Results breakdown of the 2015 United Kingdom general election explained
Election Name: | 2015 United Kingdom general election |
Country: | United Kingdom |
Previous Election: | 2010 |
Next Election: | 2017 |
Seats For Election: | All 650 seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom |
Majority Seats: | 326 |
Election Date: | 7 May 2015 |
Turnout: | 66.4% |
Leader1: | David Cameron |
Party1: | Conservative Party (UK) |
Last Election1: | 302 |
Seats1: | 330 |
Popular Vote1: | 11,299,959 |
Percentage1: | 36.9% |
Leader2: | Ed Miliband |
Party2: | Labour Party (UK) |
Last Election2: | 256 |
Seats2: | 232 |
Popular Vote2: | 9,344,328 |
Percentage2: | 30.4% |
Leader3: | Nicola Sturgeon |
Party3: | Scottish National Party |
Last Election3: | 6 |
Seats3: | 56 |
Popular Vote3: | 1,454,436 |
Percentage3: | 4.7% |
Leader4: | Nick Clegg |
Party4: | Liberal Democrats (UK) |
Last Election4: | 56 |
Seats4: | 8 |
Popular Vote4: | 2,415,888 |
Percentage4: | 7.9% |
Leader5: | Peter Robinson |
Party5: | Democratic Unionist Party |
Last Election5: | 8 |
Seats5: | 8 |
Popular Vote5: | 184,260 |
Percentage5: | 0.6% |
Leader6: | Gerry Adams |
Party6: | Sinn Féin |
Last Election6: | 5 |
Seats6: | 4 |
Popular Vote6: | 176,232 |
Percentage6: | 0.6% |
Leader7: | Leanne Wood |
Party7: | Plaid Cymru |
Last Election7: | 3 |
Seats7: | 3 |
Popular Vote7: | 181,694 |
Percentage7: | 0.6% |
Leader8: | Alasdair McDonnell |
Party8: | Social Democratic and Labour Party |
Last Election8: | 3 |
Seats8: | 3 |
Popular Vote8: | 99,809 |
Percentage8: | 0.3% |
Leader9: | Mike Nesbitt |
Party9: | Ulster Unionist Party |
Last Election9: | 0 |
Seats9: | 2 |
Popular Vote9: | 114,935 |
Percentage9: | 0.4% |
Leader10: | Nigel Farage |
Party10: | UK Independence Party |
Last Election10: | 2 |
Seats10: | 1 |
Popular Vote10: | 3,881,129 |
Percentage10: | 12.6% |
Leader11: | Natalie Bennett |
Party11: | Green Party of England and Wales |
Last Election11: | 1 |
Seats11: | 1 |
Popular Vote11: | 1,157,613 |
Percentage11: | 3.8% |
Prime Minister |
Before Election: | David Cameron |
Before Party: | Conservative Party (UK) |
Before Image: | David Cameron official.jpg |
Before Image Size: | 100x100px |
After Election: | David Cameron |
After Party: | Conservative Party (UK) |
After Image: | David Cameron official.jpg |
After Image Size: | 100x100px |
This is the results breakdown of the 2015 United Kingdom general election.
Swing
The shares of votes of each party changed as follows:
Change in vote share by partyParty | 2010% | 2015% | ∆% |
---|
| 36.1 | 36.8 | +0.7 |
| 29.0 | 30.5 | +1.5 |
| 1.7 | 4.7 | +3.0 |
| 23.0 | 7.9 | −15.1 |
| 0.9 | 3.8 | +2.9 |
| 3.1 | 12.7 | +9.6 |
Other | 6.2 | 3.6 | −2.6 |
Totals | 100.0 | 100.0 | – | |
The following table is a list of seats changing hands as a result of the election based on the results of the 2015 election compared to the General Election held in May 2010,[1] and so notwithstanding the results of by-elections to the 55th Parliament.
The Conservative Party became the first party in government since the 1983 general election to increase the number of seats they held at a general election. In total they gained 24 seats to win an overall majority of 12.[2] They gained six seats from Labour in England and two in Wales, while also winning 16 seats from their former coalition partners, the Liberal Democrats.
The Labour Party had a net loss of 26 seats, see table below. Although they did gain twelve seats in England from the Conservatives (eight of them in London) and 23 from the Liberal Democrats, they suffered their worst defeat in Scotland in the age of universal suffrage, losing forty of their forty-one seats to the Scottish National Party (SNP).[3] They also had a net loss of one seat in Wales.[4] Ed Miliband immediately resigned as leader, handing over temporarily to deputy leader Harriet Harman.
The SNP enjoyed their best election result, gaining forty seats from Labour and ten from the Liberal Democrats to hold 56 of Scotland's 59 constituencies. The other parties held one seat each.
The Liberal Democrats had been part of a coalition government with the Conservatives prior to the election with 57 seats in parliament. However, they held just eight seats, their worst election result since the old Liberal Party secured six seats in 1970.[5] Of the five Liberal Democrat cabinet ministers, three lost their seats.[6] They also lost 338 deposits.[7] As a result, Nick Clegg, although he was one of the two surviving ministers, resigned as leader.[6]
The Green Party and UK Independence Party (UKIP) each held one seat: UKIP, however, failed to defend Rochester and Strood, which it had won in a by-election in 2014.[8]
Seats changing hands
Seats changing hands at May 2015 General Election relative to May 2010Seat | 2010 election | 2015 election |
---|
Aberdeen North | | gain |
---|
Aberdeen South | | gain |
---|
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine | | gain |
---|
Airdrie and Shotts | | gain |
---|
Argyll and Bute | | gain |
---|
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock | | gain |
---|
Bath | | gain |
---|
Belfast East | | gain |
---|
Bermondsey and Old Southwark | | gain |
---|
Berwick-upon-Tweed | | gain |
---|
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk | | gain |
---|
Birmingham, Yardley | | gain |
---|
Bolton West | | gain |
---|
Bradford East | | gain |
---|
Brecon and Radnorshire | | gain |
---|
Brent Central | | gain |
---|
Brentford and Isleworth | | gain |
---|
Bristol West | | gain |
---|
Burnley | | gain |
---|
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross | | gain |
---|
Cambridge | | gain |
---|
Cardiff Central | | gain |
---|
Central Ayrshire | | gain |
---|
Cheadle | | gain |
---|
Cheltenham | | gain |
---|
Chippenham | | gain |
---|
City of Chester | | gain |
---|
Clacton | | gain |
---|
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill | | gain |
---|
Colchester | | gain |
---|
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East | | gain |
---|
Derby North | | gain |
---|
Dewsbury | | gain |
---|
Dumfries and Galloway | | gain |
---|
Dundee West | | gain |
---|
Dunfermline and West Fife | | gain |
---|
Ealing Central and Acton | | gain |
---|
East Dunbartonshire | | gain |
---|
East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow | | gain |
---|
East Lothian | | gain |
---|
East Renfrewshire | | gain |
---|
Eastbourne | | gain |
---|
Eastleigh | | gain |
---|
Edinburgh East | | gain |
---|
Edinburgh North and Leith | | gain |
---|
Edinburgh South West | | gain |
---|
Edinburgh West | | gain |
---|
Enfield North | | gain |
---|
Falkirk | | gain |
---|
Fermanagh and South Tyrone | | gain |
---|
Glasgow Central | | gain |
---|
Glasgow East | | gain |
---|
Glasgow North | | gain |
---|
Glasgow North East | | gain |
---|
Glasgow North West | | gain |
---|
Glasgow South | | gain |
---|
Glasgow South West | | gain |
---|
Glenrothes | | gain |
---|
Gordon | | gain |
---|
Gower | | gain |
---|
Hazel Grove | | gain |
---|
Hornsey and Wood Green | | gain |
---|
Hove | | gain |
---|
Ilford North | | gain |
---|
Inverclyde | | gain |
---|
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey | | gain |
---|
Kilmarnock and Loudoun | | gain |
---|
Kingston and Surbiton | | gain |
---|
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath | | gain |
---|
Lanark and Hamilton East | | gain |
---|
Lancaster and Fleetwood | | gain |
---|
Lewes | | gain |
---|
Linlithgow and East Falkirk | | gain |
---|
Livingston | | gain |
---|
Manchester Withington | | gain |
---|
Mid Dorset and North Poole | | gain |
---|
Midlothian | | gain |
---|
Morley and Outwood | | gain |
---|
Motherwell and Wishaw | | gain |
---|
North Ayrshire and Arran | | gain |
---|
North Cornwall | | gain |
---|
North Devon | | gain |
---|
North East Fife | | gain |
---|
Norwich South | | gain |
---|
Ochil and Perthshire South | | gain |
---|
Paisley and Renfrewshire North | | gain |
---|
Paisley and Renfrewshire South | | gain |
---|
Plymouth Moorview | | gain |
---|
Portsmouth South | | gain |
---|
Redcar | | gain |
---|
Ross, Skye and Lochaber | | gain |
---|
Rutherglen and Hamilton West | | gain |
---|
St Austell and Newquay | | gain |
---|
St Ives | | gain |
---|
Solihull | | gain |
---|
Somerton and Frome | | gain |
---|
South Antrim | | gain |
---|
Southampton Itchen | | gain |
---|
Stirling | | gain |
---|
Sutton and Cheam | | gain |
---|
Taunton Deane | | gain |
---|
Telford | | gain |
---|
Thornbury and Yate | | gain |
---|
Torbay | | gain |
---|
Twickenham | | gain |
---|
Vale of Clwyd | | gain |
---|
Wells | | gain |
---|
West Dunbartonshire | | gain |
---|
Wirral West | | gain |
---|
Wolverhampton South West | | gain |
---|
Yeovil | | gain | |
---|
England
East of England
East Midlands
Affiliation | Members |
---|
| Conservative | 32 |
| Labour | 14 |
Total | 46 | |
---|
London
North East
Affiliation | Members |
---|
| Labour | 26 |
| Conservative | 3 |
Total | 29 | |
---|
North West
South East
South West
Affiliation | Members |
---|
| Conservative | 51 |
| Labour | 4 |
Total | 55 | |
---|
West Midlands
Affiliation | Members |
---|
| Conservative | 34 |
| Labour | 25 |
Total | 59 | |
---|
Yorkshire and the Humber
Wales
Scotland
Northern Ireland
Notes and References
- Web site: House of Commons 2010 seats per party. General Elections Online. House of Commons Library. 31 August 2015.
- Web site: Election 2015: Results. BBC News: Politics. BBC. 13 June 2015. Care has to be taken in interpreting the gains and losses shown by the BBC and other media outlets as they usually do not compare with the General Election in 2010.
- News: Election 2015: SNP wins 56 of 59 seats in Scots landslide. BBC. 13 June 2015. BBC News. 8 May 2015.
- News: Election 2015: Best Welsh Tory election for 30 years. BBC. 13 June 2015. BBC News. 8 May 2015.
- News: Cowburn. Ashley. Liberal Democrat activists say leaders took them down a centrist blind alley. The Guardian. GMG. 13 June 2015. 9 May 2015.
- News: Election results: Nick Clegg resigns after Lib Dem losses. BBC. 13 June 2015. BBC News. 8 May 2015.
- News: Henderson. Barney. LibDemDeposits: Liberal Democrats count costs of huge losses. The Daily Telegraph. 13 June 2015. 8 May 2015.
- News: Rochester and Strood. BBC. 13 June 2015. BBC News.