On Thursday 11 June 1987, the 1987 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, with 523 constituencies being in England.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1987 general election in England.

Affiliation Candidates Conservative Party 523 Labour Party 523 Liberal Party 271 Social Democratic Party 252 Green Party 117 Communist Party of Great Britain 13 Other 83Total 1,782

Analysis

The Conservative Party won an overall majority of English seats for the third successive election and enough seats to seal a UK-wide majority already within England's borders. 326 was the UK-wide threshold and the Conservatives won 358 in the English constituencies.

The 1987 general election saw the election of the first Black Members of Parliament: Diane Abbott, Paul Boateng and Bernie Grant, all as representatives in Greater London for the Labour Party. Future Cabinet members David Blunkett, John Redwood and Andrew Smith and future Shadow Cabinet minister Ann Widdecombe also entered the House of Commons in English constituencies. MPs who left the House of Commons as a result of this election included Keith Joseph, Jim Prior, Ian Mikardo and Clement Freud.

Results

+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference   Conservative 358 9 13 4 68.5 12,546,186 46.2 0.2   Labour 155 13 6 7 29.6 8,006,466 29.5 2.5   SDP–Liberal Alliance 10 1 4 3 1.9 6,467,350 23.8 2.6 7 0 3 3 1.9 3,684,813 13.6 0.8 3 1 1 0.6 2,782,537 10.3 1.7   Green 0 0 0 — 82,787 0.3 0.1   Communist 0 0 0 — 4,022 0.0   Others 0 0 0 — 26,711 0.1 0.2 Total 523 0 100.0 27,133,522 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 75.4 2.9

By region Note: these results are based on the previously-used standard statistical regions, not the current regions of England established in 1994.

North This region included Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and constituencies in the defunct county of Cleveland in the current English region of North East England, as well as Cumbria.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 27 1 0 1 75.0 830,785 46.4 6.2 8 0 0 22.2 578,996 32.3 2.3 1 0 1 1 2.8 376,675 21.0 4.0   Others 0 0 0 0.0 4,635 0.3 0.1 Total 36 1,791,091

Yorkshire and the Humber Like the current statistical region, this region included North Yorkshire, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and the East Riding of Yorkshire, North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire constituencies in Humberside.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 33 5 0 5 61.1 1,128,878 40.6 5.3 21 0 3 3 38.9 1,040,751 37.4 1.2 0 0 2 2 0.0 602,709 21.7 3.9   Others 0 0 0 0.0 7,811 0.3 0.2 Total 54 2,780,149

East Midlands Like the current statistical region, this region included Derbyshire, Lincolnshire (excluding North Lincolnshire and North East Lincolnshire), Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire and Rutland.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 31 0 3 3 73.8 1,127,208 48.6 1.4 11 3 0 3 26.2 696,780 30.0 2.1 0 0 0 0.0 487,164 21.0 3.1   Others 0 0 0 0.0 9,128 0.4 0.4 Total 42 2,230,280

East Anglia This region included Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 19 1 0 1 95.0 601,421 52.1 1.1 1 0 0 5.0 249,894 21.7 1.2 0 0 1 1 0.0 297,041 25.7 2.5   Others 0 0 0 0.0 5,217 0.5 0.2 Total 20 1,153,573

Greater London This consisted of the constituencies within the county and region of Greater London.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 58 2 0 2 69.0 1,680,140 46.5 2.6 23 0 3 3 27.4 1,136,903 31.5 1.6 3 1 0 1 3.6 770,117 21.3 3.4   Others 0 0 0 0.0 26,681 0.7 0.9 Total 84 3,613,841

South East England This region included Hampshire, Isle of Wight, Oxfordshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Kent, Surrey, East Sussex and West Sussex within the current South East England. It also included Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex within the current East of England region.

However, it excluded Greater London, which was otherwise part of the standard statistical region at the time.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 107 1 0 1 99.1 3,382,849 55.6 1.1 1 2 0 0.9 1,023,521 16.8 0.9 0 0 1 1 0.0 1,653,514 27.2 1.8   Others 0 0 0 0.0 27,603 1.4 0.2 Total 108 6,087,487

South West England Like the current statistical region, this region included Cornwall, Dorset, Devon, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire, and the defunct county of Avon.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 44 0 0 91.7 1,386,857 50.6 0.8 3 0 0 6.2 906,288 15.9 0.1 1 0 0 2.1 436,358 33.0 1.2   Others 0 0 0 0.0 13,048 0.5 0.3 Total 48 2,742,551

West Midlands Like the current statistical region, this region included Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire, the county of West Midlands, Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 36 0 0 62.1 1,346,505 45.5 0.5 22 0 0 37.9 984,667 33.3 2.1 0 0 0 0.0 615,699 20.8 2.6   Others 0 0 0 0.0 10,401 0.4 0.1 Total 58 2,957,272

North West This region included Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire.

+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 36 8 0 1 60.3 1,518,680 41.2 5.2 34 0 2 2 37.0 1,401,459 38.0 2.0 3 0 1 1 2.7 758,143 20.6 2.8   Others 0 0 0 0.0 8,996 0.2 0.4 Total 73 3,687,278

See also 1987 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland 1987 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1987 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Notes

References