Updated
HISTORIC UK GENERAL ELECTION · 28 FEBRUARY 1974
Feb 1974 UK general election results
Who governs Britain?
Largest party301 seats
Edward Heath asked the question; voters returned a hung parliament and Labour became the largest party by four seats.
What happened?
Labour was the largest grouping with 301 seats, ahead of Conservative on 297. No overall majority.
Who formed the government?
Harold Wilson led the labour minority government after the election.
Was it a shock?
Yes. The election produced neither the clear authority Heath sought nor a straightforward relationship between votes and seats.
CONTEXT
Britain before the vote
The election came amid the miners' dispute, the three-day week and inflation. Heath framed the contest around the authority to govern.
RESULT
What the election changed
The Conservatives led Labour in votes but trailed by four seats. Heath tried and failed to reach an arrangement with the Liberals, after which Harold Wilson formed a minority government.
SWING
1.3-point swing to Labour
Two-party swing calculated from the 1970 and February 1974 UK vote shares.
BOUNDARIES
How to read the seat total
February and October 1974 used the same 635-seat boundary set, making their constituency results unusually clean to compare with each other.
SOURCES