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Harold Wilson Labour
The United Kingdom general election of October 1974 took place on 10 October 1974 to elect 635 members to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It was the second general election of that year and resulted in the Labour Party led by Harold Wilson winning by a small majority of 3 seats.
The election of February that year had produced an unexpected hung parliament. Coalition talks between the Conservatives and other parties such as the Liberals and the Ulster Unionists failed, allowing Labour leader Harold Wilson to form a minority government. The October campaign was not as vigorous or exciting as the one in February. Despite continuing high inflation, Labour was able to boast that it had ended the miners' strike which had dogged Heath's premiership and had returned some stability. The Conservative Party, still led by Edward Heath released a manifesto promoting national unity, however their chances of forming a government were hindered by the Ulster Unionist Party refusing to take their whip at Westminster in response to the Sunningdale Agreement of 1973.
The election saw the Labour Party return 319 MPs, giving them the ability to form a majority government, albeit with a mere 3 seats. The Conservatives and the Liberals each saw their vote share fall, and Conservative leader Edward Heath was ousted as party leader in February 1975 and replaced with future Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. The Scottish National Party achieved their best ever Westminster representation at this election, winning 11 of Scotland's 71 seats and 30% of the Scottish popular vote. Labour's parliamentary majority eroded in the 1974-1979 parliament, through a series of by-election losses and defections, which led to deals with the Liberals, the Ulster Unionists, the Scottish nationalists and the Welsh nationalists having to be carried out.
This was the last general election to be won by Labour until 1997.
The election was broadcast live on the BBC, and was presented by David Butler, Alastair Burnet, Robert McKenzie and Robin Day.[1][2]
The brief period between the elections gave Wilson the opportunity to demonstrate reasonable progress. Despite high inflation, the miners' strike that had dogged Heath was over and some stability had been restored. Following the February election Heath had remained largely out of the public eye. As was expected, the campaign was not as exciting or as close as the one in February, and overall coverage by broadcasters was significantly scaled back. The Conservatives campaigned on a manifesto of national unity, in response to the mood of the public. Labour campaigned on its recent successes in government, and although the party was divided over Europe, their strengths outweighed that of Heath, who knew his future relied on an election victory. As for the Liberals and the SNP Devolution was a key issue, and was now also one the two main parties also felt the need to address. As for the Liberal manifesto, they simply reissued the one they had created for the last election.[3]
Labour achieved a swing of 2% against the Conservatives. This was the first time since 1922 that a government had won an overall majority with less than 40% of the vote, albeit with only a small majority of 3. The Conservatives won just 36% of the vote, their worst share since 1945, and as for the Liberals a slight drop in the vote saw them make a net loss of 1 seat.
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