1997 United Kingdom general election in England explained

Election Name:	1997 United Kingdom general election in England
Country:	England
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1992 United Kingdom general election in England
Previous Year:	1992
Previous Mps:	List of MPs elected in the 1992 United Kingdom general election
Next Election:	2001 United Kingdom general election in England
Next Year:	2001
Seats For Election:	All 529 English seats to the House of Commons 265 seats needed for English majority
Elected Mps:	List of MPs elected in the 1997 United Kingdom general election
Leader1:	Tony Blair
Leader Since1:	21 July 1994
Party1:	Labour Party (UK)
Leaders Seat1:	Sedgefield
Last Election1:	195 seats, 33.9%
Seats Before1:	196^†
Seats1:	328
Seat Change1:	132*
Popular Vote1:	11,347,882
Percentage1:	43.5%
Swing1:	9.6%
Leader2:	John Major
Leader Since2:	4 July 1995
Party2:	Conservative Party (UK)
Leaders Seat2:	Huntingdon
Last Election2:	319 seats, 45.5%
Seats Before2:	324^†
Seats2:	165
Seat Change2:	159*
Popular Vote2:	8,780,881
Percentage2:	33.7%
Swing2:	11.8%
Leader3:	Paddy Ashdown
Leader Since3:	16 July 1988
Party3:	Liberal Democrats (UK)
Leaders Seat3:	Yeovil
Popular Vote3:	4,677,565
Last Election3:	10 seats, 19.2%
Seats Before3:	9^†
Seats3:	34
Seat Change3:	25*
Percentage3:	18.0%
Swing3:	1.2%
Map Size:	5px

See main article: 1997 United Kingdom general election.

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.^[1] 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.

Results table

Party! colspan="5"

Seats	Votes
Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	328	133	1	132	62.0	11,347,882	43.5	9.6
	165	0	159	159	31.2	8,780,881	33.7	11.8
	34	26	1	25	6.4	4,677,565	18.0	1.3
	0	0	0		—	746,624	2.9	N/A
	0	0	0		—	103,521	0.4	N/A
	1	1	0	1	0.2	69,464	0.3	0.2
	0	0	0		—	60,013	0.2	0.4
	0	0	0		—	44,516	0.2
	0	0	0		—	44,114	0.2	N/A
	0	0	0		—	35,181	0.1	0.1
	0	0	0		—	25,958	0.1	0.1
	0	0	0		—	24,447	0.1
	1	1	0	1	0.2	24,447	0.1	N/A
	0	0	0		—	18,667	0.1
	Prolife Alliance	0	0	0		—	13,890	0.1	N/A
	0	0	0		—	42,020	0.2	N/A
							26,058,712	71.5	6.5

Regional results

Regional vote shares and changes are sourced from the House of Commons Library.^[2]

North East

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	28			+3	862,262	64.0	+10.7
	1			-3	266,294	19.8	-11.0
	1				169,270	12.6	-2.9
	Others	0				48,764	3.6	—
Total		30		Turnout		1,346,590

North West

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	49			+13	1,499,518	51.5	+9.0
	9			-14	859,436	29.5	-11.3
	1				421,025	14.5	-1.0
	Others	1			+1	130,730	4.5	—
Total		60		Turnout		2,910,709

Merseyside

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	15			+3	442,366	64.0	+10.4
	0			-4	141,120	19.8	-9.3
	1			+1	103,152	12.6	-2.4
	Others	0				28,158	3.6	—
Total		16		Turnout		714,796

Yorkshire and the Humber

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	47			+13	1,339,170	51.9	+7.6
	7			-15	720,771	28.0	-10.0
	2			+2	412,216	16.0	-0.8
	Others	0				106,016	4.1	—
Total		56		Turnout		2,578,173

East Midlands

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	30			+15	1,097,639	47.8	+10.4
	14			-15	800,958	34.9	-11.7
	0				311,264	13.6	-1.7
	Others	0				84,889	3.7	—
Total		44		Turnout		2,294,750

West Midlands

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	43			+15	1,326,822	47.0	+8.2
	14			-17	953,465	33.7	-11.0
	1			+1	388,807	13.8	-1.3
	Others	1			+1	156,731	5.5	—
Total		59		Turnout		2,825,825

East of England

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	33			-19	1,164,777	39.5	-13.0
	22			+18	1,137,637	38.6	+12.2
	1			+1	504,416	17.1	-2.7
	Others	0				140,337	4.8	—
Total		56		Turnout		2,947,167

London

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	57			+25	1,643,329	49.5	+12.4
	11			-30	1,036,082	31.2	-14.1
	6			+5	485,511	14.6	-1.3
	Others	0				156,126	4.7	—
Total		74		Turnout		3,321,048

South East

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	54			-25	1,817,343	41.9	-13.1
	22			+18	1,264,778	29.1	+10.2
	7			+7	1,012,418	23.3	-1.4
	Others	0				247,069	5.7	—
Total		83		Turnout		4,341,608

South West

Party		Seats				Votes
		Total	Gained	Lost	Net	Total	%	Change (%)
	22			-17	1,020,635	36.7	-10.8
	14			+8	869,486	31.3	-0.1
	15			+9	734,361	26.4	+7.2
	Others	0				153,564	5.5	—
Total		51		Turnout		2,778,046

See also

• 1997 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 1997 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
• 1997 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Notes and References

1. Web site: General election results 1 May 1997 . 9 May 1997 . 22 July 2018.
2. Web site: GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS, 1 MAY 1997 . . https://web.archive.org/web/20210603053752/https://www.parliament.uk/globalassets/documents/commons-information-office/m15.pdf . 3 June 2021 . London . February 1999 . live.