| Election Name: | United Kingdom general election, 1987 (Wales) |
| Country: | Wales |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | United Kingdom general election, 1983 (Wales) |
| Previous Year: | 1983 |
| Previous Mps: | List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1983 |
| Next Election: | United Kingdom general election, 1992 (Wales) |
| Next Year: | 1992 |
| Next Mps: | List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1992 |
| Seats For Election: | All 38 Welsh seats to the House of Commons |
| Elected Mps: | List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1987 |
| Election Date: | 11 June 1987 |
| Leader1: | Neil Kinnock |
| Leader Since1: | 2 October 1983 |
| Party1: | Labour Party (UK) |
| Last Election1: | 20 seats, 37.5% |
| Seats1: | 24 |
| Seat Change1: | 4 |
| Popular Vote1: | 765,209 |
| Percentage1: | 45.1% |
| Swing1: | 7.6% |
| Leader2: | Margaret Thatcher |
| Leader Since2: | 11 February 1975 |
| Party2: | Conservative Party (UK) |
| Last Election2: | 14 seats, 31.0% |
| Seats2: | 8 |
| Seat Change2: | 6 |
| Popular Vote2: | 501,316 |
| Percentage2: | 29.5% |
| Swing2: | 1.5% |
| Party4: | SDP–Liberal Alliance |
| Last Election4: | 2 seats, 23.2% |
| Seats4: | 3 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| Popular Vote4: | 304,230 |
| Percentage4: | 17.9% |
| Swing4: | 5.3% |
| Leader5: | Dafydd Elis-Thomas |
| Leader Since5: | 1984 |
| Party5: | Plaid Cymru |
| Last Election5: | 2 seats, 7.8% |
| Seats5: | 3 |
| Seat Change5: | 1 |
| Popular Vote5: | 123,599 |
| Percentage5: | 7.3% |
| Swing5: | 0.5% |
The 1987 United Kingdom general election in Wales took place on 11th June, 1987 for all 38 Welsh seats in the House of Commons. The Labour Party again won a majority of Welsh MPs, gaining four seats for a total of 24 out of 38. The governing Conservatives lost six seats, with the SDP-Liberal Alliance and Plaid Cymru gaining one each.
Despite Labour winning the most votes in Wales, across the UK the Conservatives won a landslide majority and continued in office for a third term.[1]
Below is a table summarising the results of the 1987 general election in Wales.[2]
| Seats | Votes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Gains | Losses | Net +/- | % seats | Total votes | % votes | Change | |||
| 24 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 63.2 | 765,209 | 45.1 | 7.6 | |||
| 8 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 21.1 | 501,316 | 29.5 | 1.5 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7.9 | 304,230 | 17.9 | 5.3 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7.9 | 123,599 | 7.3 | 0.5 | |||
| Others | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 3,742 | 0.2 | 0.2 | |||
More than 25,000 Welsh colliers lost their jobs in the decade of pit closures following the miners' strike of 1984. The coalfield communities in Wales still accounted for a quarter of the entire Welsh population in 2014. The closures caused the mining areas of Wales to have the lowest "job density" of all 16 coalfield communities across Wales (and lower job densities than the areas of Scotland and England also).[3]
The coal mines of Abernant and Abercynon were closed in 1988, Cynheidre and Marine/Six Bells, Merthyr Vale, Oakdale and Trelewis were closed in 1989. Deep navigation and Penallta mines were also closed in 1991.[4]