European Parliament election, 1989 (United Kingdom)

United Kingdom European Parliament election, 1989

15 June 1989

81 seats to the European Parliament   First party Second party   Leader Neil Kinnock Margaret Thatcher Party Labour Conservative Alliance PES EPP Leader since 2 October 1983 11 February 1975 Last election 32 seats, 34.7% 45 seats, 38.8% Seats won 45 32 Seat change 13 13 Popular vote 6,153,640 5,331,077 Percentage 39% 33% Swing 4.3% 5.8%

Leader of Largest Party before election Margaret Thatcher Conservative Subsequent Leader of Largest Party Neil Kinnock Labour

The European Parliament Election, 1989 was the third European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 15 June. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single Transferable Vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe.

This election saw the best performance ever by the Green Party (UK) (formerly the Ecology Party), collecting over 2 million votes and 15% of the vote share. It had only received 70,853 as the Ecology Party in the previous election. However because of First Past the Post system, the Green Party did not gain a single MEP, while the Scottish National Party received 1 seat with only 3% of the vote share. The SNP received almost double the amount of votes it received in the previous election, its vote share rose by 1%.

The election also saw Labour overtake the Conservatives for the first time in any election since October 1974 and the first time ever in a European election, winning 13 more seats.

• Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 36% (EU average: 59%)
• Overall votes cast: 15,896,078

England, Scotland and Wales

Total votes cast: 15,361,267

Source: UK Office of the European Parliament

Northern Ireland

Source: Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive

Total votes cast - 534,811.

Party Leaders in 1989

• Labour - Neil Kinnock
• Conservative - Margaret Thatcher
• Green - N/A (the Green Party did not have a leader)
• Liberal Democrat - Paddy Ashdown
• SNP - Gordon Wilson
• Plaid Cymru - Dafydd Elis Thomas
• DUP - Ian Paisley
• SDLP - John Hume
• UUP - James Molyneaux

See also

• Elections in the United Kingdom: European elections
• MEPs for the UK 1989 - 1994