United Kingdom general election, 1970

E85289
United Kingdom general election parliamentary election

The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was a national parliamentary election in which Edward Heath’s Conservative Party unexpectedly defeated Harold Wilson’s governing Labour Party, leading to a change of government.

Jump to: Surface forms Statements Referenced by

Observed surface forms (1)

Surface form Occurrences
1970 United Kingdom general election 1

Statements (49)

Predicate Object
instanceOf United Kingdom general election ⓘ
parliamentary election ⓘ
campaignIssue Britain’s relationship with the European Economic Community ⓘ
economy ⓘ
industrial relations ⓘ
prices and inflation ⓘ
conservativePopularVote 13,145,123 ⓘ
conservativePopularVoteShare 46.4% ⓘ
conservativeSeatChange +77 ⓘ
conservativeSeatsWon 330 ⓘ
country United Kingdom ⓘ
electoralSystem first-past-the-post ⓘ
forLegislativeBody House of Commons of the United Kingdom NERFINISHED ⓘ
forOffice Member of Parliament ⓘ
governmentAfterElection Conservative government ⓘ
governmentBeforeElection Labour government ⓘ
hasEndDate 1970-06-18 ⓘ
hasStartDate 1970-06-18 ⓘ
labourPopularVote 12,208,758 ⓘ
labourPopularVoteShare 43.1% ⓘ
labourSeatChange -75 ⓘ
labourSeatsWon 288 ⓘ
leaderOfConservativeParty Edward Heath ⓘ
leaderOfLabourParty Harold Wilson ⓘ
leaderOfLiberalParty Jeremy Thorpe ⓘ
leadingPartyAfterElection Conservative Party (UK) ⓘ
leadingPartyBeforeElection Labour Party (UK) ⓘ
legislativeTermNumber 46th Parliament of the United Kingdom ⓘ
liberalPopularVote 2,117,035 ⓘ
liberalPopularVoteShare 7.5% ⓘ
liberalSeatChange -6 ⓘ
liberalSeatsWon 6 ⓘ
mainOpponentParty Labour Party (UK) ⓘ
majoritySeats 316 ⓘ
nextElection February 1974 United Kingdom general election ⓘ
notableFeature opinion polls predicted Labour victory ⓘ
result considered a major polling upset ⓘ
numberOfSeatsContested 630 ⓘ
outcome change of government ⓘ
pointInTime 1970 ⓘ
previousElection United Kingdom general election, 1966 ⓘ
primeMinisterAfterElection Edward Heath ⓘ
primeMinisterBeforeElection Harold Wilson ⓘ
reasonForElection dissolution of Parliament by Harold Wilson ⓘ
thirdParty Liberal Party (UK) ⓘ
surface form: Liberal Party (UK, pre-1988)
turnout 72.0% ⓘ
turnoutChange -3.8 percentage points ⓘ
wasEarlyElection true ⓘ
wasUnexpected true ⓘ

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Jeremy Thorpe → participantIn → United Kingdom general election, 1970 ⓘ
February 1974 United Kingdom general election → previousElection → United Kingdom general election, 1970 ⓘ
this entity surface form: 1970 United Kingdom general election