On Thursday 7 May 2015, the 2015 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, with 533 constituencies being in England. The Conservatives won a majority of seats in England for the second time since 1992.

Both major parties made gains at the expense of the Liberal Democrats, whose support collapsed to its lowest level since 1970. Their vote share declined by 16 percentage points, and the party lost 37 of its 43 seats. The party won 6 seats and 8% of the vote overall. This was the worst result for the Lib Dems or the Liberals in 45 years, while the 16-point drop in vote share was the biggest decline in Lib Dem or Liberal support since 1931.

Although Labour increased their share of the vote by 4% and gained 15 seats, the Conservatives made 21 gains for a total of 318, including winning 6 seats directly from Labour. Together with seats from Scotland and Wales, this allowed the Conservatives to form a majority government with 330 seats, leading to the first majority Conservative government since 1992.

Political context The general election was fought with the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats having been in coalition since 2010, with Labour being the main opposition, though with the Conservatives holding the majority of English seats. It was also fought following the victory of the UK Independence Party at the European Parliament Elections and in two by-elections the year before, along with George Galloway of the Respect Party having won the 2012 Bradford West by-election from Labour.

Results +PartyElection 2015 Results England BBC NewsSeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 318 32 11 21 59.7 10,483,261 40.9 1.4 206 21 6 15 38.6 8,087,684 31.6 3.6 110 10.2 3,611,367 14.1 10.7 6 0 37 37 1.1 2,098,404 8.2 16.0 1 0 0 0.2 1,073,242 4.2 3.2 1 0 0 0.2 34,617 0.1 0 0 0 — 32,868 0.1 0.1 0 colspan=3 — 20,210 0.1 0 0 0 — 9,989 0.0 0.1 0 colspan=3 — 6,811 0.0 0 0 0 — 6,431 0.0 0.2 0 colspan=3 — 4,569 0.0 0 0 0 — 3,432 0.0 0 0 0 — 3,260 0.0 0 0 0 — 1,667 0.0 2.1 0 colspan=3 — 526 0.0   Others 0 0 0 — 127,133 0.5 0.2 Total 533 25,571,204 66.0 0.5

Analysis The Conservatives emerged as the largest party, increasing both their seats and votes. They took seats both from the Liberal Democrats and from the Labour Party, as well as holding on to many of their key marginal seats.

Labour increased its numbers both in number of votes and seats after making gains against the Liberal Democrats, along with limited gains against the Conservatives, but failed to become the largest party. Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls lost his seat in Morley and Outwood to the Conservative candidate Andrea Jenkyns, whilst Ed Miliband resigned as Labour leader.

The Liberal Democrats lost the vast majority of their seats, going from 43 seats down to just 6. Leader Nick Clegg, who saw his nearly 30-point majority in Sheffield Hallam massively reduced to 4.2%, resigned on the morning of the election results.

UKIP made large gains in the percentage of votes, but failed to retain Rochester and Strood or take any other seats, leading to the resignation of party leader Nigel Farage. His resignation was rejected, however, and he subsequently stayed on.

The Green Party increased their share of the vote and held Brighton Pavilion, but failed to gain any new seats.

By region Regional vote shares and changes are sourced from the House of Commons Library.

East Midlands +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 32 1 0 1 69.6 969,379 43.5 2.3 14 0 1 1 30.4 705,767 31.6 1.9 0 0 0 0.0 351,777 15.8 12.5 0 0 0 0.0 124,039 5.6 15.3 0 0 0 0.0 66,239 3.0 2.4   Others 0 0 0 0.0 13,201 0.6 — Total 46 2,230,402 65.5 1.0

East of England +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 52 1 1 89.7 1,445,946 49.0 1.9 4 2 0 2 6.9 649,321 22.0 2.4 1 1 0 1 1.7 478,517 16.2 12.0 1 0 3 3 1.7 243,191 8.2 15.8 0 0 0 0.0 116,274 3.9 2.5   Others 0 0 0 0.0 15,374 0.5 — Total 58 2,948,623 67.5 0.2

Greater London +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 45 7 0 7 61.6 1,545,048 43.7 7.3 27 3 4 1 37.0 1,233,386 34.9 0.3 0 0 0 0.0 286,981 8.1 6.4 1 0 6 6 1.4 272,544 7.7 14.4 0 0 0 0.0 171,670 4.9 3.3   Others 0 0 0 0.0 26,622 0.8 — Total 73 3,536,251 65.4 0.8

North East England +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 26 1 0 1 89.7 557,100 46.9 3.3 3 1 0 1 10.3 300,883 25.3 1.6 0 0 0 0.0 198,823 16.7 14.0 0 0 2 2 0.0 77,095 6.5 17.1 0 0 0 0.0 43,051 3.6 3.3   Others 0 0 0 0.0 11,201 0.9 — Total 29 1,188,153 61.8 0.9

North West England +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 51 5 1 4 68.0 1,502,047 44.6 5.2 22 3 3 29.3 1,050,124 31.2 0.5 0 0 0 0.0 459,071 13.6 10.5 2 0 4 4 2.7 219,998 6.5 15.1 0 0 0 0.0 107,889 3.2 2.7   Others 0 0 0 0.0 24,926 0.7 — Total 75 3,364,055 64.3 0.7

South East England +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 78 5 1 4 92.9 2,234,360 50.8 1.5 4 1 1 4.8 804,774 18.3 0.5 0 0 0 0.0 646,959 14.7 10.6 0 0 4 4 0.0 413,586 9.4 16.8 1 0 0 1.2 227,882 5.2 3.7 1 0 0 1.2 34,617 0.8 —   Others 0 0 0 0.0 32,315 0.7 — Total 84 4,394,493 68.6 0.6

South West England +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 51 15 0 15 92.7 1,319,994 46.5 3.7 4 1 1 7.3 501,684 17.7 2.3 0 0 15 15 0.0 428,927 15.1 19.6 0 0 0 0.0 384,546 13.6 9.1 0 0 0 0.0 168,130 5.9 4.8   Others 0 0 0 0.0 33,013 1.2 — Total 55 2,836,294 69.5 0.4

West Midlands +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 34 2 1 1 57.6 1,097,750 41.8 2.2 25 2 1 1 42.4 865,075 32.9 2.3 0 0 0 0.0 412,770 15.7 11.7 0 0 2 2 0.0 145,009 5.5 14.9 0 0 0 0.0 85,653 3.3 2.7   Others 0 0 0 0.0 22,322 0.8 — Total 59 2,628,579 64.1 0.5

Yorkshire and the Humber +PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains LossesNet Of all (%)Total Of all (%)Difference 33 2 1 1 61.1 956,837 39.1 4.8 19 1 1 35.2 796,822 32.6 0.2 0 0 0 0.0 391,923 16.0 13.2 2 0 1 1 3.7 174,069 7.1 15.8 0 0 0 0.0 86,471 3.5 2.7   Others 0 0 0 0.0 38,055 1.6 — Total 54 2,444,177 63.1 0.1

Campaign events 31 March: First official day of the general election campaign 13 April: The Labour Party launches its manifesto 14 April: The Conservative Party and the Green Party launch their manifestos 15 April: UKIP and the Liberal Democrats launch their manifestos 7 May: BBC Exit poll shows the Conservatives as the largest single party 8 May: The Conservatives emerge as the largest party in England, gaining a majority of MPs in the House of Commons and forming the next Government of the United Kingdom as a majority, contrary to predictions made at the start of the election campaign.

Target seats The recorded swing in each case is calculated as two-way swing from the party that won in 2010 to the party targeting the seat. Negative swing implies that the targeting party lost votes to the incumbent party.

Conservative Party Rank Constituency Region Winning party 2010 Swingrequired (%) Result Swing toCON (±%)1 Hampstead and Kilburn London Labour0.10 Labour hold-1.02Bolton West North West England Labour0.10 Conservative gain+0.93 Solihull West Midlands Liberal Democrats0.16 Conservative gain+11.94Southampton ItchenSouth East England Labour0.22 Conservative gain+2.85Mid Dorset and North PooleSouth West England Liberal Democrats0.29 Conservative gain+11.66Wirral SouthNorth West England Labour0.66 Labour hold-4.87Derby NorthEast Midlands Labour0.68 Conservative gain+0.88WellsSouth West England Liberal Democrats0.72 Conservative gain+7.49Dudley NorthWest Midlands Labour0.84 Labour hold-4.710Great GrimsbyYorkshire and the Humber Labour1.08 Labour hold-5.7

Labour Party RankConstituencyRegionWinning party 2010 Swingrequired (%)Result Swing toLAB (±%)1 North Warwickshire West Midlands 0.06 −3.12Thurrock South East England 0.10 −0.53 Hendon London 0.11 −3.74SherwoodEast Midlands 0.22 −4.45Norwich SouthEast of England 0.33 +13.26Stockton SouthNorth East England 0.33 −4.67BroxtoweEast Midlands 0.37 −3.78Lancaster and FleetwoodNorth West England 0.39 +1.99Bradford EastYorkshire and the Humber 0.45 +9.010Amber ValleyEast Midlands 0.58 −4.1

Liberal Democrats RankConstituencyRegionWinning party 2010Swingrequired (%)ResultSwing toLD (±%)1 Camborne and Redruth South West England 0.08 −13.82Oxford West and Abingdon South East England 0.16 −8.33 Sheffield Central Yorkshire and the Humber 0.20 −22.54AshfieldEast Midlands 0.20 −12.95Truro and FalmouthSouth West England 0.45 −13.2

UKIP RankConstituencyRegionWinning party 2010Swingrequired (%)ResultSwing toUKIP (±%)1 Thanet South South East England 21.2 +18.42 Thurrock East of England 14.7 +13.73 Castle Point East of England 4Boston and SkegnessEast of England 20.0 +15.05Great GrimsbyYorkshire and the Humber 13.3 +5.9

Green Party Swing for the Greens is measured as one-party swing, i.e. the change in the party's share of the vote.

RankConstituencyRegionWinning party 2010ResultSwing toGRN (±%)1 Norwich South East of England −1.02Bristol West South East England +23.03 St Ives South West England +3.54Sheffield CentralYorkshire and the Humber +12.15Liverpool RiversideNorth West England +8.6

Opinion polling