United Kingdom general election, 2005

The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May, 2005 and won by the Labour Party, led by Tony Blair. With one result outstanding, there is a majority for the Labour Party of 67. For details by constituency see 2005 general election results.

The general election took place in 646 constituencies across the United Kingdom, for seats in the House of Commons. All but one constituency polled on 5 May; the remaining seat of Staffordshire South was postponed due to the death of a candidate and will take place on 23 June.

The election was held under the first-past-the-post system. Local elections in parts of England and in Northern Ireland were held on the same day. The polls were open for 15 hours, from 0700 to 2200 BST (0600 to 2100 UTC). The election came just over three weeks after the dissolution of Parliament on 11 April by Queen Elizabeth II, at the request of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair.

The date of the next general election is not fixed, but the next election must be held on or before June 3, 2010.

Overview

For events leading up to the date of the election, see article: Pre-election day events of the United Kingdom general election, 2005

The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, was looking to secure a third consecutive term in office and to retain its huge majority. The Conservative Party was seeking to regain seats captured by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the 1997 election, and to replace Labour as the majority party. The Liberal Democrats themselves hoped to make further gains from both sides and to become the Official Opposition, replacing the Conservatives.

Many seats were contested by other parties. Parties with existing representation at Westminster included the Democratic Unionist Party, Health Concern, Plaid Cymru, the Scottish National Party, Sinn Féin (who do not take their seats as they will not swear the oath of allegiance), the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and the Ulster Unionist Party. Parties that were not represented at Westminster, but had seats in the devolved assemblies and European Parliament included the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom Independence Party, the various national Green parties, and the Scottish Socialist Party. A full list of parties which declared their intention to run can be found on the list of parties contesting the UK general election, 2005.

During the period between the announcement of the election and the actual election itself, all of the parties embarked on intensive campaigns to win voters over. They did this by releasing manifestos, party political broadcasts and touring the country in buses (commonly referred to as "Battle Buses").

Seats in Scotland

When the Scottish Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998, the target size of Westminster Parliamentary seats in Scotland was changed to the same as that for England. This removed the deliberate over-representation intended to compensate Scotland for its historic status as a nation and its distance from the seat of Parliament in Westminster.

The Boundary Commission for Scotland therefore started work on redrawing the boundaries, and in 2003 produced a scheme in which there were 59 constituencies, reduced from 72. In 2004, the Government passed the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 which instituted these changes and broke the link between British- and Scottish-Parliamentary constituencies.

Two constituencies were left unchanged - the island seats of Orkney and Shetland and the Western Isles, though the latter changed its official name to the Gaelic "Na h-Eileanan an Iar". Several other constituency names were carried forward, however in all cases the new seats had altered boundaries.

Predicted result of redrawn boundaries

Although it was impossible to guarantee a wholly accurate prediction of the strength of the parties within the 59 new constituencies, as this was be the first election in which they are used, estimates had been made prior to the poll on May 5th on the basis of a ward-by-ward breakdown of local council election results. An agreed set used by all media reports and most political commentators indicated that, had the new boundaries been used in the 2001 election, Labour would have won 46 seats, with the Liberal Democrats on 9 seats, the Scottish National Party on 4, and the Conservatives on zero. This represented a loss of 10 seats to Labour and one each for the Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and the Conservatives. The arithmetic was however complicated by the fact that the boundary revision had produced some seats that were notionally highly marginal.

The results of the 2005 election showed some of the highest changes of the share of the vote for particular parties occurring in Scottish seats, leading to some commentators to speculate that either the notional results were in error and/or they were unable to take into account factors such as personal votes, tactical voting and parties having stong support in local government but historically failing to convert that into a general election vote.

Actual result of redrawn boundaries

Labour in fact only won 41 seats (5 fewer than attributed to them by the breakdown of 2001 results detailed above), the Liberal Democrats won 11 (2 more than attributed to them by the breakdown of 2001 results), the SNP won 6 seats (2 more than attributed to them by the breakdown of 2001 results) and in Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale the Conservatives won their only seat (breakdown of 2001 election results had indicated no Conservative constituencies)[1]. Compared to the actual results of 2001 this then represented a loss of 14 seats for Labour, a gain of 1 seat for the SNP and Liberal Democrats, and no change for the Conservatives. [2]

See also the list of parties standing in Scotland.

The election in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the election was dominated in the Unionist community by a battle between the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) and the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) to be the province's largest Unionist party in Parliament. Similarly, in the Nationalist community, there was a battle between the Social Democratic and Labour Party and Sinn Féin.

As expected, the DUP and Sinn Féin have emerged as the largest Unionist and Nationalist parties respectively, at the expense of the more moderate UUP and SDLP.

The UUP fared particularly badly, with leader David Trimble losing Upper Bann, and the party's representation being reduced to one seat, North Down, held by Sylvia Hermon. Although the UUP won more MPs at the 2001 General Election, defections had since reversed the position. Other elections in the province have shown both a shift in votes towards the DUP but also a collapse of support for the cross-community Alliance Party which is likely to be more marked in a first past the post election and thus which may work in the UUP's favour. Shortly afterwards, on May 7, Trimble announced his resignation as party leader.

In the Nationalist community, recent elections have shown a clear shift in support from the SDLP to Sinn Féin but events such as the Northern Bank robbery and the murder of Robert McCartney have been used by Sinn Féin's opponents, including the British and Irish governments, to criticise their alleged links to the Provisional IRA, in the hope of reversing this trend.

Two of the three SDLP MPs elected in 2001 had retired, while all four of the Sinn Féin MPs stood again. Sinn Féin's victory over the SDLP in Newry and Armagh, giving it a fifth seat, will reduce the number of Northern Ireland MPs who vote in Westminster because Members of Parliament cannot formally take their seats until they swear allegiance to the Queen (which Sinn Féin members refuse to do). The big shock of the election came in South Belfast where the SDLP won the traditionally Unionist seat, aided by a split between the two Unionist parties. This, together with their retention of two other seats did much to boost the party's fortunes and morale when many commentators had been predicting a disaster as great as that which met the Ulster Unionists.

See also the list of parties standing in Northern Ireland.

The ballot

At the close of voting (2200 BST) the ballot boxes are sealed and returned to the counting centre where counting proceeds under the supervision of the returning officer who is obliged to declare the result as soon as it is known. There has been stiff competition amongst constituencies to be first to declare. Sunderland South has repeated its performance in the last three elections and declared Labour incumbent Chris Mullin re-elected as MP with a majority of 11,059 at approximately 2245 BST (failing by two minutes to beat its previous best, but making it eligible for entry into the Guinness Book of World Records as longest consecutive delivery of first results). The vote itself represents a swing (in a safe Labour seat, in a safe Labour region) of approximately 4% to the Conservatives and 4.5% to the Liberal Democrats. This is somewhat below the prediction of BBC/ITV exit polls published shortly after 2200 BST.

Sunderland North were the next to declare, followed by Houghton & Washington East, both Labour holds but with reductions in the incumbent majorities of up to 9%. The first Scottish seat to declare was Rutherglen and Hamilton West — another safe Labour seat, it too was a hold, but with a reduced majority by 4%. The first seat to change hands was Putney, where Labour's majority of around 2500 fell to a strong Conservative challenge, with a total swing of about 5000 (or 6.2%). This was also the first seat to be declared for the Conservatives. The first Liberal Democrat seat to be declared was North East Fife, the constituency of LibDem party deputy leader Sir Menzies Campbell and a hold from 2001.

Exit polls

Following problems with exit polls in previous British and American elections, the BBC and ITV agreed for the first time to pool their respective data, using results from Mori and NOP. More than 20,000 people were interviewed for the poll at 120 polling stations across the country. The predictions were excellent - initial projections saw the Labour party returned to power with a majority of 66 (down from 160),[3] and the final result (excluding Staffordshire South, where the election was postponed due to the death of a candidate) was a Labour majority of 67. The Sky News network has refused to use exit polls since the 1980s, citing their previous inaccuracies.

The projected shares of the vote were Labour 37% (down 5% on 2001), Conservatives 33% (unchanged), Liberal Democrats 22% (up 3%) and other parties 8% (up 2%) [4]. The Conservatives were expected to make the biggest gains, however — forty-four seats according to the exit numbers — with the Liberal Democrats expected to take as few as two. Whilst the exit-poll-predicted vote share for the Lib Dems was accurate (22.6% vs an actual 22.0%), they have actually done better in some Lib Dem-Labour marginals than predicted on the basis of the national share of the vote, producing a net gain of 11 seats.

The result

For details by constituency, see Results of the United Kingdom general election, 2005
For details by MP, see MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005

At 0428 BST, it was announced that Labour had won Corby, giving them 324 of the 646 seats in the House of Commons, and as a result an overall majority. This was despite polling only 36% of the popular vote, equating to approximately 22% of the electorate based on the estimated turnout of 61.3%. However, turnout rose from 59.2% in 2001, a change that has been mostly attributed to the extension and promotion of postal voting.

The results were interpreted by the UK media as an indicator of a breakdown in trust in the government, and in the prime minister, Tony Blair, in particular. As expected, voter disenchantment led to an increase of support for the opposition parties, and caused many Labour voters to remain home on election day. However, ultimately, domestic policy factors helped Labour achieve a historic third term in office. In this context, the new, reduced Labour majority of 67 was viewed by many across the political spectrum as a positive development, a counter to an alleged presidential style of government. After Labour victory became clear, Michael Howard, the leader of the Conservative party, announced that he would be resigning once the internal affairs of his party are stabilised.

The election was also characterised by a number of smaller battles. In Bethnal Green and Bow, London, former Labour MP George Galloway, running as a candidate for the anti-war Respect, successfully defeated Oona King (Labour), despite a previous majority of 10,000. Following the result, a hostile interview with Jeremy Paxman attracted press attention. In Blaenau Gwent, Peter Law, a former Labour politician, ran as an Independent in protest at the impostion of an all-female candidate shortlist by the national Labour Party. He successfully overturned a 19,313 Labour majority. In Enfield Southgate, Conservative David Burrowes ousted Labour Stephen Twigg, who had famously defeated Michael Portillo for that seat in the 1997 elections. Labour regained one of its by-election losses, Leicester South, but saw an increased Liberal Democrat majority in the other, Brent East.

Others were less fortunate. Robert Kilroy-Silk, a former BBC presenter who joined UKIP, and then set up his own party, Veritas, failed to win a seat in Erewash. He was placed fourth, receiving only 2,957 votes. (The seat was taken by Liz Blackman, Labour) The so-called decapitation policy of targetting Conservative front-benchers, allegedly pursued by the Lib Dems, was also unsuccessful, removing only Tim Collins in Westmorland and Lonsdale. The election also saw regional surges in support for the British National Party, a development that was greeted by many with alarm. However, they failed to win any seats, their highest poll being 16.9% in Barking, East London.

The election was followed by further criticism of the UK electoral system. Calls for reform came particularly from Lib Dem supporters, citing that they received only 10% of the overall seats, despite having over 20% of the popular vote. There have also been calls for reform by some in England, where the Conservative party actually got 60,000 more votes than Labour yet got 90 less seats (though there is some controversy as to whether this figure included Postal Votes). Postal Votes have themselves been criticised amid fears the system at present is not secure enough and makes electoral fraud too easy.

Total seats for each party

(As of 8th May, 2005)

Ordered by popular vote; for the results in order number of seats won, see results by number of seats won.

Undeclared seats

• Staffordshire South (polling postponed until 23 June due to the death of a candidate)

See BBC running scoreboard.

Formation of the new government

Following the election result, Labour remain in power and Tony Blair remained Prime Minister. The first job he undertook was to select a new Cabinet. This was done over the weekend afterwards and formally announced on 9 May 2005. The most senior positions of Chancellor, Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary remained the same, but a few new faces were added; most notably David Blunkett who returned to cabinet as the Work and Pensions Secretary.

The new Parliament was sworn in on 11 May 2005.

New party leaders

On May Michael Howard announced he would be standing down as leader of the Conservative Party, but not before a review of the rules for electing a leader had been reviewed. The formal leadership election has not yet started. See Conservative Party (UK) leadership election, 2005.

The following day David Trimble resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party. A successor will be elected at the meeting of the Ulster Unionist Council held on June 24. See Ulster Unionist Party leadership election, 2005.

External links

Media coverage

• BBC Election 2005
• Channel 4 - Election 2005
• The Guardian Election 2005 weblog
• The Guardian Politics - Special Report: Election 2005
• The Times Election 2005 Log
• Yahoo! News - Election 2005
• How the British election works

Electoral information

• Electoral Calculus: If there were a General Election tomorrow, what would happen?
• UK Polling Report - analysis of polls on a day-by-day basis.
• Candidates by Party - All 3405 candidates listed by their 124 distinct party labels.
• SourceWatch's article on the 2005 UK general election - with a focus on the strategists and public relations experts involved in the campaigns of the various parties.
• Strategic Voter 2005 - Information for each constituency to strategically vote against the invasion of Iraq

Manifestos

• Alliance Party of Northern Ireland: Alliance works. Tribal politics costs (PDF File)
• British National Party: Rebuilding British Democracy (Abbreviated) (PDF)
• Conservatives: It's Time For Action/The British Dream
• DUP: Leadership That's Working (PDF File)
• Green Party of England and Wales: People, Planet, Peace
• Labour: Britain: forward not back
• Liberal Democrats: The REAL Alternative
• Official Monster Raving Loony Party: Vote for insanity, you know it makes sense!
• Scottish National Party: Make Scotland Matter (PDF file)
• Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales: We can build a better Wales (PDF file)
• Respect – The Unity Coalition: Policy
• Scottish Socialist Party: Make Capitalism History
• SDLP: A Better Way to a Better Ireland (PDF File)
• Sinn Fein: Manifesto
• UUP: Simply British
• United Kingdom Independence Party: We want our country back

Web directories

• Democracies Online - UK Election 2005 Links Wiki
• LookSmart - UK 2005 General Election directory category

• Open Directory Project - UK Election 2005 directory category
• Political Science Resources: UK General Election Links to manifestos, polls and other sites

Miscellaneous

• Who should you vote for? - A tool to show which party's policies most closely match your priorities
• Who Do I Vote For? - An alternative tool to show which party's policies most closely match your opinions on 20 key policy areas
• The Christian Institute - Includes an election briefing that analyses party manifestos in the light of their perception of Christian beliefs

See also: United Kingdom general election, 2005