Updated
HISTORIC UK GENERAL ELECTION · 27 OCTOBER 1931
1931 UK general election results
The National Government avalanche
Largest party522 seats
A crisis election that left Labour with 52 seats and produced the century's most dominant Commons bloc.
What happened?
Conservative-led grouping was the largest grouping with 522 seats, ahead of Labour on 52. Overwhelming National majority.
Who formed the government?
Ramsay MacDonald led the national government after the election.
Was it a shock?
A National Government victory was plausible, but the 470-seat gap between the two largest groupings was exceptional.
CONTEXT
Britain before the vote
Britain was in an economic and political crisis after the Wall Street Crash. Ramsay MacDonald split from Labour to lead a National Government supported principally by Conservatives and sections of the Liberals.
RESULT
What the election changed
The Commons Library's broad Conservative grouping won 522 of 615 seats. Labour collapsed from 287 seats in 1929 to 52, while the National Government became overwhelmingly Conservative in composition.
SWING
14.4-point swing to Conservative-led
Two-party swing calculated from the Commons Library's 1929 and 1931 UK vote shares.
BOUNDARIES
How to read the seat total
More than one in ten seats was uncontested in 1931. Tiles show MPs returned, while the source's party grouping keeps the National Government coalition legible.
SOURCES