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1929 United Kingdom general election

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1929 United Kingdom general election

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FieldValue
election_name1929 United Kingdom general election
countryUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
typeparliamentary
ongoingno
previous_election1924 United Kingdom general election
previous_year1924
outgoing_membersList of MPs elected in the 1924 United Kingdom general election
next_election1931 United Kingdom general election
next_year1931
elected_membersList of MPs elected in the 1929 United Kingdom general election
seats_for_electionAll 615 seats in the House of Commons
majority_seats308
elected_mpsList of MPs elected in the 1929 United Kingdom general election
election_date30 May 1929
turnout21,685,779
76.3% (0.7 pp)
<!-- Labour -->image1[[File:Ramsay MacDonald ggbain 35734.jpg150x150px]]
leader1Ramsay MacDonald
leader_since1[21 November 1922](1922-labour-party-leadership-election-uk)
party1Labour Party (UK)
leaders_seat1Seaham
last_election1151 seats, 33.3%
seats1**287**
seat_change1136
popular_vote18,048,968
percentage137.1%
swing13.8 pp
<!-- Conservative -->image2[[File:Stanley Baldwin 1932.jpg150x150px]]
leader2Stanley Baldwin
leader_since223 May 1923
party2Conservative Party (UK)
leaders_seat2Bewdley
last_election2412 seats, 46.8%
seats2260
seat_change2152
popular_vote2**8,252,527**
percentage2**38.1%**
swing28.7 pp
<!-- Liberal -->image3[[File:David Lloyd George.jpg150x150px]]
leader3David Lloyd George
leader_since314 October 1926
party3Liberal Party (UK)
leaders_seat3Caernarvon Boroughs
last_election340 seats, 17.8%
seats359
seat_change319
popular_vote35,104,638
percentage323.6%
swing35.8 pp
map_image1929 UK general election map.svg
map_size380px
map_captionColours denote the winning party—as shown in
titlePrime Minister
posttitlePrime Minister after election
before_electionStanley Baldwin
before_partyConservative Party (UK)
after_electionRamsay MacDonald
after_partyLabour Party (UK)
map2_imageFile:1929 UK GE composition diagram.svg
map2_captionDiagram displaying the composition of the House of Commons following the election

76.3% (0.7 pp) A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday, 30 May 1929, with Parliament dissolved on 10 May. It resulted in a hung parliament: despite receiving fewer votes than the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party won the most seats in the House of Commons, with the Liberal Party, led again by former Prime Minister David Lloyd George, regaining some of the ground lost in 1924 and holding the balance of power.

The election was often referred to as the "Flapper Election", because it was the first in which women aged 21–29 had the right to vote (owing to the Representation of the People Act 1928). Women over 30, with some property qualifications, had been able to vote since the 1918 general election, but the 1929 vote was the first general election with universal suffrage for adults over 21, which was then the age of majority.

The election was fought against a background of rising unemployment, with the memory of the 1926 general strike still fresh in voters' minds. By 1929, the Cabinet was being described by many as "old and exhausted".

The Liberals campaigned on a comprehensive programme of public works under the title "We Can Conquer Unemployment". There was anticipation of a potential revival of the Liberal Party after the reunification of Independent Liberals and National Liberals now under Lloyd George's leadership since 1926 and following some victories in a series of recent by-elections after 1926. The incumbent Conservatives campaigned on the theme of "Safety First", with Labour campaigning on the theme of "Labour & the Nation".

This was the first general election to be contested by the newly formed Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru.

It stood as the last time when a third party polled more than one-fifth of the popular vote until 1983. The Liberals performed more successfully than at the previous general election in 1924, but could not regain their pre-World War I status as a party of government.

Results

|votes % = 38.1 |seats % = 42.3 |plus/minus = −8.7 |votes % = 37.1 |seats % = 46.7 |plus/minus = +3.8 |votes % = 23.6 |seats % = 9.6 |plus/minus = +5.8 |votes % = 0.4 |seats % = 0.8 |plus/minus = +0.2 |votes % = 0.2 |seats % = |plus/minus = −0.1 |votes % = 0.2 |seats % = |plus/minus = |votes % = 0.1 |seats % = 0.2 |plus/minus = +0.1 |votes % = 0.1 |seats % = 0.5 |plus/minus = +0.1 |votes % = 0.1 |seats % = 0.2 |plus/minus = +0.1 |votes % = 0.1 |seats % = |plus/minus = +0.1 |votes % = 0.0 |seats % = |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.0 |seats % = |plus/minus = N/A |votes % = 0.0 |seats % = |plus/minus = N/A |}

Note
Note

All parties shown. Conservatives include Ulster Unionists.

Votes summary

Seats summary

Constituency results

Transfers of seats

  • All comparisons are with the 1924 election.
    • In some cases, the change is due to the MP's having defected to the gaining party, and then retaining the seat in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
    • In other circumstances, the change is due to the seat's having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a †.
ToFromNo.SeatsLabour gains:142Liberal gains:36Conservative gains:2
1Govan*
Labour Party (UK)}}"1Battersea North
15Chesterfield, South Shields, Walthamstow West, Bristol North, Bristol South, Kingston upon Hull Central*, Blackburn (one of two), Oldham (one of two), Hackney South, Lambeth North, Bradford East, Batley and Morley, Wrexham, Carmarthen, Swansea West
3Walthamstow East1, Accrington2, Stoke2
121Stirlingshire West, Dunbartonshire, Lanark, Partick, Lanarkshire North†, Renfrewshire West, Maryhill, Kilmarnock, Edinburgh West, Linlithgow†, Berwick & Haddington, Reading, Birkenhead West, Crewe, Stalybridge and Hyde, Stockport (one of two)†, Carlisle, Whitehaven, Derby (one of two), Belper, Derbyshire South, Drake, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield, Darlington†, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland (both seats), Leyton East, East Ham North, Essex SE, Leyton West, Romford, Upton, Bristol Central, Portsmouth Central, Southampton (both seats), Dudley, Stourbridge†, Kingston upon Hull East, Kingston upon Hull South West, Chatham, Dartford, Blackburn (one of two), Ormskirk, Rossendale, Ashton-under-Lyne†, Bolton (both seats), Eccles, Hulme, Oldham (one of two), Salford North, Salford South, Salford West, Bootle, Everton, Kirkdale, Warrington, Widnes, Leicester East, Loughborough, Brigg, Fulham West, Hammersmith South, Islington North, Kensington North, Battersea South†, Greenwich, Islington East, Camberwell North-West, Hackney Central, Kennington, Hammersmith North†, St Pancras North, St Pancras South East, St Pancras South West, Wandsworth Central, Norfolk South West, Norwich (one of two), Kettering, Northampton†, Peterborough, Bassetlaw, Nottingham South, The Wrekin, Frome, Lichfield, Walsall, Wolverhampton West, Nuneaton, Duddeston, Coventry, Aston, Deritend, Erdington, Ladywood, Yardley, Swindon, York, Cleveland, Acton, Enfield, Tottenham South, Sheffield Central, Bradford North, Leeds Central, Sowerby, Wakefield, Sheffield Park, Bradford Central, Pontefract, Newport (Monmouthshire), Brecon and Radnor, Llandaff & Barry, Cardiff Central, Cardiff East, Cardiff South
1Halifax†
1Mossley
Liberal Party (UK)}}"2Bethnal Green North-East, Newcastle upon Tyne East
2Camborne, Heywood and Radcliffe*
32Banff, Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine, Fife East, Dumfriesshire, Galloway, Bedfordshire Mid, Luton, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Ely, Birkenhead East, Eddisbury, Bodmin, Cornwall North, Penryn and Falmouth, St Ives†, South Molton, Dorset East, Harwich, Hereford, Ashford, Darwen, Preston (one of two), Blackley, Withington, Bosworth†, Holland with Boston†, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk East, Nottingham East, Eye, Flintshire, Pembrokeshire
Conservative Party (UK)}}"1King's Norton
1Epping*
Independent politician}}"1Stretford*
2Combined English Universities (one of two), Exeter*
2Fermanagh and Tyrone (both seats)

:1 Previous MP had defected to the Conservatives by the 1929 election :2 Previous MP had defected to the Liberals by the 1929 election

References

Note list

Sources

References

  1. (25 March 1997). "Parliamentary Election Timetables". [[House of Commons Library]].
  2. Campbell, John. (2010). "Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown". Vintage.
  3. Tetteh, Edmund. (1 February 2008). "Election Statistics: UK 1918-2007". Parliament of the United Kingdom.
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