, John MacGregor and Peter Brooke, Teresa Gorman, and then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone.

Change was seen in Northern Ireland, with the moderate unionist Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) losing four seats to the more hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). A similar transition appeared in the nationalist community, with the moderate Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) losing votes to the more staunchly republican and abstentionist Sinn Féin.

Exceptionally low voter turnout, which fell below 60% for the first (and so far, only) time since 1918, also marked this election. ^[3] The election was broadcast live on BBC One and presented by David Dimbleby, Jeremy Paxman, Andrew Marr, Peter Snow, and Tony King. ^[4]

The 2001 general election was notable for being the first in which pictures of the party logos appeared on the ballot paper. Prior to this, the ballot paper had only displayed the candidate's name, address, and party name. ^[5]

Overview

The election had been expected on 3 May, to coincide with local elections, but on 2 April 2001, both were postponed to 7 June because of rural movement restrictions imposed in response to the foot-and-mouth outbreak that had started in February.

The elections were marked by voter apathy, with turnout falling to 59.4%, the lowest (and first under 70%) since the Coupon Election of 1918. Throughout the election the Labour Party had maintained a significant lead in the opinion polls and the result was deemed to be so certain that some bookmakers paid out for a Labour majority before election day. However, the opinion polls the previous autumn had shown the first Tory lead (though only by a narrow margin) in the opinion polls for eight years as they benefited from the public anger towards the government over the fuel protests which had led to a severe shortage of motor fuel.

By the end of 2000, however, the dispute had been resolved and Labour were firmly back in the lead of the opinion polls. ^[6] In total, a mere 29 parliamentary seats changed hands at the 2001 Election. ^[7]

2001 also saw the rare election of an independent. Richard Taylor of Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern (usually now known simply as "Health Concern") unseated a government MP, David Lock, in Wyre Forest. There was also a high vote for British National Party leader Nick Griffin in Oldham West and Royton, in the wake of recent race riots in the town of Oldham.

In Northern Ireland, the election was far more dramatic and marked a move by unionists away from support for the Good Friday Agreement, with the moderate unionist Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) losing to the more hardline Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). This polarisation was also seen in the nationalist community, with the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) vote losing out to more left-wing and republican Sinn Féin. It also saw a tightening of the parties as the small UK Unionist Party lost its only seat.

Campaign

For Labour, the last four years had run relatively smoothly. ^[8] The party had successfully defended all their by election seats, and many suspected a Labour win was inevitable from the start.

Many in the party, however, were afraid of voter apathy, which was epitomised in a poster of "Hague with Margaret Thatcher's hair", captioned "Get out and vote. Or they get in." ^[9] Despite recessions in mainland Europe and the United States, due to the bursting of global tech bubbles, Britain was notably unaffected and Labour however could rely on a strong economy as unemployment continued to decline toward election day, putting to rest any fears of a Labour government putting the economic situation at risk.

For William Hague, however, the Conservative Party had still not fully recovered from the loss in 1997. The party was still divided over Europe, and talk of a referendum on joining the Eurozone was rife, and as a result "Save The Pound" was one of the key slogans deployed in the Conservatives' campaign. As Labour remained at the political centre, the Tories moved to the right. A policy gaffe by Oliver Letwin over public spending cuts left the party with an own goal that Labour soon exploited.

Thatcher gave a speech to the Conservative Election Rally in Plymouth on May 22nd 2001, calling New Labour "rootless, empty, and artificial." She also added to Hague's troubles when speaking out strongly against the Euro to applause. Hague himself, although a witty performer at Prime Minister's Questions, was dogged in the press and reminded of his speech, given at the age of 16, at the 1977 Conservative Conference. The Sun newspaper only added to the Conservatives' woes by backing Labour for a second consecutive election, calling Hague a "dead parrot" during the Conservative Party's conference in October 1998. ^{[10] [11] [12]}

The Tories campaigned on a strongly right-wing platform, emphasising the issues of Europe, immigration and tax, the fabled "Tebbit Trinity". They also released a poster showing a heavily pregnant Tony Blair, stating "Four years of Labour and he still hasn’t delivered". ^[13] However, Labour countered by asking where the proposed tax cuts were going to come from, and decried the Tory policy as "cut here, cut there, cut everywhere", in reference to the widespread belief that the Conservatives would make major cuts to public services in order to fund tax cuts. Labour also capitalised on the strong economic conditions of the time, and another major line of attack (primarily directed towards Michael Portillo, now Shadow Chancellor after returning to Parliament via a by-election) was to warn of a return to "Tory Boom and Bust" under a Conservative administration.

Charles Kennedy contested his first election as leader of the Liberal Democrats. ^[14]

Controversy

During the election Sharron Storer, a resident of Birmingham, criticised Prime Minister Tony Blair in front of television cameras about conditions in the National Health Service. The widely televised incident happened on 16 May during a campaign visit by Blair to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Sharron Storer's partner, Keith Sedgewick, a cancer patient with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and therefore highly susceptible to infection, was being treated at the time in the bone marrow unit, but no bed could be found for him and he was transferred to the casualty unit for his first 24 hours. ^{[15] [16] [17]} On the evening of the same day Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott punched a protestor after being hit by an egg on his way to an election rally in Rhyl, North Wales. ^[18]

Endorsements

• Labour received endorsements from The Sun , The Daily Express , The Times (for the first time in its history), ^[19] The Daily Mirror , and The Guardian . ^[20]
• The Independent endorsed Labour and/or the Liberal Democrats.
• The Conservatives were endorsed by the Daily Mail and The Daily Telegraph .

Opinion polling

Main article: Opinion polling for the 2001 United Kingdom general election

  Labour

  Conservatives

  Liberal Democrats

Results

The election result was effectively a repeat of 1997, as the Labour Party retained an overwhelming majority, with the BBC announcing the victory at 02:58 on the early morning of 8 June. Having presided over relatively serene political, economic and social conditions, the feeling of prosperity in the United Kingdom had been maintained into the new millennium, and Labour would have a free hand to assert its ideals in the subsequent parliament. Despite the victory, voter apathy was a major issue, as turnout fell below 60%, 12 percentage points down on 1997. All three of the main parties saw their total votes fall, with Labour's total vote dropping by 2.8 million on 1997, the Conservatives 1.3 million, and the Liberal Democrats 428,000. Some suggested this dramatic fall was a sign of the general acceptance of the status quo and the likelihood of Labour's majority remaining unassailable. ^[21]

For the Conservatives, the huge loss they had sustained in 1997 was repeated. Despite gaining nine seats, the Tories lost seven to the Liberal Democrats, and one even to Labour. William Hague was quick to announce his resignation, doing so at 07:44 outside the Conservative Party headquarters. Some believed that Hague had been unlucky; although most considered him to be a talented orator and an intelligent statesman, he had come up against the charismatic Tony Blair in the peak of his political career, and it was no surprise that little progress was made in reducing Labour's majority after a relatively smooth parliament.

Staying at what they considered rock bottom, however, showed that the Conservatives had failed to improve their negative public image, had remained somewhat disunited over Europe, and had not regained the trust that they had lost in the 1990s. Hague's focus on the "Save The Pound" campaign narrative had failed to gain any traction; Labour's successful countertactic was to be repeatedly vague over the issue of future monetary union - and said that the UK would only consider joining the Eurozone "when conditions were right". But in Scotland, despite flipping one seat from the Scottish National Party, their vote collapse continued. They failed to retake former strongholds in Scotland as the Nationalists consolidated their grip on the Northeastern portion of the country. ^[22]

The Liberal Democrats could point to steady progress under their new leader, Charles Kennedy, gaining more seats than the main two parties—albeit only six overall—and maintaining the performance of a pleasing 1997 election, where the party had doubled its number of seats from 20 to 46. While they had yet to become electable as a government, they underlined their growing reputation as a worthwhile alternative to Labour and Conservative, offering plenty of debate in Parliament and representing more than a mere protest vote.^{[ citation needed ]}

The SNP failed to gain any new seats and lost a seat to the Conservatives by just 79 votes. In Wales, Plaid Cymru both gained a seat from Labour and lost one to them.

In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionists, despite gaining North Down, lost five other seats.

↓

413	166	52	28
Labour	Conservative	Lib Dem	O

UK General Election 2001 ^[23]

			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Labour	Tony Blair	640	413	2	8	−6	62.5	40.7	10,724,953	−2.5
	Conservative	William Hague	643	166	9	8	+1	25.2	31.6	8,357,615	+1.0
	Liberal Democrats	Charles Kennedy	639	52	8	2	+6	7.9	18.3	4,814,321	+1.5
	SNP	John Swinney	72	5	0	1	−1	0.8	1.8	464,314	−0.2
	UKIP	Jeffrey Titford	428	0	0	0	0	0.0	1.5	390,563	+1.2
	Ulster Unionist	David Trimble	17	6	1	5	−4	0.9	0.8	216,839	0.0
	Plaid Cymru	Ieuan Wyn Jones	40	4	1	1	0	0.6	0.7	195,893	+0.2
	DUP	Ian Paisley	14	5	3	0	+3	0.8	0.7	181,999	+0.4
	Sinn Féin	Gerry Adams	18	4	2	0	+2	0.6	0.7	175,933	+0.3
	SDLP	John Hume	18	3	0	0	0	0.5	0.6	169,865	0.0
	Green	Margaret Wright and Mike Woodin	145	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.6	166,477	+0.3
	Independent	N/A	137	0	0	1	−1	0.0	0.4	98,917	+0.3
	Scottish Socialist	Tommy Sheridan	72	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.3	72,516	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	N/A	98	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	57,553	N/A
	Socialist Labour	Arthur Scargill	114	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	57,288	0.0
	BNP	Nick Griffin	33	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.2	47,129	+0.1
	Alliance	Seán Neeson	10	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	28,999	−0.1
	Health Concern	Richard Taylor	1	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.1	28,487	N/A
	Speaker	N/A	1	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.1	16,053	N/A
	Liberal	Michael Meadowcroft	13	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.1	13,685	0.0
	UK Unionist	Robert McCartney	1	0	0	1	−1	0.0	0.1	13,509	+0.1
	ProLife Alliance	Bruno Quintavalle	37	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	9,453	−0.1
	Legalise Cannabis	Alun Buffry	13	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	8,677	N/A
	People's Justice	Shaukat Ali Khan	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	7,443	N/A
	Monster Raving Loony	Howling Laud Hope and Catmando	15	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	6,655	0.0
	PUP	Hugh Smyth	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	4,781	0.0
	Mebyon Kernow	Dick Cole	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	3,199	0.0
	NI Women's Coalition	Monica McWilliams and Pearl Sagar	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,968	0.0
	Scottish Unionist	Danny Houston	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,728	N/A
	Rock 'n' Roll Loony	Chris Driver	7	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,634	N/A
	National Front	Tom Holmes	5	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,484	0.0
	Workers' Party	Seán Garland	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	2,352	0.0
	Neath Port Talbot Ratepayers	Paul Evans	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,960	N/A
	NI Unionist	Cedric Wilson	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,794	N/A
	Socialist Alternative	Peter Taaffe	2	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,454	0.0
	Reform 2000	Erol Basarik	5	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,418	N/A
	Isle of Wight	Philip Murray	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,164	N/A
	Muslim		4	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,150	N/A
	Communist	Robert Griffiths	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	1,003	0.0
	New Britain	Dennis Delderfield	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	888	0.0
	Free Party	Bob Dobbs	3	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	832	N/A
	Leeds Left Alliance	Mike Davies	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	770	N/A
	New Millennium Bean Party	Captain Beany	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	727	N/A
	Workers Revolutionary	Sheila Torrance	6	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	607	0.0
	Tatton	Paul Williams	1	0	0	0	0	0.0	0.0	505	N/A

Government's new majority	167
Total votes cast	26,367,383
Turnout	59.4%

All parties with more than 500 votes shown.

The seat gains reflect changes on the 1997 general election result. Two seats had changed hands in by-elections in the intervening period. These were as follows:

• Romsey from Conservative to Liberal Democrats. The Liberal Democrats held this seat in 2001.
• South Antrim from Ulster Unionists to Democratic Unionists. The Ulster Unionists won this seat back in 2001.

The results of the election give a Gallagher index of dis-proportionality of 17.74.

Popular vote Labour   40.7% Conservative   31.7% Liberal Democrat   18.3% Scottish National   1.8% UK Independence   1.5% Others   6.1%

Parliamentary seats Labour   62.7% Conservative   25.2% Liberal Democrat   7.9% Ulster Unionist   0.9% Scottish National   0.8% Democratic Unionist   0.8% Others   1.8%

Results by constituent country

	LAB	CON	LD	SNP	PC	NI parties	Others	Total
England	323	165	40	-	-	-	1	533
Wales	34	-	2	-	4	-	-	40
Scotland	56	1	10	5	-	-	-	72
Northern Ireland	-	-	-	-	-	18	-	18
Total	413	166	52	5	4	18	1	659

Seats changing hands

Seat	1997 election		Constituency result 2001 by party						2001 election
			Con	Lab	Lib	PC	SNP	Others
Belfast North		Ulster Unionist								DUP gain
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr		Labour	4,912	13,540	2,815	16,130		656		Plaid Cymru gain
Castle Point		Labour	17,738	16,753	3,116			1273		Conservative gain
Cheadle		Conservative	18,444	6,086	18,477			599		Liberal Democrats gain
Chesterfield		Labour	3,613	18,663	21,249			437		Liberal Democrats gain
Dorset Mid and Poole North		Conservative	17,974	6,765	18,358			621		Liberal Democrats gain
Dorset South		Conservative	18,874	19,027	6,531			913		Labour gain
Fermanagh and South Tyrone		Ulster Unionist								Sinn Féin gain
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale		SNP	12,222	7,258	3,698		12,148	588		Conservative gain
Guildford		Conservative	19,820	6,558	20,358			736		Liberal Democrats gain
Isle of Wight		Liberal Democrats	25,223	9,676	22,397			2,106		Conservative gain
Londonderry East		Ulster Unionist								DUP gain
Ludlow		Conservative	16,990	5,785	18,620			871		Liberal Democrats gain
Newark		Labour	20,983	16,910	5,970					Conservative gain
Norfolk North		Conservative	23,495	7,490	23,978			649		Liberal Democrats gain
Norfolk North West		Labour	24,846	21,361	4,292			704		Conservative gain
North Down		UK Unionist								Ulster Unionist gain
Romford		Labour	18,931	12,954	2,869					Conservative gain
Romsey		Conservative	20,386	3,986	22,756					Liberal Democrats gain
Strangford		Ulster Unionist								DUP gain
Tatton		Independent	19,860	11,249	7,685					Conservative gain
Taunton		Liberal Democrats	23,033	8,254	22,798			1,140		Conservative gain
Teignbridge		Conservative	23,332	7,366	26,343					Liberal Democrats gain
Tyrone West		Ulster Unionist								Sinn Féin gain
Upminster		Labour	15,410	14,169	3,183			1,089		Conservative gain
Wyre Forest		Labour	9,350	10,857				28,487		Independent gain
Ynys Mon		Plaid Cymru	7,653	11,906	2,772	11,106				Labour gain

MPs who lost their seats

Party		Name	Constituency	Office held whilst in power	Year elected	Defeated by	Party
	Labour Party	Alan Williams	Carmarthen East and Dinefwr		1987	Adam Price		Plaid Cymru
		Christine Butler	Castle Point		1997	Dr. Bob Spink		Conservative Party
		Fiona Jones	Newark		1997	Colonel Patrick Mercer		Conservative Party
		George Turner	Norfolk North West		1997	Henry Bellingham		Conservative Party
		Eileen Gordon	Romford		1997	Andrew Rosindell		Conservative Party
		Keith Darvill	Upminster		1997	Angela Watkinson		Conservative Party
		David Lock	Wyre Forest		1997	Dr. Richard Taylor		Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern
	Conservative Party	Stephen Day	Cheadle		1987	Patsy Calton		Liberal Democrats
		Christopher Fraser	Mid Dorset and North Poole		1997	Annette Brooke		Liberal Democrats
		Ian Bruce	Dorset South		1987	Jim Knight		Labour Party
		Nick St Aubyn	Guildford		1997	Sue Doughty		Liberal Democrats
		The Hon. David Prior	Norfolk North		1997	Norman Lamb		Liberal Democrats
		Patrick Nicholls	Teignbridge		1983	Richard Younger-Ross		Liberal Democrats
	Liberal Democrats	Dr. Peter Brand	Isle of Wight		1997	Andrew Turner		Conservative Party
		Jackie Ballard	Taunton		1997	Adrian Flook		Conservative Party
	Ulster Unionist Party	Willie Ross	East Londonderry		1974	Gregory Campbell		Democratic Unionist Party
		Cecil Walker	North Belfast		1983	Nigel Dodds		Democratic Unionist Party
		William Thompson	West Tyrone		1997	Pat Doherty		Sinn Féin
	Democratic Unionist Party	William McCrea	Antrim South		2000	David Burnside		Ulster Unionist Party
	UK Unionist Party	Robert McCartney	North Down		1995	Lady Hermon		Ulster Unionist Party
	Independent	Martin Bell	Tatton contesting Brentwood and Ongar		1997	Eric Pickles		Conservative Party

Voter Demographics

MORI interviewed 18,657 adults in Great Britain after the election which suggested the following demographic breakdown... ^[24]

The 2001 UK general election vote in Great Britain (in percent)
Social Group	Lab	Con	Lib Dem	Others	Lead	Turnout
Total	42	33	19	6	9	59
Gender
Men	42	32	18	8	10	61
Women	42	33	19	6	9	58
Age
18-24	41	27	24	8	14	39
25-34	51	24	19	6	27	46
35-44	45	28	19	8	17	59
45-54	41	32	20	7	9	65
55-64	37	39	17	7	2	69
65+	39	40	17	4	1	70
Social class
AB	30	39	25	6	9	68
C1	38	36	20	6	2	60
C2	49	29	15	7	20	56
DE	55	24	13	8	31	53
Work status
Full time	43	30	20	7	13	57
Part time	43	29	21	7	14	56
Not working	41	36	18	5	5	63
Unemployed	54	23	11	12	31	44
Self-employed	32	39	18	11	7	60
Housing tenure
Owner	32	43	19	6	11	68
Mortgage	42	31	20	7	11	59
Council/HA	60	18	14	8	42	52
Private rent	40	28	25	7	12	46
Men by age
18-24	38	29	26	7	9	43
25-34	52	24	19	5	28	47
35-54	43	29	19	9	14	64
55+	39	39	16	6	Tie	73
Men by social class
AB	31	38	25	6	7	68
C1	39	36	14	11	3	62
C2	49	28	14	9	21	56
DE	55	23	14	8	32	56
Women by age
18-24	45	24	23	8	21	36
25-34	49	25	19	7	24	46
35-54	43	31	20	6	12	60
55+	38	40	18	4	2	67
Women by social class
AB	28	41	26	5	13	68
C1	37	37	20	6	Tie	59
C2	48	30	17	5	18	56
DE	56	25	13	6	31	50
Readership
Daily Express	33	43	19	5	10	63
Daily Mail	24	55	17	4	31	65
The Mirror	71	11	13	5	58	62
Daily Record	59	8	10	23	36	57
Daily Telegraph	16	65	14	5	49	71
Financial Times	30	48	21	1	18	64
The Guardian	52	6	34	8	18	68
The Independent	38	12	44	6	6	69
Daily Star	56	21	17	6	35	48
The Sun	52	29	11	8	23	50
The Times	28	40	26	6	12	66
No daily paper	45	27	22	6	18	56
Evening Standard	42	29	21	8	13	51
Sunday Readership
News of World	55	27	12	6	28	52
Sunday Express	29	47	20	4	18	67
Sunday Mail	53	14	13	20	33	59
Sunday Mirror	72	16	9	3	56	62
Sunday Post	43	22	18	17	21	64
Sunday Telegraph	17	63	13	7	46	71
Mail on Sunday	25	53	17	5	28	65
The Observer	53	4	34	9	19	71
Sunday People	65	19	13	3	46	60
Sunday Times	29	40	24	7	11	67
Independent on Sunday	47	10	37	6	10	70
No Sunday paper	42	30	22	6	12	55

The disproportionality of the house of parliament in the 2001 election was 18.03 according to the Gallagher Index, mainly between Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

Manifestos

• Labour (Ambitions for Britain)
• Conservative (Time for Common Sense)
• Liberal Democrat (Freedom, Justice, Honesty)
• UK Independence Party
• British National Party (Where we stand!)
• Green Party of England and Wales
• Ulster Unionist Party
• Progressive Unionist Party
• Social Democratic and Labour Party (It's working – let's keep building)
• Plaid Cymru
• Scottish National Party (Heart of the Manifesto 2001)
• ProLife Alliance
• The Democratic Party (The will of the people NOT the party)
• Kidderminster Health Concern
• Monster Raving Loony Party (Vote for insanity – you know it makes sense)
• The Stuckist Party
• Scottish Socialist Party
• Left Alliance
• Communist Party of Britain (People's need before corporate profit greed)
• Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist)

See also

• List of MPs elected in the 2001 United Kingdom general election
• List of MPs for constituencies in Wales (2001–2005)
• List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (2001–2005)
• 2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth outbreak
• 2001 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 2001 United Kingdom general election in England
• 2001 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 2001 United Kingdom general election in Wales
• 2001 United Kingdom local elections

References

1. "Turnout 'at 80-year low'". BBC . 8 June 2001. Retrieved 7 December 2022.
2. Parkinson, Justin (3 August 2010). "The rise and fall of New Labour". BBC News. Retrieved 12 May 2015.
3. Audickas, Lukas; Cracknell, Richard (13 December 2018). "UK Election Statistics: 1918–2018: 100 Years of Elections" (PDF). Briefing Paper Number CBP7529. House of Commons Library. p. 25. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
4. "BBC Vote 2001 Coverage". YouTube . Archived from the original on 23 November 2021.
5. Overs, Jeff (1 June 2001). "General Election 2001 postal vote ballot paper voting slip". BBC News & Current Affairs. 466659381. Retrieved 1 April 2019– via Getty Images.
6. "Tories 'to cut fuel duty'". BBC News. 10 May 2001. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
7. "2001: Labour claims second term". BBC News. 5 April 2005. Retrieved 26 May 2010.
8. Harrop, Martin (2001). An Apathetic Landslide: The British Election of 2001. Cambridge University Press. pp. 295–313.
9. "'Get out and vote. Or they get in.' – Election 2001". The Guardian. London. Archived from the original on 20 April 2017.
10. "Sun newspaper front page". Archived from the original on 3 June 2021.
11. "Sun prints Tories' obituary". BBC News Online. London. 7 October 1998. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
12. McElvoy, Anne (7 October 1998). "Hague's parrot is not dead, he's just resting – with the odd squawk" . The Independent . London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
13. "Memorable Conservative, Labour and Liberal Democrat posters from previous election campaigns". The Daily Telegraph. 12 April 2010.
14. "2001: Labour claims second term". BBC News. 5 April 2005.
15. Duncan Watts (2006). British Government and Politics: A Comparative Guide. Edinburgh University. ISBN   978-0-7486-2323-5.
16. "BBC NEWS – VOTE2001 – Ambush upset Blair's day". 16 May 2001.
17. "BBC NEWS – VOTE2001 – Cancer patient's partner confronts Blair". 17 May 2001.
18. "2001: Prescott punches protester". BBC On This Day. 16 May 2001. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
19. "The politics of UK newspapers". 30 September 2009 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
20. Stoddard, Katy (4 May 2010). "Newspaper support in UK general elections". The Guardian.
21. "The poll that never was". BBC News. 11 June 2001.
22. "Labour romps home again". BBC News. 8 June 2001.
23. Morgan, Bryn (18 June 2001). "General Election Results, 7 June 2001 [Revised Edition]" (PDF). Research Paper 01/54. House of Commons Library. p. 11. Retrieved 1 April 2019.
24. "How Britain Voted in 2001". Ipsos. 20 July 2001.

Bibliography

• Butler, David and Dennis Kavanagh. The British General Election of 2001 (2002), the standard scholarly study
• Morgan, Bryn (18 June 2001). "General Election Results, 7 June 2001 [Revised Edition]" (PDF). Research Paper 01/54. House of Commons Library.

External links

• BBC News: Vote 2001 – in depth coverage.
• Catalogue of 2001 general election ephemera at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.