Results breakdown of the 2010 United Kingdom general election

This is the results breakdown of the 2010 United Kingdom general election.

Swing The election was marked by no uniform national swing, with suburban and rural constituencies showing large swings from Labour to the Conservatives, but urban seats showing much smaller swings. Scotland recorded a small swing back to Labour.

Seats changing hands The following table is a complete list of seats changing hands as a result of the election based on the notional results of the 2005 election, notwithstanding the results of by-elections to the 54th Parliament.The Times - Election '10 - Gains and losses

The Conservatives gained more seats than at any other general election since their landslide result in 1931. Labour lost a total of 94 seats, the second most seats it had lost in a single election.

Seat 2005 election 2010 election Aberconwy gain Amber Valley gain Arfon gain Battersea gain Bedford gain Belfast East gain Bethnal Green and Bow gain Blaenau Gwent gain Blackpool North and Cleveleys gain Bradford East gain Brent Central gain Brentford and Isleworth gain Brigg and Goole gain Brighton Kemptown gain Brighton Pavilion gain Bristol North West gain Broxtowe gain Buckingham gain Burnley gain Burton gain Bury North gain Calder Valley gain Camborne and Redruth gain Cannock Chase gain Cardiff North gain Carlisle gain Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South gain Castle Point gain Chatham and Aylesford gain Chester gain Chesterfield gain Cleethorpes gain Colne Valley gain Corby gain Cornwall South East gain Crawley gain Crewe and Nantwich gain Croydon Central gain Dartford gain Derbyshire South gain Dewsbury gain Dorset South gain Dover gain Dudley South gain Ealing Central and Acton gain Eastbourne gain Elmet and Rothwell gain Erewash gain Gillingham and Rainham gain Glasgow North East gain Gloucester gain Great Yarmouth gain Halesowen and Rowley Regis gain Harlow gain Harrogate and Knaresborough gain Harrow East gain Hastings gain Hendon gain Hereford and South Herefordshire gain High Peak gain Hove gain Ipswich gain Keighley gain Kingswood gain Lancaster and Fleetwood gain Leicestershire North West gain Lincoln gain Loughborough gain Milton Keynes North gain Milton Keynes South gain Montgomeryshire gain Morecambe and Lunesdale gain Newton Abbot gain North Down gain Northampton North gain Northampton South gain Norwich North gain Norwich South gain Nuneaton gain Oxford West and Abingdon gain Pendle gain Plymouth Sutton and Devonport gain Portsmouth North gain Pudsey gain Reading West gain Redcar gain Redditch gain Rochdale (notional gain) gain Richmond Park gain Romsey and Southampton North gain Rossendale and Darwen gain Rugby gain Sherwood gain Solihull (notional gain) gain South Basildon and East Thurrock gain South Ribble gain Stafford gain Stevenage gain Stockton South gain Stourbridge gain Stroud gain Swindon North gain Swindon South gain Tamworth gain Thurrock gain Truro and Falmouth gain Vale of Glamorgan gain Warrington South gain Warwick and Leamington gain Warwickshire North gain Watford gain Waveney gain Weaver Vale gain Wells gain Winchester gain Wolverhampton South West gain Worcester gain Wyre Forest gain York Outer gain

Due to Boundary Changes this seat was notionally Conservative, even though it was previously held by the Liberal Democrats, making it a Liberal Democrat gain.

England Of the 533 seats in England, 532 were contested on the day of the general election. Polling in Thirsk and Malton was delayed until 27 May due to the death of the UKIP candidate. The Conservatives won an absolute majority of seats in England with 61 seats more than all other parties combined, and securing an average swing of 5.6% from Labour.

Geographical representations of seats coloured by winning party can be misleading to the eye. Boundaries are drawn by number of electors not geography. This results in rural seats having a large area due to lower population density, while urban seats, with a high density of voters, are geographically quite small. A pure geographical representation of seats coloured by party can make parties with rural seats seem far more popular than urban ones. To counter this bias, the BBC published a map where each seat was an equal size hexagon.England results BBC News, accessed 9 May 2010

Party Seats Seatschange Votes % %change 297Note: this figure excludes John Bercow (Buckingham), who is recorded by the BBC as a "Conservative", despite the fact he is the incumbent Speaker. +92 9,908,169 39.5 +3.8 191 −87 7,042,398 28.1 −7.4 43 −4 6,076,189 24.2 +1.3 1 +1 258,954 1.0 −0.1 1 0 22,860 0.09 Turnout: 25,047,355 65.5

Details of results are given below:

Wales There were 40 seats contested in Wales. The number of Conservative seats rose from three to eight – the party gained one seat from the Liberal Democrats and four from Labour. Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru retained three MPs, including Arfon which the boundary changes had notionally given to Labour. Overall, Labour lost four seats but held on to its remaining 26.

Party Seats Seatschange Votes % %change 26 −4 531,601 36.2 −6.5 8 +5 382,730 26.1 +4.7 3 −1 295,164 20.1 +1.7 3 0 165,394 11.3 −1.3 Turnout: 1,446,690 64.9

Scotland There were 59 seats contested in Scotland. Every constituency in Scotland was won by the party that had won it at the 2005 election, with Labour regaining the two seats they 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%), this left the Conservatives with just a single MP representing a Scottish constituency.

For Scottish results in full, see 2010 United Kingdom general election results in Scotland

Party Seats Seatschange Votes % %change 41 0 1,035,528 42.0 +2.5 11 0 465,471 18.9 −3.7 6 0 491,386 19.9 +2.3 1 0 412,855 16.7 +0.9 Turnout: 2,465,722 63.8

Northern Ireland There were 18 seats contested in Northern Ireland. Both Irish nationalist parties, Sinn Féin and SDLP, held their seats. The unionist parties, DUP and UUP (the latter contested the election as UCUNF—an electoral pact with the Conservatives), lost one seat each. The DUP lost Belfast East to the Alliance and in North Down the UUP's Sylvia Hermon left the party over the alliance with the Conservatives and retained her seat as an independent. This left the nationalist parties with eight seats, the unionist parties with eight seats (all DUP), the Alliance with one seat and an independent with one seat. It is the first time since the Partition of Ireland that unionist parties failed to secure a majority of Northern Ireland's Westminster seats in a general election. It was also the first time since Partition that a Nationalist party, Sinn Féin, topped the popular vote at a Westminster election, though winning three fewer seats than the DUP.

Sinn Féin, as an Irish republican party, refuse to take their seats at Westminster (see abstentionism). This leaves 645 MPs to take their seats at Westminster (after the Thirsk and Malton poll), reducing the effective threshold for a parliamentary majority from 326 to 323.

Party Seats Seatschange Votes % %change 8 −1 168,216 25.0 −8.7 5 0 171,942 25.5 +1.2 3 0 110,970 16.5 −1.0 1 +1 42,762 6.3 +2.4 - Sylvia Hermon 1 +1 21,181 3.1 — 0 −1 102,361 15.2 −2.6 Turnout: 673,871 57.6 −7.8

References