The 1997 United Kingdom general election in England was held on 1 May 1997 for 529 English seats to the House of Commons. Under Tony Blair , the Labour Party won a landslide majority of English seats, the first time since 1966 that Labour had won an overall majority of English seats.[ 2] The England result, together with even larger landslide Labour results in Scotland and Wales, gave Labour the biggest majority for any single party since 1931 . Blair subsequently formed the first Labour government since 1979, beginning 13 years of Labour government.
1997 United Kingdom general election in England
† Notional 1992 results if held on the 1997 boundaries *Indicates boundary change - so this is a notional figure.
Party[ 2]
Seats
Votes
Total
Gains
Losses
Net +/-
% seats
Total votes
% votes
Change
Labour
328
133
1
132
62.0
11,347,882
43.5
9.6
Conservative
165
0
159
159
31.2
8,780,881
33.7
11.8
Liberal Democrats
34
26
1
25
6.4
4,677,565
18.0
1.3
Referendum
0
0
0
—
746,624
2.9
N/A
UKIP
0
0
0
—
103,521
0.4
N/A
Independent
1
1
0
1
0.2
69,464
0.3
0.2
Green
0
0
0
—
60,013
0.2
0.4
Liberal
0
0
0
—
44,516
0.2
Socialist Labour
0
0
0
—
44,114
0.2
N/A
BNP
0
0
0
—
35,181
0.1
0.1
Natural Law
0
0
0
—
25,958
0.1
0.1
Independent Labour
0
0
0
—
24,447
0.1
Speaker
1
1
0
1
0.2
24,447
0.1
N/A
Ind. Conservative
0
0
0
—
18,667
0.1
Prolife Alliance
0
0
0
—
13,890
0.1
N/A
Other parties
0
0
0
—
42,020
0.2
N/A
26,058,712
71.5
6.5
Popular vote
Labour
43.5%
Conservative
33.7%
Liberal Democrats
18.0%
Referendum
2.9%
Other
2.1%
Parliament seats
Labour
62.0%
Conservative
31.2%
Liberal Democrats
6.4%
Other
0.4%
Regional vote shares and changes are sourced from the House of Commons Library.[ 3]
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Labour
28
+3
862,262
64.0
+10.7
Conservative
1
-3
266,294
19.8
-11.0
Liberal Democrats
1
169,270
12.6
-2.9
Others
0
48,764
3.6
—
Total
30
Turnout
1,346,590
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Labour
49
+13
1,499,518
51.5
+9.0
Conservative
9
-14
859,436
29.5
-11.3
Liberal Democrats
1
421,025
14.5
-1.0
Others
1
+1
130,730
4.5
—
Total
60
Turnout
2,910,709
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Labour
15
+3
442,366
64.0
+10.4
Conservative
0
-4
141,120
19.8
-9.3
Liberal Democrats
1
+1
103,152
12.6
-2.4
Others
0
28,158
3.6
—
Total
16
Turnout
714,796
Yorkshire and the Humber
edit
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Labour
47
+13
1,339,170
51.9
+7.6
Conservative
7
-15
720,771
28.0
-10.0
Liberal Democrats
2
+2
412,216
16.0
-0.8
Others
0
106,016
4.1
—
Total
56
Turnout
2,578,173
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Labour
30
+15
1,097,639
47.8
+10.4
Conservative
14
-15
800,958
34.9
-11.7
Liberal Democrats
0
311,264
13.6
-1.7
Others
0
84,889
3.7
—
Total
44
Turnout
2,294,750
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Labour
43
+15
1,326,822
47.0
+8.2
Conservative
14
-17
953,465
33.7
-11.0
Liberal Democrats
1
+1
388,807
13.8
-1.3
Others
1
+1
156,731
5.5
—
Total
59
Turnout
2,825,825
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Conservative
33
-19
1,164,777
39.5
-13.0
Labour
22
+18
1,137,637
38.6
+12.2
Liberal Democrats
1
+1
504,416
17.1
-2.7
Others
0
140,337
4.8
—
Total
56
Turnout
2,947,167
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Labour
57
+25
1,643,329
49.5
+12.4
Conservative
11
-30
1,036,082
31.2
-14.1
Liberal Democrats
6
+5
485,511
14.6
-1.3
Others
0
156,126
4.7
—
Total
74
Turnout
3,321,048
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Conservative
54
-25
1,817,343
41.9
-13.1
Labour
22
+18
1,264,778
29.1
+10.2
Liberal Democrats
7
+7
1,012,418
23.3
-1.4
Others
0
247,069
5.7
—
Total
83
Turnout
4,341,608
Party
Seats
Votes
Total
Gained
Lost
Net
Total
%
Change (%)
Conservative
22
-17
1,020,635
36.7
-10.8
Liberal Democrats
14
+8
869,486
31.3
-0.1
Labour
15
+9
734,361
26.4
+7.2
Others
0
153,564
5.5
—
Total
51
Turnout
2,778,046