1929 United Kingdom general election

1929 United Kingdom general election
← outgoing members elected members →
All 615 seats in the House of Commons; 308 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	76.3%, 0.7 pp
	Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Prime Minister before election; Stanley Baldwin; Conservative	Prime Minister after election ; Ramsay MacDonald; Labour

The 1929 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 30 May 1929 and resulted in a hung parliament. Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party won the most seats in the House of Commons for the first time despite receiving fewer votes than the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin. The Liberal Party led again by former Prime Minister David Lloyd George regained some ground lost in the 1924 general election and held the balance of power. Parliament was dissolved on 10 May.^[1]

The election was often referred to as the "Flapper Election", because it was the first in which women aged 21–29 had the right to vote (owing to the Representation of the People Act 1928). Women over 30, with some property qualifications, had been able to vote since the 1918 general election, but the 1929 vote was the first general election with universal suffrage for adults over 21, which was then the age of majority.

The election was fought against a background of rising unemployment, with the memory of the 1926 general strike still fresh in voters' minds. By 1929, the Cabinet was being described by many as "old and exhausted".^[2]

The Liberals campaigned on a comprehensive programme of public works under the title "We Can Conquer Unemployment". There was anticipation of a potential revival of the Liberal Party after the reunification of Independent Liberals and National Liberals now under Lloyd George's leadership since 1926 and following some victories in a series of recent by-elections after 1926.^[3] The incumbent Conservatives campaigned on the theme of "Safety First", with Labour campaigning on the theme of "Labour & the Nation".

This was the first general election to be contested by the newly formed Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru.

It stood as the last time when a third party polled more than one-fifth of the popular vote until 1983. The Liberals performed more successfully than at the previous general election in 1924, but could not regain its pre-World War I status as a party of government.^[3]

Results

UK General Election 1929
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Stood	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative	Stanley Baldwin	590	260	2	154	−152	42.3	38.1	8,252,527	−8.7
	Labour	Ramsay MacDonald	569	287	140	4	+136	46.7	37.1	8,048,968	+3.8
	Liberal	David Lloyd George	513	59	36	17	+19	9.6	23.6	5,104,638	+5.8
	Independent	N/A	11	4	3	1	+2	0.8	0.4	94,742	+0.2
	Communist	Harry Pollitt	25	0	0	1	−1		0.2	47,554	−0.1
	Ind. Conservative	N/A	8	0	0	0	0		0.2	46,278
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	1	1	0	0	0	0.2	0.1	25,037	+0.1
	Nationalist	Joseph Devlin	3	2	2	0	+2	0.5	0.1	24,177	+0.1
	Independent Labour	N/A	4	1	1	0	+1	0.2	0.1	20,825	+0.1
	Independent Liberal	N/A	2	0	0	0	0		0.1	17,110	+0.1
	National (Scotland)	Roland Muirhead	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	3,313	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Saunders Lewis	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	609	N/A
	Irish Nationalist	T. P. O'Connor	1	1	0	0	0		0.0	0	N/A

Votes summary

Popular vote

Conservative			38.06%
Labour			37.12%
Liberal			23.54%
Others			1.28%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats

Labour			46.67%
Conservative			42.28%
Liberal			9.59%
Others			1.46%

Constituency results

Transfers of seats

All comparisons are with the 1924 election.
- In some cases, the change is owing to the MP having defected to the gaining party, and then retaining the seat in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
- In other circumstances, the change is owing to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a †.

To			No.	Seats
	Independent Labour	Labour	1	Govan*
	Labour	Communist	1	Battersea North
		Liberal	15	Chesterfield, South Shields, Walthamstow West, Bristol North, Bristol South, Kingston upon Hull Central*, Blackburn (one of two), Oldham (one of two), Hackney South, Lambeth North, Bradford East, Batley and Morley, Wrexham, Carmarthen, Swansea West
		Constitutionalist	3	Walthamstow East¹, Accrington², Stoke²
		Conservative	121	Stirlingshire West, Dunbartonshire, Lanark, Partick, Lanarkshire North†, Renfrewshire West, Maryhill, Kilmarnock, Edinburgh West, Linlithgow†, Berwick & Haddington, Reading, Birkenhead West, Crewe, Stalybridge and Hyde, Stockport (one of two)†, Carlisle, Whitehaven, Derby (one of two), Belper, Derbyshire South, Drake, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield, Darlington†, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland (both seats), Leyton East, East Ham North, Essex SE, Leyton West, Romford, Upton, Bristol Central, Portsmouth Central, Southampton (both seats), Dudley, Stourbridge†, Kingston upon Hull East, Kingston upon Hull South West, Chatham, Dartford, Blackburn (one of two), Ormskirk, Rossendale, Ashton-under-Lyne†, Bolton (both seats), Eccles, Hulme, Oldham (one of two), Salford North, Salford South, Salford West, Bootle, Everton, Kirkdale, Warrington, Widnes, Leicester East, Loughborough, Brigg, Fulham West, Hammersmith South, Islington North, Kensington North, Battersea South†, Greenwich, Islington East, Camberwell North-West, Hackney Central, Kennington, Hammersmith North†, St Pancras North, St Pancras South East, St Pancras South West, Wandsworth Central, Norfolk South West, Norwich (one of two), Kettering, Northampton†, Peterborough, Bassetlaw, Nottingham South, The Wrekin, Frome, Lichfield, Walsall, Wolverhampton West, Nuneaton, Duddeston, Coventry, Aston, Deritend, Erdington, Ladywood, Yardley, Swindon, York, Cleveland, Acton, Enfield, Tottenham South, Sheffield Central, Bradford North, Leeds Central, Sowerby, Wakefield, Sheffield Park, Bradford Central, Pontefract, Newport (Monmouthshire), Brecon and Radnor, Llandaff & Barry, Cardiff Central, Cardiff East, Cardiff South
		Speaker	1	Halifax†
		Independent	1	Mossley
Labour gains:			142
	Liberal	Labour	2	Bethnal Green North-East, Newcastle upon Tyne East
		Constitutionalist	2	Camborne, Heywood and Radcliffe*
		Conservative	32	Banff, Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine, Fife East, Dumfriesshire, Galloway, Bedfordshire Mid, Luton, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Ely, Birkenhead East, Eddisbury, Bodmin, Cornwall North, Penryn and Falmouth, St Ives†, South Molton, Dorset East, Harwich, Hereford, Ashford, Darwen, Preston (one of two), Blackley, Withington, Bosworth†, Holland with Boston†, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk East, Nottingham East, Eye, Flintshire, Pembrokeshire
Liberal gains:			36
	Conservative	Labour	1	King's Norton
	Conservative	Constitutionalist	1	Epping*
Conservative gains:			2
	Independent	Constitutionalist	1	Stretford*
	Independent	Conservative	2	Combined English Universities (one of two), Exeter*
	Nationalist	Ulster Unionist	2	Fermanagh and Tyrone (both seats)

¹ Previous MP had defected to the Conservatives by the 1929 election

² Previous MP had defected to the Liberals by the 1929 election

References

Sources

Craig, F. W. S. (1989), British Electoral Facts: 1832–1987, Dartmouth: Gower, ISBN 0900178302
Doerr, Paul W. (1998), British foreign policy 1919–1939, Manchester: Manchester University Press, ISBN 0719046718

External links

United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979 Archived 30 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine

Manifestos

[1]

[note 1]

[2]

[3]

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