United Kingdom general election, 1997

United Kingdom general election, 1997

1992 ← 1 May 1997 → 2001

outgoing members ← → elected members

All 659 seats to the House of Commons 330 seats needed for a majority Opinion polls Turnout 71.3% (6.4%)   First party Second party Third party   Leader Tony Blair John Major Paddy Ashdown Party Labour Conservative Liberal Democrat Leader since 21 July 1994 28 November 1990 16 July 1988 Leader's seat Sedgefield Huntingdon Yeovil Last election 271 seats, 34.4% 336 seats, 41.9% 20 seats, 17.8% Seats before 273 343 18 Seats won 418 165 46 Seat change 145* 178* 28* Popular vote 13,518,167 9,600,943 5,242,947 Percentage 43.2% 30.7% 16.8% Swing 8.8 11.2 1.0

Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. * Indicates boundary change – so this is a nominal figure ^ Figure does not include the speaker

PM before election John Major Conservative Subsequent PM Tony Blair Labour

1987 election • MPs

1992 election • MPs

1997 election • MPs

2001 election • MPs

2005 election • MPs

* Indicates boundary change – so this is a nominal figure
^ Figure does not include the speaker

John Major
Conservative

Tony Blair
Labour

The United Kingdom general election of 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. Under the leadership of Tony Blair, the Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition and won the general election with a landslide victory, winning 418 seats, the most seats the party has ever held. The election saw a huge 10.2% swing from the Conservatives to Labour on a national turnout of 71% and would be the last national vote where turnout exceeded 70% until the 2016 EU Referendum was held nineteen years later. Blair, as a result, became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a position he held until his resignation in 2007.

Under Blair's leadership, the Labour Party had adopted a more centrist policy platform under the name 'New Labour'. This was seen as moving away from the traditionally more left-wing stance of the Labour Party. Labour made several campaign pledges such as the creation of a National Minimum Wage, devolution referendums for Scotland and Wales and promised greater economic competence than the Conservatives, who were unpopular following the events of Black Wednesday in 1992. The Labour campaign was ultimately a success and the party returned an unprecedented 418 MPs and began the first of three consecutive terms for Labour in government. However, 1997 remains the last election in which Labour had a net gain of seats. A record number of women were elected to parliament, 120, of whom 101 were Labour MPs. This was in part thanks to Labour's policy of using all-women shortlists.

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