2005 United Kingdom general election in England

2005 United Kingdom general election in England

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All 529 English seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tony Blair Michael Howard Charles Kennedy Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader since 21 July 1994 6 November 2003 9 August 1999 Last election 323 seats, 41.4% 165 seats, 35.2% 40 seats, 19.4% Seats won 286 194 47 Seat change 37 29 7 Popular vote 8,043,461 8,116,005 5,201,286 Percentage 35.4% 35.7% 22.9% Swing 6.0% 0.5% 3.6%

Main article: 2005 United Kingdom general election

WARNING: This Wikipedia page has inaccuracies according to the House of Commons General Election 2005 report. ^[1]

The 2005 United Kingdom general election in England took place on 5 May 2005 for 529 English seats in the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won an overall majority of seats for the third successive election.

Within England, the Conservative Party received 72,544 more votes than the Labour Party, but Labour won an overall majority of English seats. ^{[2] [3]} The Liberal Democrats made modest gains, finishing with 23% of the vote and 47 seats. The only other parties to win seats were the Respect Party, who gained Bethnal Green and Bow from Labour, and Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern, who won Wyre Forest for the second election in a row.

Results table

Below is a table summarising the results of the 2005 general election in England.

Party [4]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Labour	286	0	37	37	54.1	8,043,461	35.4	6.0
	Conservative	194	32	3	29	36.7	8,116,005	35.7	0.5
	Liberal Democrats	47	12	5	7	8.9	5,201,286	22.9	3.6
	Respect	1	1	0	1	0.2	67,422	0.3	0.3
	Health Concern	1	0	0		0.2	18,739	0.1
	UKIP	0	0	0		0.0	592,417	2.6	0.9
	Green	0	0	0		0.0	251,051	1.1	0.4
	BNP	0	0	0		0.0	189,570	0.8	0.6
	Veritas	0	0	0		0.0	39,044	0.2	New
	Liberal	0	0	0		0.0	17,547	0.1
	Others	0	0	0		0.0	177,343	0.8	N/A
							22,713,855	61.0	1.9

Popular vote Conservative   35.7% Labour   35.4% Liberal Democrats   22.9% UKIP   2.6% Greens   1.1% Other   2.3%

Parliament seats Labour   54.1% Conservative   36.7% Liberal Democrats   8.9% Respect   0.2% ICHC   0.2%

Regional results

Regional vote shares and changes are sourced from the BBC. ^[4]

East Midlands

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	25	-	3	-3	785,944	39.0	-6.1
	Conservative	18	3	-	+3	747,438	37.1	-0.2
	Liberal Democrats	1	-	-	-	372,041	18.5	+3.1
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	52,998	2.6	+1.5
	Others	-	-	-	-	41,044	1.8	+1.7
Total		44		Turnout		2,015,282	62.6

East of England

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	40	6	-	+6	1,147,180	43.3	+1.5
	Labour	13	-	7	-7	790,372	29.8	-7.0
	Liberal Democrats	3	1	-	+1	578,741	21.8	+4.3
	UKIP	-	-	-	−	83,112	4.3	+1.1
	Others	-	-	-	-	50,408	2.0	—
Total		56		Turnout		2,649,813	63.9

London

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	44	0	11	-11	1,135,687	38.9	-8.4
	Conservative	21	7	-	+7	931,966	31.9	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	8	2	-	+2	638,333	21.9	+4.4
	Green	-	-	-	−	78,595	2.7	+1.0
	UKIP	-	-	-	−	42,956	1.5	+0.5
	Respect	-	-	1	+1	40,735	1.4	+1.4
	BNP	-	-	-	−	19,024	0.7	+0.2
	Others	-	-	-	-	30,894	1.0	—
Total		74		Turnout		2,918,190	57.8

North East

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	28 [5]	-	-		580,453	52.9	-6.5
	Liberal Democrats	1	-	-		256,295	23.6	+6.6
	Conservative	1	-	-		214,414	19.5	-1.8
	UKIP	-	-	-		11,703	1.1	+0.3
	BNP	-	-	-		9,672	0.9	+0.9
	Others	-	-	-		25,664	2.0	—
Total		30		Turnout		1,098,201	57.1

North West

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	47	-	13	-13	1,292,978	39.5	-5.6
	Conservative	22	12	-	+12	1,038,967	31.7	+3.0
	Liberal Democrats	6	1	-	+1	707,770	21.6	+0.2
	UKIP	-	-	-	−	103,782	3.2	+1.2
	Others	-	-	-	-	132,733	4.0	—
Total		75		Turnout		3,276,230	63.6

South East

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	75	15	1	+14	2,140,895	49.9	+4.9
	Liberal Democrats	4	1	3	-2	1,124,786	26.2	+0.8
	Labour	4	-	13	-13	697,567	16.2	-8.1
	Green	1	1	-	1	62,124	1.4	+0.1
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	177,269	4.1	+1.0
	Others	-	-	-	-	91,599	2.2	—
Total		84		Turnout		4,294,240	68.0

South West

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	36	12	1	+11	1,187,637	42.8	+4.2
	Liberal Democrats	15	1	4	-3	962,954	34.7	+2.2
	Labour	4	-	8	-8	426,910	15.4	-7.4
	UKIP	-	-	-	-	123,975	4.5	+0.7
	Others	-	-	-	-	71,967	2.6	—
Total		55		Turnout		2,773,443	69.1

West Midlands

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Conservative	33	16	1	+15	1,044,081	39.5	+4.5
	Labour	24	-	14	-14	808,114	30.6	-8.9
	Liberal Democrats	2	1	1	-	540,160	20.5	+1.9
	UKIP	-	-	-	−	105,685	4.0	+0.8
	BNP	-	-	-	-	73,394	2.8	+1.0
	Health Concern	1	-	-	-	18,793	0.8	-0.4
	Others	-	-	-	-	52,881	2.1	—
Total		59		Turnout		2,640,465	64.6

Yorkshire and Humber

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	Labour	32	-	9	-9	821,368	34.7	-9.3
	Conservative	18	10	-	+10	769,895	32.5	+3.9
	Liberal Democrats	3	1	2	-1	543,684	23.0	+2.2
	BNP	-	-	-	-	104,177	4.4	+1.6
	Others	-	-	-	-	129,153	5.4	—
Total		53		Turnout		2,368,277	63.2

Analysis

The total Labour vote in England declined by 6% and by varying amounts in every English Region, but with sharp variations locally. For example, in Bethnal Green and Bow, London, former Labour MP George Galloway, running as a candidate for the anti-war Respect, defeated Oona King (Labour) who in the previous General Election had a majority of 10,057. ^[6] Labour polled 70,000 fewer votes in England than the Conservatives, but won 92 more seats. ^[4] Labour regained one of its by-election losses, Leicester South, ^[7] but saw an increased Liberal Democrat majority in the other, Brent East. Overall, Labour lost 37 English MPs compared to 2001. ^[4]

The Conservatives made gains in most regions of England, though their vote declined in some areas, notably the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber (2% and 1.5% declines, respectively). However, even in regions where the Conservative vote declined, the Labour vote declined by a greater margin, allowing the Conservatives to make gains against Labour. Overall, the Conservatives gained 0.5% of the vote in England compared to 2001, and gained 29 seats. In Enfield Southgate, Conservative David Burrowes ousted Labour Stephen Twigg, who had famously defeated Michael Portillo for that seat in the 1997 elections. ^[8]

The Liberal Democrats made modest gains in all regions of England, improving by at least 1% in every region. The party made a net gain of 7 seats, winning a total of 47, the best result for the Liberal Democrats or Liberals in England since 1923. ^[9]

Former BBC presenter, Robert Kilroy-Silk, who had joined the UK Independence Party (UKIP) before leaving to set up Veritas, came fourth in Erewash in what was the best performance by Veritas, receiving 2,957 votes. The seat was won by Labour's Liz Blackman.

There were regional surges in support for the British National Party, who however failed to win any seats, their highest poll being 16.9% in the Labour stronghold of Barking, East London. ^[10] The party fielded 119 candidates in seats throughout the country, gaining 0.7% of the total votes cast. The 119 candidates fielded represented a significant rise as in 2001, the BNP only fielded 33 candidates. ^[11]

The Green Party came third in Brighton Pavilion (with Keith Taylor as candidate) behind Labour and the Conservatives, taking 21.9% of the votes cast. Despite this unprecedented high share of the vote Taylor was not selected to contest the seat in the 2010 general election, losing his prospective position to Caroline Lucas.

The English Democrats gained their highest percentage of the vote in Greenwich and Woolwich, winning 3.4% of votes cast. ^[12]

The Independent Working Class Association stood for the first time in a general election, having previously only stood in local council elections. The party gained 2.1% of the vote in Oxford East.

See also

• 2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 2005 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 2005 United Kingdom general election in Wales

References

1. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/RP05-33/RP05-33.pdf
2. Sparrow, Andrew (6 May 2005). "Tories won more votes in England than Labour". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 6 May 2020.
3. Agrawal, Manoj (2015). Electoral Reforms: A Step Towards Good Governance. India: Prabhat Prakashan. p. 32. ISBN   978-93-5186-426-4. The growth in support for PR has stemmed largely from recent concerns about the First Past the Post system. [...] In [the 2005] election, popular vote actually saw the Conservatives getting more support than Labour. The vote share of Conservatives was 35.7% and that of Labour Party was 35.4%.
4. "Election 2005 - Results, England". BBC News. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
5. https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/RP05-33/RP05-33.pdf
6. Left, Sarah (6 May 2005). "Chastened Blair wins historic third term". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 July 2022.
7. Waller, Robert; Criddle, Byron (2007). The Almanac of British Politics. Routledge. pp. 12–13. ISBN   978-1-135-20676-5.
8. "Minister Twigg beaten by Tories". 6 May 2005. Retrieved 26 July 2022– via news.bbc.co.uk.
9. Cook, Chris (2010). A Short History of the Liberal Party: The Road Back to Power. Springer. p. 340. ISBN   9781137056078 – via Google Books.
10. Kundnani, Arun (20 October 2005). "London becomes BNP heartland". Institute of Race Relations . Retrieved 26 July 2022.
11. Copsey, Nigel (2016). Anti-Fascism in Britain. Taylor & Francis. p. 200. ISBN   9781138926509 – via Google Books.
12. Black, Jeremy (2018). English Nationalism: A Short History. Oxford University Press. p. 154. ISBN   9781787380820 – via Google Books.

External links

• "The 2005 General Election: Worst Election Ever". Electoral Reform Society. 27 May 2005. Retrieved 28 July 2022.