2015 United Kingdom general election

The United Kingdom general election of 2015 elected the 56th Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was held on 7 May 2015. The three main political parties after the election are the Conservatives, the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party. The Conservative Party won enough seats to form a majority government.

2015 United Kingdom general election

← 2010 7 May 2015 2017 →

All 650 seats in the House of Commons
326 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout66.4%[1] (Increase1.3%)
  First party Second party
  David Cameron official.jpg Ed Miliband election infobox.jpg
Leader David Cameron Ed Miliband
Party Conservative Labour
Leader since 6 December 2005 25 September 2010
Leader's seat Witney Doncaster North
Last election 306 seats, 36.1% 258 seats, 29.0%
Seats won 330* 232
Seat change Increase24 Decrease26
Popular vote 11,334,226 9,347,273
Percentage 36.9% 30.4%
Swing Increase0.8% Increase1.4%

  Third party Fourth party
  First Minister Nicola Sturgeon official portrait (cropped).jpg Nick Clegg official portrait.jpg
Leader Nicola Sturgeon Nick Clegg
Party SNP Liberal Democrats
Leader since 14 November 2014 18 December 2007
Leader's seat Did not stand[n 1] Sheffield Hallam
Last election 6 seats, 1.7% 57 seats, 23.0%
Seats won 56 8
Seat change Increase50 Decrease49
Popular vote 1,454,436 2,415,916
Percentage 4.7% 7.9%
Swing Increase3.0% Decrease15.1%

2015UKElectionMap.svg
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
* Figure does not include the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, who was included in the Conservative seat total by some media outlets.

Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister before election

David Cameron (Conservative)
Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat)

Prime Minister after election

David Cameron
Conservative

Voting took place in all 650 parliamentary constituencies of the United Kingdom, each electing one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons, the lower house of Parliament. Local elections also took place in most of England on the same day, but not Greater London.

Results

Also, the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, who does not have a political party, was re-elected.

Some important Labour MPs lost their seats including the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls and the leader of the Scottish Labour Party, Jim Murphy.

Many important Liberal Democrat MPs who had served in the coalition government also lost their seats, including business secretary Vince Cable, energy secretary Ed Davey and chief secretary to the treasury Danny Alexander.

Aftermath

The Conservative Party won 330 seats and managed to form a majority government. David Cameron continued as Prime Minister. Miliband, Clegg and Nigel Farage all resigned as leaders of their parties. Jim Murphy also resigned as leader of Scottish Labour. [2]

2015 United Kingdom General Election Media

Notes

  1. SNP party leader Nicola Sturgeon, a Member of the Scottish Parliament and First Minister of Scotland, participated in some of the main UK-wide televised debates, but did not stand for a Commons seat at this election. Angus Robertson, MP for Moray at the time, was the leader of the SNP delegation to the House of Commons.

References

  1. "The May 2015 UK elections: Report on the administration of the 7 May 2015 elections, including the UK Parliamentary general election" (PDF). p. 3.
  2. Election 2015. BBC News. [1]