Next United Kingdom general election
Encyclopedia
The United Kingdom general election of 2010 was held on Thursday 6 May 2010 to elect members to the House of Commons. The election
Elections in the United Kingdom
There are five types of elections in the United Kingdom: United Kingdom general elections, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, elections to the European Parliament, local elections and mayoral elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday...

 took place in 650 constituencies
United Kingdom constituencies
In the United Kingdom , each of the electoral areas or divisions called constituencies elects one or more members to a parliament or assembly.Within the United Kingdom there are now five bodies with members elected by constituencies:...

 across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...

 system. None of the parties achieved the 326 seats needed for an overall majority. The Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

, led by David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....

, won the largest number of votes and seats but still fell twenty seats short. This resulted in a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...

 where no party was able to command a majority in the House of Commons. This was only the second general election since World War II to return a hung parliament, the first being the February 1974 election
United Kingdom general election, February 1974
The United Kingdom's general election of February 1974 was held on the 28th of that month. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the first election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party,...

. But unlike then, the potential for a hung parliament had this time been widely considered and predicted and both the country and politicians were better prepared for the constitutional process that would follow such a result. The coalition government
United Kingdom coalition government (2010–present)
The ConservativeLiberal Democrat coalition is the present Government of the United Kingdom, formed after the 2010 general election. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats entered into discussions which culminated in the 2010 coalition agreement, setting out a programme for government...

 that was subsequently formed was the first coalition in British history to eventuate directly from an election outcome.

Coalition talks
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...

 began immediately between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats and lasted for five days. There was an aborted attempt to put together a Labour/Liberal Democrat coalition (although other smaller parties would have been required to make up the ten seats they lacked for a majority). To facilitate this Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

 announced on the evening of Monday 10 May that he would resign as Labour Party leader. On Tuesday 11 May, Brown announced his resignation as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

, marking the end of 13 years of Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 government. This was accepted by Queen Elizabeth II, who then invited David Cameron to form a government and become Prime Minister. Just after midnight on 12 May, the Liberal Democrats emerged from a meeting of their Parliamentary party and Federal Executive to announce that the coalition deal had been "approved overwhelmingly", sealing a stable coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats
United Kingdom coalition government (2010–present)
The ConservativeLiberal Democrat coalition is the present Government of the United Kingdom, formed after the 2010 general election. The Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats entered into discussions which culminated in the 2010 coalition agreement, setting out a programme for government...

.

None of the three main party leaders had previously led a general election campaign, a situation which had not occurred since the 1979 election
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...

. During the campaign, the three main party leaders engaged in a series of televised debates, the first such debates in a British general election campaign. The Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 achieved a breakthrough in opinion polls after the first debate in which their leader Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...

 was widely seen as the strongest performer. However, on polling day their share of the vote increased by only 1% over the previous general election, and they suffered a net loss of five seats. Still, this was the Liberal Democrats' largest popular vote since the party's creation, and they found themselves in a pivotal role in the formation of the new government. The share of votes for parties other than Labour or the Conservatives was 35% and was the largest since the 1918 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1918
The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...

. In terms of votes it was the most "three-cornered" election since 1923
United Kingdom general election, 1923
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

, and in terms of seats since 1929
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

. The Green Party of England and Wales
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...

 won its first ever seat in the Commons, and the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

 also gained its first elected member. The result in one constituency, Oldham East and Saddleworth, was subsequently declared void on petition due to illegal practices during the campaign
Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, 2011
The 2011 by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth was a by-election for the Parliament of the United Kingdom's House of Commons constituency of Oldham East and Saddleworth held on 13 January 2011...

, the first such instance since 1910.

Background

The Prime Minister Gordon Brown went to Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

 on 6 April and asked the Queen
Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
Elizabeth II is the constitutional monarch of 16 sovereign states known as the Commonwealth realms: the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Jamaica, Barbados, the Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Belize,...

 to dissolve Parliament on 12 April, confirming in a live press conference in Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...

, as had long been speculated, that the election would be held on 6 May, five years since the previous election on 5 May 2005. The election took place on 6 May in 649 constituencies across the United Kingdom, under the first-past-the-post
First-past-the-post
First-past-the-post voting refers to an election won by the candidate with the most votes. The winning potato candidate does not necessarily receive an absolute majority of all votes cast.-Overview:...

 system, for seats in the House of Commons. Voting in the Thirsk and Malton constituency
Thirsk and Malton (UK Parliament constituency)
Thirsk and Malton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 was postponed for three weeks because of the death of a candidate.

The governing Labour Party had campaigned to secure a fourth consecutive term in office and to restore support lost since 1997. The Conservative Party sought to gain a dominant position in UK politics after losses in the 1990s, and to replace Labour as the governing party. The LibDems hoped to make gains from both sides and hoped to hold the balance of power
Balance of power (parliament)
In parliamentary politics, the term balance of power sometimes describes the pragmatic mechanism exercised by a minor political party or other grouping whose guaranteed support may enable an otherwise minority government to obtain and hold office...

 in a hung parliament. Since the televised debates between the three leaders, their poll ratings had risen to the point where many considered the possibility of a Liberal Democrat role in Government. Polls just before election day saw a slight swing from the Liberal Democrats back to Labour and Conservatives, with the majority of final polls falling within one point of Conservatives 36%, Labour 28%, Liberal Democrats 27%. However, record numbers of undecided voters raised uncertainty about the outcome. The Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

, encouraged by their victory in the 2007 Scottish parliament elections
Scottish Parliament election, 2007
The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999...

, set itself a target of 20 MPs and was hoping to find itself holding a balance of power. Equally, Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...

 sought gains in Wales. Smaller parties which had had successes at local elections and the 2009 European elections
European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom)
The European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009, coinciding with the 2009 local elections in England. Most of the results of the election were announced on Sunday 7 June, after...

 (UK Independence Party, Green Party, British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...

) looked to extend their representation to seats in the House of Commons. The Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

 looked to maintain, if not extend, its number of seats, having been the fourth largest party in the House of Commons.

The key dates were:
Monday 12 April Dissolution of Parliament (the 54th) and campaigning officially began
Tuesday 20 April Last day to file nomination papers, to register to vote, and to request a postal vote
Thursday 6 May Polling day
Tuesday 11 May David Cameron became Prime Minister through a coalition with the Liberal Democrats.
Tuesday 18 May New Parliament (the 55th) assembled
Tuesday 25 May State Opening of Parliament
State Opening of Parliament
In the United Kingdom, the State Opening of Parliament is an annual event that marks the commencement of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is held in the House of Lords Chamber, usually in November or December or, in a general election year, when the new Parliament first assembles...

Thursday 27 May Voting took place in the delayed poll in the constituency of Thirsk and Malton
Friday 5 November Oldham East and Saddleworth election result voided on petition at an election court
Election court
An Election Court is, in United Kingdom election law, a special court convened to hear a petition against the result of a local government or Parliamentary election. The court is created to hear the individual case, and ceases to exist when it has made its decision.- Statutory basis :Election...

, causing a by-election
Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, 2011
The 2011 by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth was a by-election for the Parliament of the United Kingdom's House of Commons constituency of Oldham East and Saddleworth held on 13 January 2011...


MPs declining re-election

This election had an unusually high number of MPs choosing not to seek re-election with more standing down than did so at the 1945 election (which on account of the extraordinary wartime circumstances came ten years after the preceding election). This has been attributed to the expenses scandal
United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal triggered by the leak and subsequent publication by the Telegraph Group in 2009 of expense claims made by members of the United Kingdom Parliament over several years...

 and the fact that redundancy-style payments for departing MPs may be scrapped after the election.

In all, 148 MPs (100 Labour, 35 Conservatives, 7 Liberal Democrats, 2 Independents, 1 Independent Conservative and 1 member each from Plaid Cymru, the DUP, and the SDLP) decided not to contest the election. Alex Salmond
Alex Salmond
Alexander Elliot Anderson "Alex" Salmond MSP is a Scottish politician and current First Minister of Scotland. He became Scotland's fourth First Minister in May 2007. He is the Leader of the Scottish National Party , having served as Member of the Scottish Parliament for Gordon...

 did not stand for re-election in order to focus on the role of First Minister of Scotland
First Minister of Scotland
The First Minister of Scotland is the political leader of Scotland and head of the Scottish Government. The First Minister chairs the Scottish Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Scottish Government policy...

 but the SNP retained the seat with a different candidate.

Boundary changes

Each of the four national Boundary Commissions is required by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 1986 (as amended by the Boundary Commissions Act 1992) to conduct a general review of all the constituencies in its part of the United Kingdom every eight to twelve years to ensure the size and composition of constituencies are as fair as possible. Based on the Rallings and Thrasher studies using ward by ward data from local elections and the 2005 general election, the new boundaries used in 2010 would have returned nine fewer Labour MPs had they been in place at the previous election; given that there are to be four more seats in the next parliament this notionally reduces Labour's majority from 66 to 48.

Pursuant to Boundary Commission for England recommendations, the number of seats in England increased by four, and numerous changes were made to the existing constituency boundaries.

Northern Ireland continued to elect 18 MPs, but minor changes were made to the eastern constituencies in accordance with the Northern Ireland Boundary Commission's recommendations. For the first time, these changes include the splitting of an electoral ward between two constituencies.

Following the recommendations of the Boundary Commission for Wales, the total number of seats remained at 40, although new seats caused by radical redrawing of boundaries in Clwyd
Clwyd
Clwyd is a preserved county of Wales, situated in the north-east, bordering England with Cheshire to its east, Shropshire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Gwynedd to its immediate west and Powys to the south. It additionally shares a maritime border with the metropolitan county of...

 and Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

 were fought for the first time: Arfon
Arfon (UK Parliament constituency)
Arfon is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Although the constituency is relatively large by geographical area, it is a predominantly urban rather than rural seat, with the majority of the population living in the two towns on which the constituency is...

 and Dwyfor Meirionnydd
Dwyfor Meirionnydd (UK Parliament constituency)
Dwyfor Meirionnydd is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . The seat was created by the Welsh Boundary Commission for the 2010 general election, and replaced the old north Wales seat of Meirionnydd Nant Conwy...

 replaced Caernarfon
Caernarfon (UK Parliament constituency)
Caernarfon was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Caernarfon in Wales. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system....

 and Meirionnydd Nant Conwy
Meirionnydd Nant Conwy (UK Parliament constituency)
Meirionnydd Nant Conwy was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 respectively; Aberconwy
Aberconwy (UK Parliament constituency)
Aberconwy is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . The seat was created by the Welsh Boundary Commission for the 2010 general election, and replaced the old north Wales seat of Conwy seat....

 replaced Conwy
Conwy (UK Parliament constituency)
Conwy was an electoral constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returned one Member of Parliament by the single-member district plurality system of voting....

. At the time of the election Welsh constituencies had electorates on average around 14,000 smaller than their counterparts in England.

Scotland saw its most recent large-scale review completed in 2004, so its 59 constituencies remained the same as at the 2005 general election.
|}

Main parties

All three main parties went into the general election having changed leaders since that in 2005. David Cameron
David Cameron
David William Donald Cameron is the current Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, First Lord of the Treasury, Minister for the Civil Service and Leader of the Conservative Party. Cameron represents Witney as its Member of Parliament ....

 became Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 leader in December 2005, replacing Michael Howard
Michael Howard
Michael Howard, Baron Howard of Lympne, CH, QC, PC is a British politician, who served as the Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition from November 2003 to December 2005...

. Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...

 succeeded Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

 as leader of the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

 and Prime Minister in June 2007. Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg
Nicholas William Peter "Nick" Clegg is a British Liberal Democrat politician who is currently the Deputy Prime Minister, Lord President of the Council and Minister for Constitutional and Political Reform in the coalition government of which David Cameron is the Prime Minister...

 was elected as leader of the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

 in December 2007, succeeding Menzies Campbell
Menzies Campbell
Sir Walter Menzies "Ming" Campbell, CBE, QC, MP is a British Liberal Democrat politician and advocate, and a retired sprinter. He is the Member of Parliament for North East Fife, and was the Leader of the Liberal Democrats from 2 March 2006 until 15 October 2007.Campbell held the British record...

 who had replaced Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....

 in January 2006. The last time all three main parties went into a general election with new leaders was in the 1979 election
United Kingdom general election, 1979
The United Kingdom general election of 1979 was held on 3 May 1979 to elect 635 members to the British House of Commons. The Conservative Party, led by Margaret Thatcher ousted the incumbent Labour government of James Callaghan with a parliamentary majority of 43 seats...

, when James Callaghan
James Callaghan
Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff, KG, PC , was a British Labour politician, who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1976 to 1979 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1976 to 1980...

 as Labour leader, Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...

 for the Conservatives, and David Steel
David Steel
David Martin Scott Steel, Baron Steel of Aikwood, KT, KBE, PC is a British Liberal Democrat politician who served as the Leader of the Liberal Party from 1976 until its merger with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the Liberal Democrats...

 with the then-Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 took to the polls.

The prospect of a coalition
Coalition government
A coalition government is a cabinet of a parliamentary government in which several political parties cooperate. The usual reason given for this arrangement is that no party on its own can achieve a majority in the parliament...

 or minority government
Minority government
A minority government or a minority cabinet is a cabinet of a parliamentary system formed when a political party or coalition of parties does not have a majority of overall seats in the parliament but is sworn into government to break a Hung Parliament election result. It is also known as a...

 was being considered well before polling day. Gordon Brown made comments about the possibility of a coalition in January 2010. In 2009, it was reported that senior civil servants were to meet with the Liberal Democrats to discuss their policies, an indication of how seriously the prospect of a hung parliament was being taken. Nick Clegg and Menzies Campbell had continued the position of Charles Kennedy
Charles Kennedy
Charles Peter Kennedy is a British Liberal Democrat politician, who led the Liberal Democrats from 9 August 1999 until 7 January 2006 and is currently a Member of Parliament for the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency....

 of not being prepared to form a coalition with either main party and of voting against any Queen's Speech
Speech from the Throne
A speech from the throne is an event in certain monarchies in which the reigning sovereign reads a prepared speech to a complete session of parliament, outlining the government's agenda for the coming session...

 unless there was an unambiguous commitment in it to introduce proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...

.

Other parties

Other parties with representation at Westminster after the previous general election include the Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

 and Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...

 from Wales, and Respect – The Unity Coalition and Health Concern
Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern
Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern is a political party based in Kidderminster, United Kingdom...

, each of which held one parliamentary seat in England. Since that election, the SNP has won the 2007 Scottish Parliament elections
Scottish Parliament election, 2007
The 2007 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the Scottish Parliament. It was the third general election to the devolved Scottish Parliament since it was created in 1999...

 and currently control the Scottish Government and also won the largest share of the 2009 European Parliament election
European Parliament election, 2009
Elections to the European Parliament were held in the 27 member states of the European Union between 4 and 7 June 2009. A total of 736 Members of the European Parliament were elected to represent some 500 million Europeans, making these the biggest trans-national elections in history...

 vote in Scotland. In Wales, the Labour Party remained the largest party in the Welsh Assembly
National Assembly for Wales election, 2007
The 2007 National Assembly election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, and the Scottish Parliament election took place...

, although Plaid Cymru increased their share of the vote and formed a coalition government
One Wales
One Wales is the coalition agreement for the National Assembly for Wales between Labour and Plaid Cymru agreed to by Rhodri Morgan, First Minister of Wales and leader of Welsh Labour, and Ieuan Wyn Jones, leader of Plaid Cymru, on 27 June 2007. It was negotiated in the wake of the preceding...

 with Labour.

In 2009 the UUP and the Conservative Party announced they had formed an electoral alliance
Electoral alliance
An electoral alliance may take the form of a bipartisan electoral agreement, electoral agreement, electoral coalition or electoral bloc. It is an association of political parties or individuals which exists solely to stand in elections...

: the two parties will field joint candidates for future elections under the banner of "Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force
Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force
The Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, officially registered as the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force , is a bipartisan electoral alliance in Northern Ireland between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Northern Ireland branch of the Conservative Party, the latter party also being...

". However this caused the sole Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

 MP Lady Sylvia Hermon
Sylvia Hermon
Sylvia Eileen Hermon, Lady Hermon is a Northern Irish politician. Since 2001, she has been the Member of Parliament for the constituency of North Down, first elected for the Ulster Unionist Party , but now an independent...

 to resign from the party, leaving them with no representation at Westminster.

Many constituencies were contested by other, smaller parties. Parties that won no representatives at Westminster in 2005 but have seats in the devolved assemblies or European Parliament
European Parliament
The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union . Together with the Council of the European Union and the Commission, it exercises the legislative function of the EU and it has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world...

 included the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

, the Progressive Unionist Party of Northern Ireland, the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...

, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), and the Green parties in the UK: the Green Party of England and Wales
Green Party of England and Wales
The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...

, the Scottish Green Party
Scottish Green Party
The Scottish Green Party is a green party in Scotland. It has two MSPs in the devolved Scottish Parliament, Alison Johnstone, representing Lothian, and Patrick Harvie, for Glasgow.-Organisation:...

, and the Green Party in Northern Ireland
Green Party in Northern Ireland
The Green Party in Northern Ireland is the Northern Ireland subdivision of the Irish Green Party, based on the principles of Green politics. It works in co-operation with Green parties across Europe, and was formerly a party in its own right...

. In 2009, Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage MEP , a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group....

 announced his intention to resign as UKIP leader to focus on becoming an MP. Farage was replaced in an election by party members by Lord Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch is a British businessman and the former leader of the UK Independence Party . He is a member of the House of Lords.-Biography:...

, whose stated intention was for the electoral support of UKIP to force a hung parliament. The Green Party of England and Wales voted to have a position of leader for the first time; the first leadership election
Green Party of England and Wales leadership election, 2008
The first Green Party of England and Wales leadership election ended on the 5th September 2008 at 8pm.The election follows the party's decision to replace its current system of two Principal Speakers with a single leader. The change was supported by one Principal Speaker, Caroline Lucas, but...

 was won by Caroline Lucas
Caroline Lucas
Caroline Patricia Lucas is a British politician. Lucas is the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and the Green Party's first and only Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom...

, who successfully contested the constituency of Brighton Pavilion.

In addition, a new loose coalition, Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), contested a general election for the first time. TUSC was a grouping of left wing parties that participated in the 2009 European Parliament elections
European Parliament election, 2009 (United Kingdom)
The European Parliament election was the United Kingdom's component of the 2009 European Parliament election, the voting for which was held on Thursday 4 June 2009, coinciding with the 2009 local elections in England. Most of the results of the election were announced on Sunday 7 June, after...

 under the name of No2EU; members included the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...

, the Socialist Party
Socialist Party (England and Wales)
The Socialist Party is a Trotskyist party active in England and Wales.It publishes the weekly newspaper The Socialist and the monthly magazine Socialism Today...

, the Socialist Alliance
Socialist Alliance (England)
The Socialist Alliance was a left-wing electoral alliance in England between 1992 and 2005.In late 2005, a small group reformed with the name "Socialist Alliance", with a mutual affiliation with the larger Alliance for Green Socialism.-Origins:...

, Socialist Resistance
Socialist Resistance
Socialist Resistance is a Trotskyist and ecosocialist organisation in Britain which publishes a Marxist periodical of the same name. In July 2009 the International Socialist Group merged into it, making SR the British Section of the Fourth International.-Origins:It was launched on 8 September...

, and is supported by some members of UNISON
UNISON
UNISON is the largest trade union in the United Kingdom with over 1.3 million members.The union was formed in 1993 when three public sector trade unions, the National and Local Government Officers Association , the National Union of Public Employees and the Confederation of Health Service...

, the National Union of Teachers
National Union of Teachers
The National Union of Teachers is a trade union for school teachers in England, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It is a member of the Trades Union Congress...

, the University and College Union
University and College Union
The University and College Union is a British trade union formed by the merger in 2006 of the Association of University Teachers and the National Association of Teachers in Further and Higher Education ....

, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers
The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers is a trade union in the United Kingdom which unionises transport workers. It has more than 80,000 members, and its current general secretary is Bob Crow...

, and the Public and Commercial Services Union
Public and Commercial Services Union
The Public and Commercial Services Union is the sixth largest trade union in the United Kingdom. Most of its members work in government departments and other public bodies although some work for private companies.- Membership and organisation :...

. Several members of these unions ran as candidates under the TUSC banner. However, some former members of NO2EU, such as the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK, 1989)
The Liberal Party is a United Kingdom political party. It was formed in 1989 by a group of individuals within the original Liberal Party who felt that the merger of the party with the Social Democratic Party, to form the Liberal Democrats, had ended the spirit of the Liberal Party, claiming that...

and the Communist Party of Britain
Communist Party of Britain
The Communist Party of Britain is a communist political party in Great Britain. Although founded in 1988 it traces its origins back to 1920 and the Communist Party of Great Britain, and claims the legacy of that party and its most influential members Harry Pollitt and John Gollan as its...

, chose not to participate in the TUSC campaign. The coalition did not run candidates against left wing Labour or Respect candidates.

April

The prospective Labour candidate for Moray
Moray (UK Parliament constituency)
-Sources:* * * * * * -See also:...

, Stuart Maclennan, was sacked after making offensive comments on his Twitter
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...

 page, referring to elderly voters as "coffin dodgers", voters in the North of Scotland as "teuchters"
Teuchter
Teuchter is a Lowland Scots word originally used to describe a Scottish Highlander, , although in modern parlance it is used by urban Scots to describe any rural dweller. Like most such cultural epithets, it can be seen as offensive, but is often seen as amusing by the speaker...

, and insulting politicians such as Cameron, Clegg, John Bercow
John Bercow
John Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....

 and Diane Abbott
Diane Abbott
Diane Julie Abbott is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Hackney North and Stoke Newington since 1987, when she became the first black woman to be elected to the House of Commons...

.

The UKIP candidate for Thirsk and Malton
Thirsk and Malton (UK Parliament constituency)
Thirsk and Malton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 — John Boakes — died, causing the election in the constituency to be postponed until 27 May.

Philip Lardner, the Conservative candidate for North Ayrshire and Arran
North Ayrshire and Arran (UK Parliament constituency)
North Ayrshire and Arran is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south-west of Scotland within the North Ayrshire council area...

 was suspended from the party for comments he made about homosexuality on his website, describing it as not "normal behaviour". Andrew Fulton
Andrew Fulton (Party chairman)
Robert Andrew Fulton was appointed chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party in February 2008.Fulton was previously a member of HM Diplomatic Service from 1968-1999 with postings in Saigon, Rome, East Berlin, Oslo and the UK mission to the UN in New York and finally Washington DC.In 2006 Fulton...

, the chairman of the Scottish Conservative Party called the comments "deeply offensive and unacceptable", adding, "These views have no place in the modern Conservative party." However, he would still appear as a Conservative candidate because it was too late to remove his name from the ballot paper.

2,378 postal voters in Bristol West were wrongly sent ballot papers for Bristol East
Bristol East (UK Parliament constituency)
Bristol East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 by mistake. Bristol City Council officials asked people to tear up the wrong papers and said "Every effort will be made to ensure delivery [of new ballot papers] by 30 April."
Gordon Brown, while in his car on 28 April, privately described a 65-year-old woman and Labour voter, Gillian Duffy, from Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...

, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...

, as a "bigoted woman". She had asked him about vulnerable people not receiving benefits because non-vulnerable people are receiving them, adding, "You can’t say anything about the immigrants because you’re saying that you’re... but all these eastern Europeans what are coming in, where are they flocking from?" He replied "A million people have come from Europe but a million British people have gone into Europe." Brown's conversation with his communications director Justin Forsyth (JF) went:
  • "GB: That was a disaster. Sue should never have put me with that woman. Whose idea was that?
  • JF: I don't know, I didn't see her.
  • GB: Sue
    Sue Nye
    Susan Jane Nye, Baroness Nye is the former Director of Government Relations and former diary secretary to ex-British Prime Minister Gordon Brown....

    's I think [Brown's gatekeeper]. Just ridiculous...
  • JF: What did she say?
  • GB: Everything, she was just a sort of bigoted woman who said she used to be Labour. I mean, it's just ridiculous. Sue pushed her up towards me."


Brown's remarks were recorded by a Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

 microphone he was still wearing, and widely broadcast. Soon after the incident, Brown talked to Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine is a British author, journalist and news presenter for the BBC. He is known for his direct interview style and exclusive reporting from war-torn areas throughout Africa...

 live on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...

 where he publicly apologised to Mrs Duffy. Subsequently Brown visited her house for 43 minutes in order to apologise in person. Upon emerging, he described himself as a "penitent sinner", while Duffy refused to speak to the press and would not shake hands with him in front of the cameras. She said the incident had left her feeling more sad than angry and that she would not be voting for Labour or any other party.
The SNP attempted but failed to ban the broadcast of the final party leaders debate in Scotland, in a court action. They had argued that "the corporation [the BBC] had breached its rules on impartiality by excluding the SNP." The judge, Lady Smith, ruled that "the SNP's case 'lacks the requisite precision and clarity'" and added she could not "conclude the BBC had breached impartiality rules." Additionally, broadcasting regulator Ofcom ruled that it had not "upheld complaints received from the SNP and Plaid Cymru about The First Election Debate broadcast on ITV1 on Thursday 15 April 2010."

The leader of the UK Independence Party, Lord Pearson
Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch is a British businessman and the former leader of the UK Independence Party . He is a member of the House of Lords.-Biography:...

, wrote an open letter to Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...

 newspapers, asking voters to support Conservative candidates, rather than UKIP candidates in the Somerton and Frome, Taunton Deane
Taunton Deane (UK Parliament constituency)
Taunton Deane is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 and Wells
Wells (UK Parliament constituency)
Wells is a county constituency centred on the city of Wells in Somerset. It elects one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first past the post voting system...

 constituencies. This action was criticised by UKIP candidates who refused to stand down.

Labour candidate for Bristol East and former MP Kerry McCarthy
Kerry McCarthy
Kerry Gillian McCarthy is a British Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Bristol East since 2005.-Early life:...

 revealed information about postal votes cast in the constituency on Twitter. Avon and Somerset police
Avon and Somerset Constabulary
Avon & Somerset Constabulary is the territorial police force in England responsible for policing the non-metropolitan county of Somerset, the city & county of Bristol and the unitary authorities of South Gloucestershire, North Somerset and Bath and North East Somerset; before 1996 these districts...

 said they were "looking into a possible alleged breach of electoral law." Bristol City Council stated that "This is a criminal matter and [it] will be for the police to decide what action to take."

The former Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...

 returned to the campaign trail for Labour, visiting a polyclinic in Harrow West, after a troubled Labour campaign.

Postal voters in the marginal Vale of Glamorgan
Vale of Glamorgan (UK Parliament constituency)
Vale of Glamorgan is a county constituency in South Wales, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

 constituency had to be issued with new ballot papers after mistakenly being told they did not have to sign applications for postal votes.

A group of entrepreneurs warned on the dangers of a Lib-Lab coalition in an open letter to The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...

 on 29 April.

May

In Hornsey and Wood Green constituency, 749 postal voters were sent ballot papers "which asked voters to pick three candidates instead of one." Haringey Council
London Borough of Haringey
The London Borough of Haringey is a London borough, in North London, classified by some definitions as part of Inner London, and by others as part of Outer London. It was created in 1965 by the amalgamation of three former boroughs. It shares borders with six other London boroughs...

 had to deliver new ballot papers by hand.

The Metropolitan Police
Metropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...

 launched an investigation into allegations of bogus voter registration after revelations that fictitious names had been added to the electoral roll in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
London Borough of Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough to the east of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It is in the eastern part of London and covers much of the traditional East End. It also includes much of the redeveloped Docklands region of London, including West India Docks...

. It was also reported that a last minute surge in applications to vote before the 20 April deadline had led to 5,000 names being added to the register without being checked, enough to sway the outcome of the election.

The Labour candidate for North West Norfolk, Manish Sood, described Gordon Brown as Britain's worst ever Prime Minister. The comments, which he repeated to a variety of news outlets, took attention away from the previous day's speech by Brown to Citizens UK
Citizens UK
Citizens UK describes itself as "the hub of community organising in the UK." It started as London Citizens in 1996, and came to national prominence during the United Kingdom general election, 2010 when all three leaders of the UK's three largest political parties addressed a large meeting of its...

, widely described as his best of the campaign.

A Conservative Party activist in Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

 was arrested after alleged incidents of postal voting fraud.

Simon Bennett resigned as the head of the British National Party
British National Party
The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...

's online operation, then redirected its website to his own website on which he launches an attack against the party's leadership.
On the morning of polling day, the former leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage MEP , a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group....

, was injured when a light aircraft in which he was a passenger crashed near Brackley
Brackley
Brackley is a town in south Northamptonshire, England. It is about from Oxford and miles form Northampton. Historically a market town based on the wool and lace trade, it was built on the intersecting trade routes between London, Birmingham and the English Midlands and between Cambridge and Oxford...

, Northamptonshire. There were also several reports of voters being locked out of polling stations in Sheffield Hallam, Manchester and Leeds, "and police said one London polling station was open at 2230 BST." Counting in Londonderry
Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency)
Londonderry was a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons and also a constituency in elections to various regional bodies. It was replaced in boundary changes in 1983...

 was also suspended around 2300 UTC, after a car which was abandoned outside the counting centre caused a bomb scare.

The counts for the Foyle
Foyle (UK Parliament constituency)
Foyle is a Parliamentary Constituency in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.-Boundaries:The seat was created in boundary changes in 1983, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, and was predominantly made up from the old Londonderry constituency...

 and East Londonderry
East Londonderry (UK Parliament constituency)
East Londonderry is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The seat was created in boundary changes in 1983, as part of an expansion of Northern Ireland's constituencies from 12 to 17, and was predominantly made up from the old Londonderry constituency...

 constituencies were suspended due to a security alert.

Debates

Following a campaign by Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

 and with agreement of the party leaders. it was announced on 21 December 2009 that there would be three leaders' debates, each in primetime, and a subsequent announcement in March 2010 that a debate between the financial spokesmen of the three main parties, Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...

, George Osborne
George Osborne
George Gideon Oliver Osborne, MP is a British Conservative politician. He is the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, a role to which he was appointed in May 2010, and has been the Member of Parliament for Tatton since 2001.Osborne is part of the old Anglo-Irish aristocracy, known in...

 and Vince Cable would be held on 29 March.
Date Host Location Moderator Subject
15 April ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...

Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

Alastair Stewart
Alastair Stewart
Alastair James Stewart OBE is an English journalist and newscaster. Stewart is currently employed by ITN where he is a main newscaster for ITV News.-Early life:...

Domestic policy
Highlights
Instant polling after the event unanimously declared Nick Clegg the winner. This first debate caused a large, immediate, and unexpected impact on opinion polls in favour of the Liberal Democrats.
22 April Sky News
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

Adam Boulton
Adam Boulton
Adam Boulton is political editor of the British television channel Sky News, a post he has held since being asked to establish the politics team for the launch of the channel in 1989.-Biography:...

International affairs
Highlights
Nick Clegg and David Cameron came out best in the instant polls with Gordon Brown very closely behind. Nick Clegg, having received such a surge after the first debate, was judged to have fended off the Labour Party and Conservative Party attacks. Gordon Brown was judged to have drastically improved his performance, and David Cameron was judged to have overcome the nerves that commentators believed affected him in the First Debate. In the build-up, the Liberal Democrats were affected by claims Clegg had received secret donations from businessmen, although he subsequently released his financial statements to show that no improper conduct had occurred.
29 April BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...

David Dimbleby
David Dimbleby
David Dimbleby is a British BBC TV commentator and a presenter of current affairs and political programmes, most notably the BBC's flagship political show Question Time, and more recently, art, architectural history and history series...

Economy and taxes
Highlights
In the third and final poll, David Cameron was widely regarded as the party leader who made the best impression to the audience at home. At the end of the debating night, the Conservatives had gained a 5% lead over the Labour Party.


The SNP insisted that as the leading political party in Scotland in the latest opinion poll, it should be included in any debate broadcast in Scotland. On 22 December 2009, the UKIP leader, Lord Pearson
Malcolm Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch
Malcolm Everard MacLaren Pearson, Baron Pearson of Rannoch is a British businessman and the former leader of the UK Independence Party . He is a member of the House of Lords.-Biography:...

 stated that his party should also be included. Following a decision by the BBC Trust not to uphold a complaint from the SNP and Plaid Cymru over their exclusion from the planned BBC debate, the SNP announced on 25 April that they would proceed with legal action over the debate scheduled for 29 April. The party said it was not trying to stop the broadcast but it wanted an SNP politician included for balance. The SNP lost the case, in a judgement delivered on 28 April.

Polling

Since each MP is elected separately by the first past the post voting system, it is impossible to precisely project a clear election outcome from overall UK shares of the vote. Not only can individual constituencies vary markedly from overall voting trends, but individual countries and regions within the UK may have a very different electoral contest that is not properly reflected in overall share of the vote figures.

Immediately following the previous general election, the Labour party held a double-digit lead in opinion polls. However, over the course of 2005, this lead was eroded somewhat. By December 2005, the Conservative party showed its first small leads in opinion polls following the controversial 90 days detention proposals and the election of David Cameron to the leadership of the Conservative party.

In early 2006, opinion polls were increasingly mixed with small leads given alternately to Labour and Conservative. From the May 2006 local elections, in which Labour suffered significant losses, the Conservatives took a small single-digit lead in opinion polls. Labour regained the lead in June 2007 following the resignation of Tony Blair and the appointment of Gordon Brown as prime minister. From November 2007, the Conservatives again took the lead and, from then, extended their lead into double digits, particularly in response to the MPs' expenses scandal, although there was some evidence that the lead narrowed slightly towards the end of 2009. By the end of February 2010, Ipsos MORI, ICM, YouGov
YouGov
YouGov, formerly known as PollingPoint in the United States, is an international internet-based market research firm launched in the UK in May 2000 by Stephan Shakespeare, now Chief Executive Officer, and Nadhim Zahawi...

 and ComRes
ComRes
ComRes is a polling and research consultancy with British origins. The company has its registered company headquarters in London, United Kingdom and also has offices in Brussels, Edinburgh and Cardiff...

 polls had all found a sufficient narrowing of the Conservative lead for media speculation about a hung parliament to return.

From 15 April 2010, following the first televised debate of the party leaders, polling data changed dramatically, with the Lib Dem vote proportion rising to 28–33%, and the Conservative vote proportion falling. In some polls, the Liberal Democrats took the lead from the Conservatives. Under UNS projections, this made a hung parliament highly probable, if Lib Dem performance had persisted.

The following graph shows ComRes poll results recorded over the period 11 April – 6 May 2010, including annotations of the three TV debates:
After the second debate on 22 April the polls, on average, placed the Conservatives in the lead on 33%, the Liberal Democrats in second on 30% and Labour in third on 28%. If these polls had reflected the election day results on a uniform swing nationwide, Labour would have had the most seats in a hung Parliament.

Exit poll

At 22:00 on election day, coinciding with the closure of the polls, the results of an exit poll
Exit poll
An election exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they have exited the polling stations. Unlike an opinion poll, which asks whom the voter plans to vote for or some similar formulation, an exit poll asks whom the voter actually voted for. A similar poll conducted before actual...

 completed by GfK NOP and Ipsos MORI on behalf of the BBC
BBC News
BBC News is the department of the British Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs. The department is the world's largest broadcast news organisation and generates about 120 hours of radio and television output each day, as well as online...

, Sky
Sky News
Sky News is a 24-hour British and international satellite television news broadcaster with an emphasis on UK and international news stories.The service places emphasis on rolling news, including the latest breaking news. Sky News also hosts localised versions of the channel in Australia and in New...

 and ITV
ITV News
ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. Since 1955, ITV's news bulletins have been produced by Independent Television News . The channel's news coverage has won awards from the Royal Television Society, Emmy Awards and BAFTAs. Between 2004 and 2008, the...

 news services was announced. Data were gathered from individuals at 130 polling stations around the country. The results of the poll initially suggested a hung parliament with the Conservative Party 19 seats from a controlling majority; this was later adjusted to 21 seats. The distribution of seats amongst the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats and other parties was initially suggested to be 307, 255, 59 and 29 respectively, although the seat numbers were later changed to 303, 251, 69, and 27 respectively.

Initial reaction to the exit poll by various commentators was of surprise at the apparent poor prospects for the Liberal Democrats because it was odds with many opinion polls undertaken in the previous weeks. The actual results showed that the exit poll was a good predictor.

A later BBC Exit poll (05:36 BST) predicted the Conservatives on 306, 20 short of an overall majority, Labour on 262, and Liberal Democrats on 55.

Newspaper endorsements

National newspapers in the United Kingdom traditionally endorse political parties before a general election. The following table shows which parties the major papers endorsed.
Dailies   Sundays
Newspaper Endorsement Newspaper Endorsement
The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...


Sunday Times
The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...


The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...


Daily Telegraph
The Sunday Telegraph
Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....


 
The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

 
Declared against Conservatives The Independent on Sunday  Declared against Conservatives
Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...


 
Daily Mail
Daily Mail
The Daily Mail is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper owned by the Daily Mail and General Trust. First published in 1896 by Lord Northcliffe, it is the United Kingdom's second biggest-selling daily newspaper after The Sun. Its sister paper The Mail on Sunday was launched in 1982...


The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday
The Mail on Sunday is a British conservative newspaper, currently published in a tabloid format. First published in 1982 by Lord Rothermere, it became Britain's biggest-selling Sunday newspaper following the closing of The News of the World in July 2011...


Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...


Sunday Express
Daily Mirror
Sunday Mirror
Sunday Mirror
The Sunday Mirror is the Sunday sister paper of the Daily Mirror. It began life in 1915 as the Sunday Pictorial and was renamed the Sunday Mirror in 1963. Trinity Mirror also owns The People...


  The People
The People
The People, previously known as the Sunday People, is a British tabloid Sunday-only newspaper. The paper was founded on 16 October 1881.It is published by the Trinity Mirror Group.In July 2011 it had an average daily circulation of 806,544....

 
Coalition
The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...


News of the World
News of the World
The News of the World was a national red top newspaper published in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the biggest selling English language newspaper in the world, and at closure still had one of the highest English language circulations...


The Daily Star
 


The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...

 and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

 advocated tactical voting
Tactical voting
In voting systems, tactical voting occurs, in elections with more than two viable candidates, when a voter supports a candidate other than his or her sincere preference in order to prevent an undesirable outcome.It has been shown by the Gibbard-Satterthwaite theorem that any voting method which is...

 to maximise the chance of a Liberal Democrat/Labour coalition, in order to make electoral reform
Electoral reform
Electoral reform is change in electoral systems to improve how public desires are expressed in election results. That can include reforms of:...

 a possibility.

Results

Turnout nationally was 65%, a rise from the 61% turnout in the 2005 general election
United Kingdom general election, 2005
The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005 to elect 646 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party under Tony Blair won its third consecutive victory, but with a majority of 66, reduced from 160....

.
On 27 May 2010 the Conservatives won the final seat of Thirsk and Malton in a landslide result, thus giving them 306 seats. The election in that constituency had been delayed due to the death of the UKIP candidate.

Election petitions

Two results were also challenged by defeated candidates through election petitions - Fermanagh and South Tyrone
Fermanagh and South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)
Fermanagh and South Tyrone is a Parliamentary constituency in the British House of Commons. The current MP for the constituency is Michelle Gildernew of Sinn Féin....

, and Oldham East and Saddleworth
Oldham East and Saddleworth
Oldham East and Saddleworth is a county constituency in Greater Manchester represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

.

Fermanagh and South Tyrone

The defeated Unionist 'Unity' candidate, Rodney Connor, lodged a petition against the successful Sinn Féin candidate, Michelle Gildernew
Michelle Gildernew
Michelle Gildernew is an Irish republican Sinn Féin politician and former Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive...

, in Fermanagh and South Tyrone
Fermanagh and South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)
Fermanagh and South Tyrone is a Parliamentary constituency in the British House of Commons. The current MP for the constituency is Michelle Gildernew of Sinn Féin....

, alleging irregularities in the counting of the votes had affected the result. Gildernew had won with a majority of four votes. However the Court found that there were only three ballot papers which could not be accounted for, and even if they were all votes for Connor, Gildernew would have had a majority of one. The election was therefore upheld.

Oldham East and Saddleworth

On 28 May 2010, the defeated Liberal Democrat candidate Elwyn Watkins lodged a petition against the election of Phil Woolas (Labour) in Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency. The petition challenged leaflets issued by Woolas' campaign as having contained false statements of fact concerning Watkins' personal character, which is an illegal practice under section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983
Representation of the People Act 1983
The Representation of the People Act 1983 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It changed the British electoral process in the following ways:* Amended the Representation of the People Act 1969....

. The statements attempted to link Watkins with Muslim extremists and death threats to Woolas, accused him of reneging on a promise to live in the constituency, and implied that his campaign was funded by illegal foreign political donations.

During the court case a number of emails between Woolas and his campaign team emerged. In one, Woolas' agent, Joe Fitzpatrick, emailed Woolas and campaign adviser Steven Green, to say: “Things are not going as well as I had hoped … we need to think about our first attack leaflet.” A reply from Fitzpatrick said: "If we don’t get the white vote angry he’s gone.” Some have criticised these tactics in light of significant existing racial tensions in the area. The court hearing finished on 17 September 2010, with the judges reserving their judgement until 5 November 2010. On that day Woolas was found to have breached section 106 of the Representation of the People Act 1983 in relation to three of the four statements complained about, and the judges ruled that his election was void. Phil Woolas applied for a judicial review into the ruling, stating that "this election petition raised fundamental issues about the freedom to question and criticise politicians." and that it "will inevitably chill political speech". He succeeded in overturning the finding in respect of one of the three statements but the main findings of the election court judgment were upheld. A by-election
Oldham East and Saddleworth by-election, 2011
The 2011 by-election in Oldham East and Saddleworth was a by-election for the Parliament of the United Kingdom's House of Commons constituency of Oldham East and Saddleworth held on 13 January 2011...

 on 13 January 2011 resulted in the election of Debbie Abrahams
Debbie Abrahams
Deborah Angela Elspeth Abrahams is a British politician, who has been the Labour Member of Parliament for the Oldham East and Saddleworth constituency since a by-election in January 2011. Her previous career was as a public health consultant.-Early and professional life:Abrahams was born in...

 (Labour).

Analysis

At 9:41 on 7 May, the BBC confirmed a hung parliament
Hung parliament
In a two-party parliamentary system of government, a hung parliament occurs when neither major political party has an absolute majority of seats in the parliament . It is also less commonly known as a balanced parliament or a legislature under no overall control...

. The Conservatives stood at 290 seats, Labour at 247 and Liberal Democrats at 51. One constituency seat (Thirsk and Malton)
Thirsk and Malton (UK Parliament constituency)
Thirsk and Malton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

 was contested on 27 May due to the death of the UKIP candidate and was won by the Conservative party, whilst another seat (Oldham East) later had its result declared void; Labour won the resulting by-election.
The result showed an overall 5% swing from Labour to the Conservatives, nearly similar to the 5.2% swing achieved by the Conservative leader Margaret Thatcher in 1979. The 97 net seat gains made by the Conservatives outdid their previous best gains total in 1950
United Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...

, when they gained 85. Labour's loss of 91 seats was worse than their previous greatest loss of seats, when they lost 77 seats in 1970
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...

.

Of the 532 seats contested in England (a final seat, Thirsk and Malton, was contested on 27 May), the Conservatives won 298 seats and an absolute majority of 61 seats over all other parties combined, securing an average swing of 5.6% from Labour. Labour did poorly in many Southern areas, notably in the Eastern Region where they won only 2 of their 14 seats from 2005- Luton North
Luton North (UK Parliament constituency)
Luton North is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

 and Luton South
Luton South (UK Parliament constituency)
Luton South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

. The Labour party did however gain 2 seats: Bethnal Green and Bow and Chesterfield
Chesterfield (UK Parliament constituency)
Chesterfield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a marginal seat between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The best-known MP was Tony Benn from 1984 to 2001...

. The Conservatives themselves made 95 of their gains in England, but they also made 3 losses, all to the Liberal Democrats. For the Liberal Democrats, their 8 gains were overshadowed by their 12 losses - 1 to Labour and 11 to the Conservatives.

None of Scotland's 59 seats changed hands and all were held by the same party that had won them at the 2005 election, with Labour regaining the two seats they had lost in by-elections since 2005. There was a swing to Labour from the Conservatives of 0.8% (with Labour increasing its share of the vote by 2.5% and the Conservatives increasing by just 0.9%) The Conservatives finished with just a single MP representing a Scottish constituency.

Of the 40 seats contested in Wales, the Conservatives more than doubled their seats from 3 to 8, taking 1 from the Liberal Democrats and 4 from Labour. Welsh nationalist
Welsh nationalism
Welsh nationalism emphasises the distinctiveness of Welsh language, culture, and history, and calls for more self-determination for Wales, which may include more Devolved powers for the Welsh Assembly or full independence from the United Kingdom.-Conquest:...

 party Plaid Cymru
Plaid Cymru
' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...

's number of seats was reduced from 3 to 2 on the new seat boundaries, but they managed to gain 1 seat, Arfon
Arfon (UK Parliament constituency)
Arfon is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom . Although the constituency is relatively large by geographical area, it is a predominantly urban rather than rural seat, with the majority of the population living in the two towns on which the constituency is...

, from Labour. Labour did however regain Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent (UK Parliament constituency)
Blaenau Gwent is a county constituency in South Wales, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- History :...

, which had once been Labour's safest seat in Wales until it had been taken by Peter Law
Peter Law
Peter John Law was a Welsh politician.- Labour Co-operative AM and Independent MP :For most of his career Law sat as a Labour Councillor and subsequently Labour Co-operative Assembly Member for Blaenau Gwent...

 in 2005. Overall, Labour made a net loss of 4 seats but remained the biggest party, with 26.

There were 18 seats contested in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. Both Irish nationalist
Irish nationalism
Irish nationalism manifests itself in political and social movements and in sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and as a sense of pride in Ireland and in the Irish people...

 parties, Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin
Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

 and the Social Democratic and Labour Party
Social Democratic and Labour Party
The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...

 (SDLP), held their seats. The unionist
Unionism in Ireland
Unionism in Ireland is an ideology that favours the continuation of some form of political union between the islands of Ireland and Great Britain...

 Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

 (DUP) and Ulster Unionist Party
Ulster Unionist Party
The Ulster Unionist Party – sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or, in a historic sense, simply the Unionist Party – is the more moderate of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland...

 (UUP) (the latter in an electoral pact with the Conservatives), lost one seat each. This left the nationalist parties unchanged with eight seats, the main unionist parties with eight seats (all DUP), the Alliance with one seat and an independent unionist with one seat. It is the first time since the partition of Ireland
Partition of Ireland
The partition of Ireland was the division of the island of Ireland into two distinct territories, now Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland . Partition occurred when the British Parliament passed the Government of Ireland Act 1920...

 that unionist parties failed to secure a majority of Northern Ireland's Westminster seats in a general election, and also the first time Sinn Féin obtained the largest share of the vote in Northern Ireland at a general election.

Notable results

  • Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
    Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families
    The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families is a Cabinet minister in the United Kingdom. The post was created on 28 June 2007 after the disbanding of the Department for Education and Skills by Gordon Brown. The first Secretary of State was Ed Balls, a former treasury aide to Brown...

     Ed Balls
    Ed Balls
    Edward Michael Balls, known as Ed Balls, is a British Labour politician, who has been a Member of Parliament since 2005, currently for Morley and Outwood, and is the current Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer....

     held his seat in Morley and Outwood by just 1,101, despite much anticipation of a "Portillo moment"
  • Minister of State for Borders and Immigration
    Minister of State for Borders and Immigration
    The Minister of State for Immigration is a Minister of State in the Home Office of the Government of the United Kingdom. The current minister is Damian Green MP who was appointed to his new post following the formation of a coalition government under David Cameron at the 2010 general...

     Phil Woolas
    Phil Woolas
    Philip James Woolas was a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Oldham East and Saddleworth from his election in 1997 to 2010. He was the Minister of State for Borders and Immigration in the Home Office, as well as being the Minister of State for the Treasury...

     retained Oldham East and Saddleworth by just 103 votes. However, following a legal challenge by his Liberal Democrat opponent, Elwyn Watkins
    Elwyn Watkins
    Robert Elwyn James Watkins, born in Rochdale, is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He narrowly lost to Labour Party candidate Phil Woolas for the Oldham East and Saddleworth seat in the 2010 general election, but the result was overturned by an election court, which found that Woolas had...

    , a new by-election was ordered and held on January 13, 2011. Woolas could not stand in this by-election, though Labour held the seat with an increased majority.
  • Green Party
    Green Party of England and Wales
    The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...

     leader Caroline Lucas
    Caroline Lucas
    Caroline Patricia Lucas is a British politician. Lucas is the leader of the Green Party of England and Wales, and the Green Party's first and only Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom...

     won Brighton Pavilion, becoming their first Westminster MP
  • British National Party
    British National Party
    The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...

     leader Nick Griffin
    Nick Griffin
    Nicholas John "Nick" Griffin is a British politician, chairman of the British National Party and Member of the European Parliament for North West England....

     finished in third place after a heavy loss in Barking
    Barking (UK Parliament constituency)
    Barking is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It has elected Labour MPs since its creation in 1945, usually with strong majorities.- Boundaries :The...

     to incumbent Labour MP Margaret Hodge
    Margaret Hodge
    Margaret Hodge MBE MP, also known as Lady Hodge by virtue of her husband's knighthood, is a British Labour politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Barking since 1994. She was the first Minister for Children in 2003 and was Minister of State for Culture and Tourism at the Department...


Demographics

The election resulted in an increase in the number of MPs from ethnic minorities from 14 to 27, including the first black and Asian female Conservative MPs, Helen Grant
Helen Grant (politician)
Helen Grant is a British lawyer and Conservative Party politician. She is the current Member of Parliament for Maidstone and The Weald in Kent. She was elected at the 2010 general election, replacing the constituency's previous incumbent, Ann Widdecombe, who had decided to step down as an MP...

 and Priti Patel
Priti Patel
Priti Patel is a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. First elected in the 2010 general election, she is the Member of Parliament for the Witham constituency, and an officer of the Conservative Friends of Israel group....

, and the first female Muslim MPs, Rushanara Ali
Rushanara Ali
Rushanara Ali is a British Labour Party politician and Associate Director of the Young Foundation, who has been the Member of Parliament for Bethnal Green and Bow since 2010...

, Shabana Mahmood
Shabana Mahmood
Shabana Mahmood is a British Labour Party politician and barrister, who has been the Member of Parliament for Birmingham, Ladywood since the May 2010 general election.-Early life:...

 and Yasmin Qureshi
Yasmin Qureshi
Yasmin Qureshi is a British-Pakistani Labour Party politician and a barrister practicing criminal law. She was elected as the Member of Parliament for Bolton South East in the May 2010 general election.-Early life:...

. This means that 4.2% of MPs are from an ethnic minority – in the 2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....

, it was reported that ethnic minorities comprised 7.9% of the population. The number of female MPs rose to 141, an increase from 19.5% to 21.7% of all MPs, and the highest ever total; the number of female Conservative MPs rose from 18 to 48.

Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland a swing of more than 20% resulted in DUP First Minister Peter Robinson
Peter Robinson (politician)
Peter David Robinson is the current First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party...

 losing his Belfast East
Belfast East (UK Parliament constituency)
Belfast East is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Naomi Long of the Alliance Party, elected in 2010...

 seat to the Alliance Party
Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

's Naomi Long, giving Alliance its first elected MP in Westminster.

Sir Reg Empey
Reg Empey
Reginald Norman Morgan Empey, Baron Empey of Shandon, OBE, – known as Sir Reg Empey prior to 2011 – is a former Leader of the Ulster Unionist Party and Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly for East Belfast...

 leader of the UUP/Conservative alliance (UCUNF), standing for the first time in South Antrim
South Antrim (UK Parliament constituency)
South Antrim is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:From 1885, this constituency was one of four county divisions of the former Antrim constituency...

 lost to the DUP incumbent William McCrea
William McCrea (politician)
Robert Thomas William McCrea is a politician from Northern Ireland, and a member of the Democratic Unionist Party.-Career:...

. Thus both leaders of the main Unionist parties failed to win seats while the UUP for the first time has no MPs at Westminster. A few days after the election, Empey announced that he would resign before the party conference, triggering a leadership election
Ulster Unionist Party leadership election, 2010
An election for the leadership of the Ulster Unionist Party was held on 22 September 2010.-Background:Following poor results in the UK general election, 2005, the UUP held a leadership election, in which Reg Empey was successful...

.

Sylvia Hermon, Lady Hermon
Sylvia Hermon
Sylvia Eileen Hermon, Lady Hermon is a Northern Irish politician. Since 2001, she has been the Member of Parliament for the constituency of North Down, first elected for the Ulster Unionist Party , but now an independent...

 retained her seat in North Down
North Down (UK Parliament constituency)
North Down is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Sylvia Hermon, elected as an Independent in the 2010 General Election. -Boundaries:The county constituency was first created in 1885 from the northern part of Down...

, significantly increasing her percentage of the vote despite a slightly lower turnout and her defection from the UUP/Conservative alliance to stand as an independent.

New SDLP leader Margaret Ritchie
Margaret Ritchie (politician)
Margaret Ritchie is an Irish politician from Northern Ireland. She was the leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party from 7 February 2010 to 5 November 2011 - being replaced in this role by Alasdair McDonnell - and served as the Minister for Social Development from 8 May 2007 until her...

, succeeding Eddie McGrady
Eddie McGrady
Edward Kevin McGrady, known as Eddie McGrady is an Irish nationalist politician and a former member of the British Parliament.One of eleven children, McGrady was educated at St...

 MP, won against Sinn Féin's Caitriona Ruane in South Down
South Down (UK Parliament constituency)
South Down is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons.-Boundaries:The county constituency was first created in 1885 from the southern part of Down...

. All of the Sinn Féin and SDLP incumbents held their seats, although Sinn Féin's Michelle Gildernew
Michelle Gildernew
Michelle Gildernew is an Irish republican Sinn Féin politician and former Minister for Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive...

 retained her seat in Fermanagh & South Tyrone
Fermanagh and South Tyrone (UK Parliament constituency)
Fermanagh and South Tyrone is a Parliamentary constituency in the British House of Commons. The current MP for the constituency is Michelle Gildernew of Sinn Féin....

 by only four votes over the independent unionist unity candidate, Rodney Connor
Rodney Connor
Rodney Connor was the Unionist "Unity" candidate for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom in Fermanagh and South Tyrone in the 2010 Westminster election. He had the backing of the Democratic Unionist Party , and the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force electoral alliance between...

, after three recounts.

MPs who lost their seats

Party Name Constituency Office held whilst in power Year elected
Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

Jacqui Smith
Jacqui Smith
Jacqueline Jill "Jacqui" Smith is a member of the British Labour Party. She served as the Member of Parliament for Redditch from 1997 until 2010 and was the first ever female Home Secretary, thus making her the third woman to hold one of the Great Offices of State — after Margaret Thatcher and...

Redditch
Redditch (UK Parliament constituency)
Redditch is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It was created in 1997 following major changes to the Mid Worcestershire constituency.- Boundaries :This...

Former Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

 (2007-09)
1997
Charles Clarke
Charles Clarke
Charles Rodway Clarke is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Norwich South from 1997 until 2010, and served as Home Secretary from December 2004 until May 2006.-Early life:...

Norwich South Former Home Secretary
Home Secretary
The Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...

 (2004-06)
1997
Tony McNulty
Tony McNulty
Anthony "Tony" James McNulty is a former British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Harrow East from 1997 to 2010 and was a government minister from 2002 to 2009. He was Minister for London and Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform at the Department for...

Harrow East Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform
Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...

1997
Angela Smith Basildon
Basildon (UK Parliament constituency)
Basildon was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

, contesting South Basildon and East Thurrock
South Basildon and East Thurrock (UK Parliament constituency)
South Basildon and East Thurrock is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

Minister of State for Third Sector
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....

1997
Bill Rammell
Bill Rammell
William Ernest Rammell is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Harlow from 1997 to 2010, and has served as the Minister of State for the Armed Forces at the Ministry of Defence...

Harlow
Harlow (UK Parliament constituency)
Harlow is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

Minister of State for the Armed Forces
Minister of State for the Armed Forces
The Minister of State for the Armed Forces is a middle-ranking ministerial position, subordinate only to the Secretary of State for Defence, at the Ministry of Defence in Her Majesty's Government....

1997
Gillian Merron
Gillian Merron
Gillian Joanna Merron was a British Labour Party politician, who was also the Member of Parliament for Lincoln from 1997 to 2010. From 2009 to 2010 she was Minister of State with responsibility for Public Health at the Department of Health.-Personal life:Merron was born in Ilford, Essex, and...

Lincoln
Lincoln (UK Parliament constituency)
Lincoln is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

Minister of State for Public Health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

1997
Mike O'Brien North Warwickshire
North Warwickshire (UK Parliament constituency)
-Notes and references:...

Minister of State for Health Services
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

1992
Phil Hope
Phil Hope
Philip Ian "Phil" Hope is a British Labour Co-operative politician who was the Member of Parliament for Corby from 1997 until 2010, when he lost his seat to the Conservatives. He held several ministerial roles during his time as an MP. Since his defeat, he is working as a consultant for Age...

Corby
Corby (UK Parliament constituency)
Corby is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system, and is currently a marginal seat between Labour and the Conservatives....

Minister of State for Health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

1997
Vera Baird
Vera Baird
Vera Baird is a British Labour Party activist, barrister, author and lecturer. She serves as visiting lecturer at London Southbank University and is co-director of Astraea: Gender Justice...

Redcar
Redcar (UK Parliament constituency)
Redcar is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

Solicitor General for England and Wales
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...

2001
Jim Knight
Jim Knight
James Philip Knight, Baron Knight of Weymouth is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for South Dorset from 2001 until 2010, when he lost his seat. Knight held several ministerial posts during his time as an MP including Minister for the South West and Minister for...

South Dorset Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform
Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...

2001
Dawn Butler
Dawn Butler
Dawn Petula Butler is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Brent South from 2005 to 2010, and was Minister for Young Citizens and Youth Engagement in the Cabinet Office...

Brent South, contesting Brent Central
Brent Central (UK Parliament constituency)
Brent Central is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

Minister for Young Citizens and Youth Engagement
Minister for Young Citizens and Youth Engagement
The post of Minister for Young Citizens and Youth Engagement is a ministerial position in the United Kingdom, created on 30 October 2009 by prime minister Gordon Brown. It was created following a recommendation that came from the Youth Citizenship Commission that there should be a Minister for...

2005
Sarah McCarthy-Fry
Sarah McCarthy-Fry
Sarah McCarthy-Fry is a British Labour Co-operative politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Portsmouth North from 2005 to 2010. McCarthy-Fry was the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury in the last Labour government.-Early life:...

Portsmouth North Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury
The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury is a junior ministerial post in the British Treasury, ranked below the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster General and the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, and alongside the Economic Secretary to the Treasury....

2005
Bob Blizzard
Bob Blizzard
Robert John Blizzard is a British Labour Party politician, who served as the Member of Parliament for Waveney from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:...

Waveney
Waveney (UK Parliament constituency)
Waveney is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
Lord of the Treasury
In the United Kingdom, there are at least six Lords of the Treasury who serve concurrently. Traditionally, this board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the Treasury, and four or more junior lords .Strictly they are commissioners for exercising the office of Lord...

1997
Janet Anderson
Janet Anderson
Janet Anderson is an English Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Rossendale and Darwen from 1992 until 2010.-Early life:...

Rossendale and Darwen Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
Vice-Chamberlain of the Household
The Vice-Chamberlain of the Household is usually a junior government whip in the British House of Commons and is an officer of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. He or she is the Deputy to the Lord Chamberlain of the Household. The Vice-Chamberlain's main role is to compile...

1992
Shahid Malik
Shahid Malik
Shahid Rafique Malik is a British Labour Party politician who became the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury in 2005 after defeating Conservative Sayeeda Warsi, now Conservative Chair Baroness Warsi and remained so till 2010 when Conservative candidate Simon Reevell won Dewsbury...

Dewsbury
Dewsbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Dewsbury is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State
A Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State is the lowest of three tiers of government minister in the government of the United Kingdom, junior to both a Minister of State and a Secretary of State....

, Department for Communities and Local Government
Department for Communities and Local Government
The Department for Communities and Local Government is the UK Government department for communities and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001...

2005
David Kidney
David Kidney
David Neil Kidney is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Stafford from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:...

Stafford
Stafford (UK Parliament constituency)
Stafford is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. The sitting MP is the Conservative Jeremy Lefroy....

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for Energy and Climate Change 1997
Michael (Jabez) Foster
Michael Jabez Foster
Michael Jabez Foster is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Hastings and Rye from 1997 until 2010...

Hastings and Rye Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...

; Minister for Equalities
1997
Michael Foster
Michael John Foster
Michael John Foster was a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Worcester from 1997 until 2010, and was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for International Development....

Worcester
Worcester (UK Parliament constituency)
Worcester is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since 1885 it has elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election; from 1295 to 1885 it elected two MPs....

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for International Development
Department for International Development
The Department For International Development is a United Kingdom government department with a Cabinet Minister in charge. It was separated from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1997. The goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". The current...

1997
Dan Norris
Dan Norris
Dan Norris is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Wansdyke from 1997 until 2010. He was also a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs....

Wansdyke
Wansdyke (UK Parliament constituency)
Wansdyke was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

, contesting North East Somerset
North East Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)
North East Somerset is a county constituency created by the Boundary Commission for England as the successor seat to the Wansdyke Parliamentary Seat. It came into being at the 2010 general election.- Boundaries :...

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 1997
Chris Mole
Chris Mole
Christopher David "Chris" Mole is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Ipswich from a by-election in 2001, after the death of Jamie Cann, and was re-elected in 2005...

Ipswich
Ipswich (UK Parliament constituency)
Ipswich is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...

2001
Paul Clark Gillingham and Rainham Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...

1997
Jonathan Shaw
Jonathan Shaw
Jonathan Rowland Shaw is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Chatham and Aylesford from 1997 to 2010...

Chatham and Aylesford Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Work and Pensions
Department for Work and Pensions
The Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...

; Minister for Disabled People
1997
Ann Keen
Ann Keen
Ann Lloyd Keen is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Brentford and Isleworth from 1997, until she was defeated by Conservative candidate Mary Macleod in 2010.-Early life:...

Brentford and Isleworth Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health Services
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

1997
Claire Ward
Claire Ward
Claire Margaret Ward is a British Labour Party politician. She served as the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Watford from 1997 to 2010, and was a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice from 2009 to 2010....

Watford
Watford (UK Parliament constituency)
Watford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Justice 1997
Joan Ryan
Joan Ryan
Joan Marie Ryan is a politician in the United Kingdom. She was member of Parliament for Enfield North between 1997 and 2010, and is a member of the Labour Party. She had previously been deputy leader of Barnet Council....

Enfield North Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Nationality, Citizenship and Immigration 1997
Sally Keeble
Sally Keeble
Sally Curtis Keeble is a British Labour Party politician, was the Member of Parliament for Northampton North from 1997 to 2010...

Northampton North
Northampton North (UK Parliament constituency)
Northampton North is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It was created before the election of February 1974 when the old constituency of Northampton...

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department for International Development
Department for International Development
The Department For International Development is a United Kingdom government department with a Cabinet Minister in charge. It was separated from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in 1997. The goal of the department is "to promote sustainable development and eliminate world poverty". The current...

1997
Parmjit Dhanda
Parmjit Dhanda
Parmjit Singh Dhanda is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Gloucester from 2001 to 2010, succeeding Tess Kingham as the Labour MP for the seat...

Gloucester
Gloucester (UK Parliament constituency)
Gloucester is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was established in 1295 to return two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons but in 1885 representation was reduced to one member under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885...

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Communities and Local Government 2001
Celia Barlow
Celia Barlow
Celia Anne Barlow is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Hove from 2005 to 2010.-Early life:Barlow was born in Cardiff, Wales, and attended King Edward High School for Girls in Birmingham...

Hove
Hove (UK Parliament constituency)
Hove is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform
The Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform was a United Kingdom government department. The department was created on 28 June 2007 on the disbanding of the Department of Trade and Industry , and was itself disbanded on 6 June 2009 on the creation of the Department for Business,...

2005
Nick Ainger
Nick Ainger
Nicholas Richard 'Nick' Ainger is a British politician. A member of the Labour Party, he served as the Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire from 1992 to 1997 and then, following boundary changes, as MP for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:Ainger was born in...

Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Wales Office
Wales Office
The Wales Office / Swyddfa Cymru is a United Kingdom government department. It replaced the former Welsh Office, which had extensive responsibility for governing Wales prior to Welsh devolution in 1999....

1992
Charlotte Atkins
Charlotte Atkins
Charlotte Jean Scott Atkins is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Staffordshire Moorlands from 1997 until 2010.-Early life:...

Staffordshire Moorlands
Staffordshire Moorlands (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections in the 2000s:Source:-Elections in the 1990s:-Notes and references:...

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Transport
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...

1997
Phyllis Starkey
Phyllis Starkey
Phyllis Margaret Starkey is a British Labour party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Milton Keynes South West from 1997 to 2010. She had previously served as Leader of Oxford City Council....

Milton Keynes South West Chair of the Communities and Local Government Select Committee
Communities and Local Government Committee
The Communities and Local Government Select Committee is a select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The remit of the Committee is to examine the work, the expenditure, administration and policies of the Department for Communities and Local Government and its...

1997
Andrew Dismore
Andrew Dismore
Andrew Hartley Dismore is a British Labour Party politician and a Vice-Chair of the Labour Friends of Israel group who was the Member of Parliament for Hendon from 1997 until 2010 when he was beaten by Conservative Party candidate Matthew Offord.-Early life:Dismore was born in Bridlington,...

Hendon
Hendon (UK Parliament constituency)
Hendon is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. The current MP, since 2010, is Matthew Offord of the Conservative Party.-History:The constituency was originally...

Chair of the Joint Committee on Human Rights
Joint Committee on Human Rights
The Joint Committee on Human Rights is a select committee of both the House of Commons and House of Lords in the Parliament of the United Kingdom...

1997
Lynda Waltho
Lynda Waltho
Lynda Ellen Waltho is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Stourbridge from 2005 to 2010 elected after sitting Labour MP Debra Shipley had stepped down due to ill-health just days before the 2005 election was called...

Stourbridge
Stourbridge (UK Parliament constituency)
Stourbridge is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...

Assistant Regional Minister for the West Midlands 2005
Ian Cawsey
Ian Cawsey
Ian Arthur Cawsey is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Brigg and Goole from 1997 until his defeat at the 2010 general election.-Early life:...

Brigg and Goole Assistant Whip 1997
Anne Snelgrove Swindon South Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...

 (PPS) to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...

2005
Rob Marris
Rob Marris
Robert Howard Marris is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West from 2001 to 2010....

Wolverhampton South West PPS to the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
The Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, informally the Northern Ireland Secretary, is the principal secretary of state in the government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Northern Ireland. The Secretary of State is a Minister of the Crown who is accountable to the Parliament of...

2001
Christine Russell
Christine Russell
Christine Margaret Russell is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for the City of Chester from 1997 to 2010. She lost her seat to the Conservative Stephen Mosley at the 2010 General Election.-Early life:She is a Lincolnshire farmer's daughter from South Holland...

City of Chester PPS to the Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families
Minister for Children
The Minister of State for Children, Young People and Families is a Minister of State for Department for Children, Schools and Families in the Government of the United Kingdom. Beverley Hughes held the position from 2006 until May 2010.-History:...

1997
Andy Reed
Andy Reed
Andrew John Reed is a British Labour Co-operative politician who was the Member of Parliament for the key marginal Constituency of Loughborough from 1997 to 2010.He is a notable sports enthusiast, a fortuitous coincidence as "Loughborough is home to the most comprehensive sports development...

Loughborough
Loughborough (UK Parliament constituency)
Loughborough is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election.-Boundaries:...

PPS to Treasury
HM Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...

 Ministers
1997
Dari Taylor
Dari Taylor
Dari Jean Taylor is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Stockton South between the 1997 and 2010 general elections.-Biography:...

Stockton South PPS to the Minister of State for Health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

 and Chairman of the North East Regional Select Committee
North East Regional Select Committee
The North East Regional Select Committee was one of nine regional select committee of the House of Commons in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The establishment of the committee was agreed by the House of Commons on 12 November 2008, following the appointment of 'regional ministers' by Gordon...

1997
Shona McIsaac
Shona McIsaac
Shona McIsaac is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Cleethorpes from 1997 to 2010...

Cleethorpes
Cleethorpes (UK Parliament constituency)
Cleethorpes is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It is a marginal seat between Labour and the Conservatives...

PPS to the Minister of State for Health
Department of Health (United Kingdom)
The Department of Health is a department of the United Kingdom government with responsibility for government policy for health and social care matters and for the National Health Service in England along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish,...

1997
Linda Gilroy
Linda Gilroy
Linda Gilroy is a British Labour Co-operative politician who was the Member of Parliament for Plymouth Sutton from 1997 until her defeat at the 2010 general election by the Conservative Party candidate, Oliver Colvile.-Early life:...

Plymouth Sutton, contesting Plymouth Sutton and Devonport PPS to the Minister of State
Minister of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians or officials in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a "minister of state" is a junior minister, who is assigned to assist a specific cabinet minister...

 for Housing and Local Government
1997
Martin Linton
Martin Linton
John Martin Linton is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Battersea from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:...

Battersea
Battersea (UK Parliament constituency)
Battersea is a parliamentary constituency located in Battersea in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, to which it elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system.- Boundaries :The...

PPS to the Department for Constitutional Affairs
Department for Constitutional Affairs
The Department for Constitutional Affairs was a United Kingdom government department. Its creation was announced on 12 June 2003 with the intention of replacing the Lord Chancellor's Department...

1997
Nick Palmer
Nick Palmer
Nicholas Douglas Palmer is a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire from 1997 until he lost the seat at the 2010 general election to Conservative Anna Soubry, by 390 votes.Described by Andrew Roth as "quietly effective", he was...

Broxtowe
Broxtowe (UK Parliament constituency)
Broxtowe is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

PPS to the Department for Constitutional Affairs
Department for Constitutional Affairs
The Department for Constitutional Affairs was a United Kingdom government department. Its creation was announced on 12 June 2003 with the intention of replacing the Lord Chancellor's Department...

1997
Terry Rooney
Terry Rooney
Terence Henry Rooney is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Bradford North from 1990 to 2010. His constituency was abolished in boundary changes for the 2010 general election, when he was defeated in the new Bradford East seat by the Liberal Democrat candidate...

Bradford North
Bradford North (UK Parliament constituency)
Bradford North was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Until it was abolished for the 2010 general election, it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

PPS to the Minister of State for Housing and Planning
Department for Communities and Local Government
The Department for Communities and Local Government is the UK Government department for communities and local government in England. It was established in May 2006 and is the successor to the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, established in 2001...

1990
David Borrow
David Borrow
David Stanley Borrow is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for South Ribble from 1997 to 2010.-Education:...

South Ribble
South Ribble (UK Parliament constituency)
South Ribble is a county constituency in Lancashire, England represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:...

PPS to the Department for Education and Skills 1997
David Drew Stroud
Stroud (UK Parliament constituency)
Stroud is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

1997
Dr Roger Berry
Roger Berry
Dr Roger Leslie Berry is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Kingswood from 1992 to 2010.-Early life:...

Kingswood
Kingswood (UK Parliament constituency)
Kingswood is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

1992
Tony Wright
Anthony David Wright
Anthony David Wright is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Great Yarmouth from 1997 until losing his seat at the 2010 election.-Early life:...

Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth (UK Parliament constituency)
Great Yarmouth is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

1997
Geraldine Smith
Geraldine Smith
Maria Geraldine Smith is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Morecambe and Lunesdale from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:...

Morecambe and Lunesdale 1997
Frank Cook
Frank Cook
Francis Cook is a British Independent politician, who was the Labour Party Member of Parliament for Stockton North from 1983 until 2010.- Background :...

Stockton North
Stood as an Independent candidate after being deselected
1983
Gordon Prentice
Gordon Prentice
Gordon Prentice is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Pendle in Lancashire from 1992 to 2010.-Early life:...

Pendle
Pendle (UK Parliament constituency)
Pendle is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

1992
Gwyn Prosser
Gwyn Prosser
Gwynfor Matthews Prosser is a British Labour Party politician, who was Member of Parliament for Dover from 1997 to 2010.-Early life and education:...

Dover
Dover (UK Parliament constituency)
Dover is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

1997
Julie Morgan
Julie Morgan
Julie Morgan AM is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Cardiff North from 1997 until 2010; she is married to former First Minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan. Julie Morgan won the Cardiff North seat in the Welsh Assembly in the 2011 elections.-Early life,...

Cardiff North
Cardiff North (UK Parliament constituency)
Cardiff North is aborough constituency in the city of Cardiff. It returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system....

1997
Patrick Hall
Patrick Hall
Patrick Hall is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Bedford from 1997 to 2010.-Early life:...

Bedford
Bedford (UK Parliament constituency)
Bedford is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The seat was established in its current form in 1997, restoring a centuries old name. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election...

1997
Brian Jenkins
Brian Jenkins (politician)
Brian David Jenkins is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Tamworth from 1997 until 2010, and has lived in the constituency for over 50 years...

Tamworth
Tamworth (UK Parliament constituency)
Tamworth is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- History :...

1997
James Plaskitt
James Plaskitt
James Andrew Plaskitt is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Warwick and Leamington from 1997 until his defeat at the 2010 general election.-Early life:...

Warwick and Leamington 1997
Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

Lembit Öpik
Lembit Öpik
Lembit Öpik is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for the constituency of Montgomeryshire in Wales from 1997 until he lost his seat in the 2010 General Election...

Montgomeryshire
Montgomeryshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Montgomeryshire is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Created in 1542, it elects one Member of Parliament , traditionally known as the knight of the shire, by the first-past-the-post system of election.The Montgomeryshire Welsh Assembly...

Housing Spokesman 1997
Dr Evan Harris
Evan Harris
Evan Leslie Harris is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Oxford West and Abingdon from 1997 to 2010, losing his seat in the 2010 general election by 176 votes to Conservative Nicola Blackwood....

Oxford West and Abingdon Science Spokesman 1997
Julia Goldsworthy
Julia Goldsworthy
Julia Anne Goldsworthy is a Special Adviser in HM Treasury to Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander. She was the Member of Parliament for Falmouth and Camborne from 2005 until she lost her seat by 66 votes to George Eustice, the Conservative candidate in the 2010 general election in...

Falmouth and Camborne, contesting Camborne and Redruth Communities and Local Government Spokesman 2005
Richard Younger-Ross
Richard Younger-Ross
Richard Alan Younger-Ross is a politician in England. He was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Teignbridge from 2001 to 2010, having contested the seat in 1992 and 1997, finally winning in the 2001 election...

Teignbridge
Teignbridge (UK Parliament constituency)
Teignbridge was, from 1983 until 2010, a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History:...

, contesting Newton Abbot
Newton Abbot (UK Parliament constituency)
Newton Abbot is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

Heritage Spokesman 2001
Sandra Gidley
Sandra Gidley
Sandra Julia Gidley is a Liberal Democrat politician in the United Kingdom. She was the Member of Parliament for Romsey in Hampshire from 2000 to 2010, when she lost her seat to Conservative MP Caroline Nokes.-Biography:...

Romsey, contesting Romsey and Southampton North Health Spokesman 2000
Paul Holmes
Paul Holmes (politician)
Paul Robert Holmes is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was the Liberal Democrat Member of Parliament for Chesterfield, previously held by Tony Benn, from 2001 to 2010.-Early life:...

Chesterfield
Chesterfield (UK Parliament constituency)
Chesterfield is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is a marginal seat between Labour and the Liberal Democrats. The best-known MP was Tony Benn from 1984 to 2001...

Justice Spokesman and Chairman of the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

2001
Paul Rowen
Paul Rowen
Paul John Rowen is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Rochdale from 2005 until the 2010 general election, when he was defeated by Labour Party candidate Simon Danczuk.-Early life and career:...

Rochdale
Rochdale (UK Parliament constituency)
Rochdale is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

Work and Pensions Spokesman 2005
Willie Rennie
Willie Rennie
William Cowan Rennie MSP is a Scottish politician and current Leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats.After college, Rennie spent most of his early career as a Liberal Democrat campaigner and official before working as a public relations consultant in the private sector...

Dunfermline and West Fife
Dunfermline and West Fife (UK Parliament constituency)
Dunfermline and West Fife is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election from all of the old Dunfermline West and parts of the old Dunfermline East constituencies...

Chair of the Lib Dem Campaigns Team 2006
Susan Kramer
Susan Kramer
Susan Veronica Kramer, Baroness Kramer is a British Liberal Democrat politician. She was Member of Parliament for Richmond Park from 2005 to 2010, having been an unsuccessful candidate in the London mayoral election in 2000....

Richmond Park
Richmond Park (UK Parliament constituency)
Richmond Park is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-History and character:...

Transport Spokesman 2005
Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

David Heathcoat-Amory
David Heathcoat-Amory
David Philip Heathcoat-Amory is a British politician, accountant and farmer. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Wells from 1983 until he lost his seat in the 2010 general election.-Education and professional life:...

Wells
Wells (UK Parliament constituency)
Wells is a county constituency centred on the city of Wells in Somerset. It elects one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first past the post voting system...

1983
Nigel Waterson
Nigel Waterson
Nigel Christopher Waterson is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was Conservative Party member of Parliament for Eastbourne until the 2010 election. He was first elected in 1992...

Eastbourne
Eastbourne (UK Parliament constituency)
Eastbourne is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post system of election. Traditionally a safe Conservative seat, Eastbourne became very marginal following the 1990...

1992
Democratic Unionist Party
Democratic Unionist Party
The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

Peter Robinson
Peter Robinson (politician)
Peter David Robinson is the current First Minister of Northern Ireland and leader of the Democratic Unionist Party...

Belfast East
Belfast East (UK Parliament constituency)
Belfast East is a Parliamentary Constituency in the United Kingdom House of Commons. The current MP is Naomi Long of the Alliance Party, elected in 2010...

Leader of the DUP and First Minister of Northern Ireland
First Minister and deputy First Minister
The First Minister and the Deputy First Minister , sometimes abbreviated to FM/DFM, are positions in the Northern Ireland...

1979
Respect George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...

Bethnal Green & Bow, contesting Poplar and Limehouse
Poplar and Limehouse (UK Parliament constituency)
Poplar and Limehouse is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament using the first past the post system of election....

1987
Scottish National Party
Scottish National Party
The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

John Mason
John Mason (Scottish politician)
John Fingland Mason MSP is a Scottish politician and the Scottish National Party Member of the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Shettleston.He was the SNP Member of Parliament for Glasgow East from 2008 to 2010.-Background:...

Glasgow East
Glasgow East (UK Parliament constituency)
Glasgow East is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. It elects one Member of Parliament at least once every five years using the First-past-the-post system of voting....

2008
Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

Dr Richard Taylor
Richard Taylor (UK politician)
Richard Thomas Taylor FRCP is an English doctor and former politician. He served as an Independent Member of Parliament for Wyre Forest between 2001 and 2010...

Wyre Forest
Wyre Forest (UK Parliament constituency)
Wyre Forest is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

2001
Dr Bob Spink
Bob Spink
Robert Michael Spink is a politician in the United Kingdom. He was elected as the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Castle Point in Essex in 1992, lost his seat in 1997, but regained it in 2001...

Castle Point
Castle Point (UK Parliament constituency)
Castle Point is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It returns one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post system.It was created in 1983, primarily...

2001
Andrew Pelling
Andrew Pelling
Andrew John Pelling is a British politician. First elected as a Conservative he was an independent Member of Parliament for Croydon Central and on 30 March 2010 announced his intention to contest the seat as an Independent at the 2010 general election, but lost the seat to his former party...

Croydon Central
Croydon Central (UK Parliament constituency)
The comparison is with the notional 2005 result for the new boundaries which made Croydon Central a Labour defence.-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:- Notes and references :...

2005
Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group
Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group
The Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group was a political party based in the Blaenau Gwent area of Wales.The group was formed in the aftermath of the election to the House of Commons of Peter Law as an independent Member of Parliament, beating the official Labour candidate. Peter Law stood against the...

Dai Davies
Dai Davies (politician)
David Clifford Davies, commonly known as Dai Davies, was the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Member of Parliament for the Blaenau Gwent constituency in South Wales from 2006 to 2010...

Blaenau Gwent
Blaenau Gwent (UK Parliament constituency)
Blaenau Gwent is a county constituency in South Wales, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- History :...

2006

Effect of the expenses scandal

Many of the MPs who were most prominently caught up in the scandal decided, or were ordered, not to stand for re-election in 2010. Among them were Margaret Moran
Margaret Moran
Margaret Moran is a former Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom. She was the Member of Parliament for Luton South from 1997 to 2010....

, Elliot Morley
Elliot Morley
Elliot Anthony Morley is a former Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Glanford and Scunthorpe from 1987 to 1997 and then Scunthorpe from 1997 to 2010. In 2009, he was accused by The Daily Telegraph of continuing to claim parliamentary expenses for a mortgage that had...

, David Chaytor
David Chaytor
David Michael Chaytor is a former British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Bury North from 1997 to 2010. He was the first member of Parliament to be sentenced following the United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal of 2009.On 2 June 2009, he announced that he...

, Nicholas
Nicholas Winterton
Sir Nicholas Raymond Winterton is a retired British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Macclesfield from 1971 until he retired from the House of Commons at the 2010 general election....

 and Ann Winterton
Ann Winterton
Jane Ann, Lady Winterton is a British Conservative Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Congleton from 1983 to 2010...

, Derek Conway
Derek Conway
Derek Leslie Conway TD is an English politician and television presenter. A member of the centre-right Conservative Party, Conway served as a Member of Parliament for the constituency of Old Bexley and Sidcup from 2001 to 2010....

, John Gummer
John Gummer
John Selwyn Gummer, Baron Deben, PC is a British Conservative Party politician, formerly Member of Parliament for Suffolk Coastal, now a member of the House of Lords. He is Chairman of the environmental consultancy company Sancroft International and Chairman of Veolia Water...

, Douglas Hogg, Anthony Steen
Anthony Steen
Anthony David Steen is a British Conservative Party politician who was a Member of Parliament from 1974 to 2010, and the chairman of the Human Trafficking Foundation. Having represented Totnes in Devon since 1997, he was previously MP for South Hams from 1983, and had also been the MP for...

, Peter Viggers
Peter Viggers
Sir Peter John Viggers is a lawyer and former Conservative Party member of parliament for the seat of Gosport in the United Kingdom. He stepped down in 2010 as a result of the investigation of MPs' expenses.-Early life:...

, Julie Kirkbride
Julie Kirkbride
Julie Kirkbride is a British former politician. She was the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for the Conservative stronghold of Bromsgrove from 1997 until 2010-Early life:...

 and her husband Andrew MacKay.

Where sitting MPs did stand for re-election after their expenses claims were criticised, there were some notable losses. Former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith lost her marginal Redditch
Redditch (UK Parliament constituency)
Redditch is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It was created in 1997 following major changes to the Mid Worcestershire constituency.- Boundaries :This...

 seat, which showed a large 9.2% swing to the Conservatives. Smith had claimed expenses on a large family home in Redditch by declaring her house-share with her sister in London as her main home, had been described as "near fraudulent" by the former chairman of the committee on Standards in Public life, although she had only been ordered to apologise rather than repay the money. Former Home Office minister Tony McNulty
Tony McNulty
Anthony "Tony" James McNulty is a former British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Harrow East from 1997 to 2010 and was a government minister from 2002 to 2009. He was Minister for London and Minister of State for Employment and Welfare Reform at the Department for...

 lost Harrow East to the Conservatives on an 8% swing, after repaying over £13,000 claimed on a second home, occupied by his parents, which was 8 miles away from his primary residence. Ann Keen
Ann Keen
Ann Lloyd Keen is a British Labour Party politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Brentford and Isleworth from 1997, until she was defeated by Conservative candidate Mary Macleod in 2010.-Early life:...

 lost Brentford and Isleworth on a 6% swing, but her husband Alan Keen
Alan Keen
David Alan Keen was a British Labour Co-operative politician, who was the Member of Parliament for Feltham and Heston from 1992 until his death.-Early life:...

 retained Feltham and Heston
Feltham and Heston
Feltham and Heston is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

. The couple were criticised for claiming for a second home in central London while rarely staying in their nearby constituency home.

Shahid Malik
Shahid Malik
Shahid Rafique Malik is a British Labour Party politician who became the Member of Parliament for Dewsbury in 2005 after defeating Conservative Sayeeda Warsi, now Conservative Chair Baroness Warsi and remained so till 2010 when Conservative candidate Simon Reevell won Dewsbury...

 lost his Dewsbury
Dewsbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Dewsbury is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

 seat on a 5.9% swing to the Conservatives. Malik had been required to repay some of his expense claims and, at the time of the election, was under investigation for other claims. David Heathcoat-Amory
David Heathcoat-Amory
David Philip Heathcoat-Amory is a British politician, accountant and farmer. He was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Wells from 1983 until he lost his seat in the 2010 general election.-Education and professional life:...

 was one of only two sitting Conservatives to be defeated when he lost Wells
Wells (UK Parliament constituency)
Wells is a county constituency centred on the city of Wells in Somerset. It elects one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, by the first past the post voting system...

 to the Liberal Democrats by 800 votes. Heathcoat-Amory was criticised for claiming manure on expenses. Phil Hope
Phil Hope
Philip Ian "Phil" Hope is a British Labour Co-operative politician who was the Member of Parliament for Corby from 1997 until 2010, when he lost his seat to the Conservatives. He held several ministerial roles during his time as an MP. Since his defeat, he is working as a consultant for Age...

, who repaid over £40,000 in expenses, was defeated in his Corby
Corby (UK Parliament constituency)
Corby is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first-past-the-post voting system, and is currently a marginal seat between Labour and the Conservatives....

 constituency although the swing was lower than the national average at 3.3%. Lembit Öpik was defeated in his Montgomeryshire constituency on a 13% swing. Öpik had claimed a £40 summons charge for non-payment of Council Tax, although media coverage of the loss placed more emphasis on the politician's colourful personal life.

Hazel Blears
Hazel Blears
Hazel Anne Blears is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Salford and Eccles since 2010 and was previously the MP for Salford since 1997...

, who had paid more than £13,000 to cover capital gains tax
Capital gains tax
A capital gains tax is a tax charged on capital gains, the profit realized on the sale of a non-inventory asset that was purchased at a lower price. The most common capital gains are realized from the sale of stocks, bonds, precious metals and property...

 which she had avoided by "flipping" the designation of her main residence, suffered a large drop in her vote in Salford and Eccles
Salford and Eccles (UK Parliament constituency)
Salford and Eccles is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election. It is the successor seat to the previous Salford .The last MP for Salford was Hazel Blears,...

, but was still comfortably re-elected; a 'Hazel must go' candidate won only 1.8%. Conversely, Brian Jenkins
Brian Jenkins (politician)
Brian David Jenkins is a British Labour Party politician who was the Member of Parliament for Tamworth from 1997 until 2010, and has lived in the constituency for over 50 years...

 lost his Tamworth
Tamworth (UK Parliament constituency)
Tamworth is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- History :...

 seat on a large 9.5% swing despite being described as a "saint" by the Daily Telegraph on account of his low expenses.

Predictions of a rise in the number of successful Independents
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...

 in the election as a result of the 2009 expenses scandal
United Kingdom Parliamentary expenses scandal
The United Kingdom parliamentary expenses scandal was a major political scandal triggered by the leak and subsequent publication by the Telegraph Group in 2009 of expense claims made by members of the United Kingdom Parliament over several years...

 failed to materialise. Independents supported by the Jury Team or the Independent Network
Independent Network
The Independent Network is a United Kingdom-based non-profit organisation supporting independent politicians and political candidates.Founded in 2005, the IN consists of supporters and volunteers who advocate non-partisan politics. Martin Bell and Richard Taylor have been involved...

, support networks who both attempted to select and promote high quality Independents who had signed up for the so called Nolan Principles of public life, set out in the Committee on Standards in Public Life
Committee on Standards in Public Life
The Committee on Standards in Public Life is an advisory non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom Government.The Committee on Standards in Public Life is constituted as a standing body with its members appointed for up to three years.-History:...

, failed to have any significant impact. Broadcaster Esther Rantzen
Esther Rantzen
Esther Louise Rantzen CBE is an English journalist and television presenter who is best known for presenting the BBC television series That's Life!, and for her work in various charitable causes. She is founder of the child protection charity ChildLine, and also advocates the work of the Burma...

 gathered a great deal of publicity for her campaign in Luton South constituency
Luton South (UK Parliament constituency)
Luton South is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

 where the former MP Margaret Moran had stood down, but ended up losing her deposit in 4th place with 4.4% of the vote; the winner was Moran's successor as Labour candidate.

There was also a high profile campaign over expenses directed against Speaker John Bercow
John Bercow
John Simon Bercow is a British politician who has been the Speaker of the House of Commons in the United Kingdom since June 2009. Prior to his election to Speaker he was a member of the Conservative party....

, who had 'flipped' his designation of second home. An imperfectly observed convention states that the major parties do not oppose the Speaker seeking re-election; Bercow faced two main opponents in Buckingham
Buckingham (UK Parliament constituency)
Buckingham is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

. Independent former Member of the European Parliament John Stevens
John Stevens (politician)
John Christopher Courtenay Stevens is an English politician. A Conservative Member of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999, he contested the Buckingham constituency in the 2010 general election as an independent, against Commons speaker John Bercow.-Background:Stevens was educated at...

, standing on the Buckinghamshire Campaign for Democracy ticket, campaigned with a man dressed in a dolphin costume whom he called 'Flipper' and polled second with 21.4%. Former leader of the UK Independence Party Nigel Farage
Nigel Farage
Nigel Paul Farage MEP , a position he previously held from September 2006 to November 2009. He is a current Member of the European Parliament for South East England and co-chairs the Eurosceptic Europe of Freedom and Democracy group....

 also fought the seat but came third in the vote with 17.4%. Bercow won with 47.3%.

Voting problems

Problems occurred with voting at 27 polling places in 16 constituencies, and affected approximately 1,200 people. This situation which was condemned by politicians of various parties. Jenny Watson
Jenny Watson
Jenny Watson is the chair of the United Kingdom Electoral Commission.A long term campaigner for women's rights , she had a 20+ year career in the not for profit sector. She started out at Liberty, and then political campaigners Charter88, before moving to Victim Support...

, chair of the Electoral Commission, the independent body that oversees the electoral process, was forced on to television to defend preparations and procedures. The Electoral Commission has announced it will be carrying out a "thorough investigation". Under the law in force at the 2010 election, voters had to have been handed their ballots by the 10pm deadline; people who were waiting in queues to vote at 10pm were not allowed to vote.

In Chester
Chester
Chester is a city in Cheshire, England. Lying on the River Dee, close to the border with Wales, it is home to 77,040 inhabitants, and is the largest and most populous settlement of the wider unitary authority area of Cheshire West and Chester, which had a population of 328,100 according to the...

 there were reports that 600 registered voters were unable to vote because the electoral roll had not been updated, while in Hackney, Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...

, Leeds
Leeds
Leeds is a city and metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. In 2001 Leeds' main urban subdivision had a population of 443,247, while the entire city has a population of 798,800 , making it the 30th-most populous city in the European Union.Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial...

, Lewisham
Lewisham
Lewisham is a district in South London, England, located in the London Borough of Lewisham. It is situated south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London.-History:...

, Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

, Newcastle and Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...

 long queues led to many voters being turned away and unable to vote as the deadline arrived. Some dissatisfied voters staged sit-in
Sit-in
A sit-in or sit-down is a form of protest that involves occupying seats or sitting down on the floor of an establishment.-Process:In a sit-in, protesters remain until they are evicted, usually by force, or arrested, or until their requests have been met...

s to protest against what some of them had called "disenfranchisement". In Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, higher than expected turnout meant several polling stations ran out of ballot papers, with defeated council leader Warren Bradley
Warren Bradley (politician)
Warren Bradley is a British firefighter, politician and a former Liberal Democrat . He is a councillor for the Wavertree ward as well as the former Leader of Liverpool City Council, Before taking over as leader of the council from former Liverpool Liberal Democrats leader, Mike Storey, he was the...

 stating that some residents were unable to cast their votes. In Wyre and Preston North, a 14-year-old boy cast a vote after being sent a polling card.

In parts of Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg's Sheffield Hallam seat it was reported that students from the city's two universities were placed in separate queues from 'local' residents, who were given priority, resulting in many students being unable to cast their votes.

Just days after the election Clegg spoke at a Take Back Parliament
Take Back Parliament
Take Back Parliament is an organisation campaigning for democratic reform in the United Kingdom.The group has a strong network of autonomous local branches but no paying membership...

 rally saying the results showed the British system is broken and needs fixing, while vowing the voices of the protesters would be heard. The rally demanded Clegg affirm his promise to push for "democratic and proportional representation of the British public".

Because of closure of United Kingdom airspace
Air travel disruption after the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption
In response to concerns that volcanic ash ejected during the 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland would damage aircraft engines, the controlled airspace of many European countries was closed to instrument flight rules traffic, resulting in the largest air-traffic shut-down since World War II...

 as a result of the Iceland volcanic eruption
2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull were volcanic events at Eyjafjöll in Iceland which, although relatively small for volcanic eruptions, caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional localised disruption...

, potential expat
Expatriate
An expatriate is a person temporarily or permanently residing in a country and culture other than that of the person's upbringing...

 voters in New Zealand were denied a vote when postal voting papers arrived too late to be returned to the UK, although Australian broadcaster SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...

 suggested that given the extremely tight timetabling of overseas votes, there is very little chance that voting papers [for voters outside Europe] will be received, let alone returned, in time to be counted.

Post-election events

When it became clear that no party would achieve an overall majority the three main party leaders made public statements offering to discuss the options for forming the next government with the other parties.

On 11 May 2010, as coalition talks between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats seemed to be drawing to a successful conclusion, Gordon Brown announced that he was resigning as Prime Minister and also as Labour leader. He then left Downing Street
Downing Street
Downing Street in London, England has for over two hundred years housed the official residences of two of the most senior British cabinet ministers: the First Lord of the Treasury, an office now synonymous with that of Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, and the Second Lord of the Treasury, an...

, accompanied by his wife and children, driving to Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace, in London, is the principal residence and office of the British monarch. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is a setting for state occasions and royal hospitality...

 where he tendered his resignation to the Queen and advised her to call for David Cameron. Cameron became Prime Minister
Premiership of David Cameron
The premiership of David Cameron began on 11 May 2010 when Cameron accepted the Queen's invitation to form a government. This occurred upon the resignation of Cameron's predecessor as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Gordon Brown...

 one hour after the Queen accepted Brown's resignation. In his first address outside 10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street
10 Downing Street, colloquially known in the United Kingdom as "Number 10", is the headquarters of Her Majesty's Government and the official residence and office of the First Lord of the Treasury, who is now always the Prime Minister....

, he announced his intention to form a coalition government
Cameron Ministry
David Cameron is Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, after being invited by Queen Elizabeth II to form a new government after the resignation as Prime Minister of Gordon Brown on 11 May 2010. Leading a coalition government formed by the Conservative Party and the Liberal Democrats, the coalition...

, the first since the Second World War, with the Liberal Democrats
Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

. As one of his first moves, Cameron appointed Nick Clegg as Deputy Prime Minister
Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a senior member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister is not a permanent position, existing only at the discretion of the Prime Minister, who may appoint to other offices...

.

Just after midnight on 12 May 2010, the Liberal Democrats emerged from a meeting of their Parliamentary party and Federal Executive to announce that the coalition deal had been "approved overwhelmingly", meaning that David Cameron would lead a coalition government of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats.

Later that day, the two parties jointly published the Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement
Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement
The Conservative – Liberal Democrat Coalition Agreement was a policy document drawn up following the 2010 general election in the United Kingdom...

 specifying the terms of the coalition deal.

External links



Manifestos

Main parties
  • Conservatives
    Conservative Party (UK)
    The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

    : Invitation to join the government of Britain
  • Labour
    Labour Party (UK)
    The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

    : A future fair for all
  • Liberal Democrats
    Liberal Democrats
    The Liberal Democrats are a social liberal political party in the United Kingdom which supports constitutional and electoral reform, progressive taxation, wealth taxation, human rights laws, cultural liberalism, banking reform and civil liberties .The party was formed in 1988 by a merger of the...

    : Change that works for you/Building a fairer Britain


Smaller parties already holding seats
  • Democratic Unionist Party
    Democratic Unionist Party
    The Democratic Unionist Party is the larger of the two main unionist political parties in Northern Ireland. Founded by Ian Paisley and currently led by Peter Robinson, it is currently the largest party in the Northern Ireland Assembly and the fourth-largest party in the House of Commons of the...

    : Let's Keep Northern Ireland Moving Forward
  • Plaid Cymru
    Plaid Cymru
    ' is a political party in Wales. It advocates the establishment of an independent Welsh state within the European Union. was formed in 1925 and won its first seat in 1966...

    : Think Different. Think Plaid.
  • Respect Party: Homes, Jobs and Peace, Manifesto for a Hung Parliament
  • Scottish National Party
    Scottish National Party
    The Scottish National Party is a social-democratic political party in Scotland which campaigns for Scottish independence from the United Kingdom....

    : Elect a local champion.
  • Sinn Féin
    Sinn Féin
    Sinn Féin is a left wing, Irish republican political party in Ireland. The name is Irish for "ourselves" or "we ourselves", although it is frequently mistranslated as "ourselves alone". Originating in the Sinn Féin organisation founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffith, it took its current form in 1970...

    : 2010 Westminster Election Manifesto
  • Social Democratic and Labour Party
    Social Democratic and Labour Party
    The Social Democratic and Labour Party is a social-democratic, Irish nationalist political party in Northern Ireland. Its basic party platform advocates Irish reunification, and the further devolution of powers while Northern Ireland remains part of the United Kingdom...

    : For Your Future
  • Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force
    Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force
    The Ulster Conservatives and Unionists, officially registered as the Ulster Conservatives and Unionists – New Force , is a bipartisan electoral alliance in Northern Ireland between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Northern Ireland branch of the Conservative Party, the latter party also being...

    : Invitation to join the government of the United Kingdom


Other parties
  • Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
    Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
    The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland is a liberal and nonsectarian political party in Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's fifth-largest party overall, with eight seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly and one in the House of Commons....

    : Alliance Works, Working for you at Westminster
  • Alliance for Green Socialism
    Alliance for Green Socialism
    The Alliance for Green Socialism is a socialist and environmentalist political grouping operating across Britain...

    : General Election Manifesto 2010
  • British National Party
    British National Party
    The British National Party is a British far-right political party formed as a splinter group from the National Front by John Tyndall in 1982...

    : Democracy, Freedom, Culture and Identity
  • British National Front
    British National Front
    The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....

    : National Front 2010 Election Manifesto
  • Christian Peoples Alliance
    Christian Peoples Alliance
    The Christian Peoples Alliance is a Christian democratic political party in the United Kingdom. Founded in its present form in 1999; it grew out of a cross-party advocacy group known as the Movement for Christian Democracy. The party is active throughout England and has fledgling groups specific...

    : Not by Bread Alone
  • Communist Party of Britain
    Communist Party of Britain
    The Communist Party of Britain is a communist political party in Great Britain. Although founded in 1988 it traces its origins back to 1920 and the Communist Party of Great Britain, and claims the legacy of that party and its most influential members Harry Pollitt and John Gollan as its...

    : Britain For The People Not The Bankers
  • Co-operative Party
    Co-operative Party
    The Co-operative Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom committed to supporting and representing co-operative principles. The party does not put up separate candidates for any UK election itself. Instead, Co-operative candidates stand jointly with the Labour Party as "Labour...

    : A Cooperative Agenda For A Fourth Term
  • English Democrats Party
    English Democrats Party
    The English Democrats are an English federalist political party, committed to the formation of a devolved English Parliament with at least the same powers as those granted to the Scottish Parliament. Whilst not supporting English Independence, the English Democrats consider themselves the English...

    : English Democrats 2010 Manifesto
  • Green Party of England and Wales
    Green Party of England and Wales
    The Green Party of England and Wales is a political party in England and Wales which follows the traditions of Green politics and maintains a strong commitment to social progressivism. It is the largest Green party in the United Kingdom, containing within it various regional divisions including...

    : Fair is Worth Fighting For
  • The Macclesfield Independent: For manifesto, visit website and click Policy Issues
  • Green Party of Northern Ireland: Make A Difference Vote Green
  • Liberal Party
    Liberal Party (UK, 1989)
    The Liberal Party is a United Kingdom political party. It was formed in 1989 by a group of individuals within the original Liberal Party who felt that the merger of the party with the Social Democratic Party, to form the Liberal Democrats, had ended the spirit of the Liberal Party, claiming that...

    : Principle, Policy and Purpose
  • Mebyon Kernow
    Mebyon Kernow
    Mebyon Kernow is a left-of-centre political party in Cornwall, United Kingdom. It primarily campaigns for devolution to Cornwall in the form of a Cornish Assembly, as well as social democracy and environmental protection.MK was formed as a pressure group in 1951, and contained as members activists...

    : Key Campaign Priorities
  • Official Monster Raving Loony Party
    Official Monster Raving Loony Party
    The Official Monster Raving Loony Party is a registered political party established in the United Kingdom in 1983 by musician and politician David Sutch , better known as Screaming Lord Sutch.-History:...

    : The Monster Raving Loony Manifesto
  • Pirate Party UK
    Pirate Party UK
    Pirate Party UK is a political party in the United Kingdom. The Pirate Party's core policies are to bring about reform to Copyright and Patent laws, support privacy and reduce surveillance from government and businesses, and guarantee genuine freedom of speech for everyone.The Pirate Party UK...

    : The 2010 Election Manifesto of the Pirate Party UK
  • Scottish Green Party
    Scottish Green Party
    The Scottish Green Party is a green party in Scotland. It has two MSPs in the devolved Scottish Parliament, Alison Johnstone, representing Lothian, and Patrick Harvie, for Glasgow.-Organisation:...

    : A Living Wage For All, Protect Public Services, Support New Green Jobs
  • Scottish Socialist Party
    Scottish Socialist Party
    The Scottish Socialist Party is a left-wing Scottish political party. Positioning itself significantly to the left of Scotland's centre-left parties, the SSP campaigns on a socialist economic platform and for Scottish independence....

    : For An Independent Socialist Scotland
  • Socialist Equality Party
    Socialist Equality Party (UK)
    The Socialist Equality Party is a Trotskyist group in Britain. It is part of the International Committee of the Fourth International, which publishes the World Socialist Web Site. The party's origins lie in the Workers Revolutionary Party until the majority of that party split from the ICFI in...

    : Socialist Equality Party Manifesto for the 2010 British General Election
  • Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
    Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
    Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is a socialist electoral alliance launched in Britain for the 2010 General Election.The coalition was negotiated between groups which had taken part in the No2EU coalition that fought the June 2009 European elections...

    : No To Cuts and Privatisation! Make the Bosses Pay!
  • Traditional Unionist Voice
    Traditional Unionist Voice
    Traditional Unionist Voice is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland founded on 7 December 2007, as an anti-St Andrews Agreement splinter group from the Democratic Unionist Party . Its first and current leader is Jim Allister who, until 2009, sat as an independent Member of the European...

    : Putting It Right
  • UK Independence Party: Empowering the people
  • United Kingdom Libertarian Party: For Life, Liberty, and Prosperity

Boundary Commissions

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