On Thursday 9 June 1983, the 1983 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, with 523 constituencies being in England.
The number of seats for each region that were changed under the third periodic review of Westminster constituencies are indicated respectively. This was the first election following this review, with the number of English constituencies increasing from the 516 used between 1955 to 1979 to 523 constituencies, and over 90 per cent of boundaries of existing constituencies being changed.
Candidates
Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1983 general election in England.
Affiliation Candidates Conservative Party 523 Labour Party 523 Liberal Party 267 Social Democratic Party 256 Ecology Party 90 Independent 81 National Front 60 British National Party 52 Communist Party of Great Britain 22 Workers Revolutionary Party 18 Other 108Total 2,000
Analysis
The Conservative Party won a landslide majority of English seats, gaining 37 seats for a total of 362 under the new boundaries. The Labour Party came second, winning 148 MPs, a decline of 45. Labour's share of the vote in England was its lowest since 1918, and its number of English MPs was its smallest since 1931. The SDP–Liberal Alliance won 26.4% of the popular vote, just 0.4% behind Labour, but won only 13 seats compared to 148 for Labour, due to the first-past-the-post electoral system.
Two future leaders of the Labour Party were first elected to Parliament at this election in England: Tony Blair (1994–2007) in Sedgefield and Jeremy Corbyn (2015–2020) in Islington North. In addition, future Leader of the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown was elected in Yeovil for the first time. Michael Howard, who later served as Home Secretary in government and as party leader from 2003 to 2005, was also first elected to Parliament in Folkestone and Hythe. Other prominent members in including Edwina Currie and Neil Hamilton for the Conservative Party and Clare Short for Labour also entered the House of Commons in English constituencies.
A number of prominent Members of Parliament stepped aside or lost their seats. Former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson stood down from Parliament after 38 years, while the Alliance's Shirley Williams and Bill Pitt lost their seats only a short time after having won them. Joan Lestor and Tony Benn and Speaker of the House of Commons and former Labour Cabinet Minister George Thomas also departed from Parliament at this election, although Benn would return after winning a by-election in Chesterfield the following year, and Lestor returned to Parliament after winning a seat at the next general election in 1987.
Results
+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference Conservative 362 40 3 37 69.2 11,711,519 46.0 1.2 Labour 148 colspan=2 45 28.3 6,862,422 26.8 9.8 SDP–Liberal Alliance 13 colspan=2 8 2.5 6,714,957 26.4 10 0 5 5 1.9 3,658,903 14.4 0.5 3 colspan=2 3 0.6 3,056,054 12.0 Ecology Party 0 0 0 — 46,484 0.2 0.1 Independent 0 0 0 — 33,840 0.1 National Front 0 0 0 — 27,065 0.1 0.6 BNP 0 colspan=3 — 14,364 0.0 Communist 0 0 0 — 6,368 0.0 Workers Revolutionary 0 0 0 — 3,280 0.0 Independent Labour 0 0 0 — 16,647 0.1 Ind. Conservative 0 0 0 — 12,837 0.1 0.1 Monster Raving Loony 0 colspan=3 — 3,265 0.0 Pro-Corporal Punishment 0 colspan=3 — 2,113 0.0 Mebyon Kernow 0 0 0 — 1,151 0.0 Wessex Regionalists 0 0 0 — 1,750 0.0 Anti-Common Market 0 0 0 — 1,177 0.0 Independent Communist 0 colspan=3 — 1,116 0.0 Associates with Licensees 0 colspan=3 — 934 0.0 Nationalist 0 colspan=3 — 874 0.0 Independent Liberal 0 0 0 — 656 0.0 Revolutionary Communist 0 colspan=3 — 581 0.0 Spare the Earth 0 colspan=3 — 524 0.0 Women for Life on Earth 0 colspan=3 — 517 0.0 National Labour 0 colspan=3 — 456 0.0 Nobody Party 0 colspan=3 — 386 0.0 Fancy Dress Party 0 0 0 — 374 0.0 Cornish Nationalist 0 0 0 — 364 0.0 Loony Society 0 colspan=3 — 358 0.0 Anti-Deportation 0 colspan=3 — 355 0.0 Multi-Racial Party 0 colspan=3 — 327 0.0 FTACMP 0 colspan=3 — 325 0.0 Freedom 0 colspan=3 — 324 0.0 Progressive Liberal 0 colspan=3 — 319 0.0 Freddie's Alternative Medicine 0 colspan=3 — 318 0.0 Fellowship 0 0 0 — 242 0.0 Nationalist (Cantebury) 0 colspan=3 — 226 0.0 One-nation Conservative 0 colspan=3 — 213 0.0 Gizza Job 0 colspan=3 — 212 0.0 Prosperity for All 0 colspan=3 — 221 0.0 Isle of Wight Residents 0 colspan=3 — 208 0.0 Unemployment Party 0 colspan=3 — 204 0.0 Modern Democratic 0 colspan=3 — 189 0.0 Servicemen and Citizen 0 colspan=3 — 177 0.0 Socialist (GB) 0 0 0 — 173 0.0 Assassin's Bullet 0 colspan=3 — 173 0.0 Traditional English Food 0 colspan=3 — 172 0.0 Socialist Workers 0 colspan=3 — 199 0.0 Christian Democrat 0 colspan=3 — 159 0.0 New Britain 0 0 0 — 154 0.0 Pro-Nuclear War Gay Rights 0 colspan=3 — 147 0.0 Ethnic Minority 0 colspan=3 — 146 0.0 Independent For Referendum 0 colspan=3 — 135 0.0 Anti-Courription 0 colspan=3 — 128 0.0 Against Cuts to Education 0 colspan=3 — 123 0.0 Common Market Party 0 colspan=3 — 113 0.0 Justice for Divorced Fathers 0 colspan=3 — 113 0.0 Islington and Finsbury Party 0 colspan=3 — 102 0.0 Black and White Unity 0 colspan=3 — 86 0.0 Ban Licensing Law Society 0 colspan=3 — 75 0.0 World Government 0 colspan=3 — 67 0.0 Rail not Motorway 0 colspan=3 — 42 0.0 Law and Order for Gotham 0 colspan=3 — 37 0.0 Anti-Censorship 0 colspan=3 — 28 0.0 Community Party 0 0 0 — 22 0.0 Belgrano Blood-Hunger 0 colspan=3 — 13 0.0 Total 523 0 100.0 25,472,646 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 72.5 3.4
By region Note: these results are based on the previously-used standard statistical regions, not the current regions of England established in 1994.
The number of seats for each region that were changed under the third periodic review of Westminster constituencies are indicated respectively.
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 26 1 4 3 72.2 684,120 40.2 1.9 8 3 1 2 22.2 589,128 34.6 9.2 2 1 0 1 5.6 424,987 25.0 12.4 Others 0 0 0 0.0 2,507 0.1 1.4 Total 36 1,700,742
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 28 0 6 6 51.9 925,084 35.3 9.5 24 4 0 4 44.4 1,013,311 38.7 0.8 2 1 0 1 3.7 669,377 25.5 10.7 Others 0 0 0 0.0 13,516 0.5 0.4 Total 54 1 2,621,288
Labour won the most seats in the region; however, the Conservatives won more votes. A similar result in which Labour won more seats despite the Conservatives winning more votes would next occur in 2019.
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 34 11 0 11 81.0 1,013,384 47.2 0.5 8 0 8 8 19.0 600,624 28.0 10.2 0 0 0 0.0 517,098 24.1 9.9 Others 0 0 0 0.0 17,266 0.8 0.1 Total 42 3 2,148,372
East Anglia This region included Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.
+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 18 5 0 5 90.0 539,418 51.0 0.2 1 0 0 5.0 298,624 28.2 12.2 1 0 2 2 5.0 216,906 20.5 12.1 Others 0 0 0 0.0 2,934 0.3 0.3 Total 20 3 1,057,882
Greater London This consisted of the constituencies within the county and region of Greater London. These results are separate from those recorded in South East England.
+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 56 6 0 6 67.7 1,517,105 43.9 2.1 26 0 16 16 31.0 1,031,539 29.8 9.8 2 2 0 2 2.4 853,360 24.7 12.8 Others 0 0 0 0.0 55,774 1.6 0.8 Total 84 8 3,457,778
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. However, it also included Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire, Essex within the current East of England region.
In addition, the standard statical region included the results of the constituencies within the county and region of Greater London, though the results for Greater London were also recorded separately.
+PartySeatsAggregate Votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 162 19 0 19 84.4 4,593,712 50.5 0.9 27 0 19 19 14.1 1,924,854 21.1 10.7 3 2 0 2 1.6 2,940,105 27.4 12.1 Others 0 0 0 0.0 92,773 1.0 0.5 Total 192 2 9,101,444
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 5 1 4 91.7 1,295,737 51.4 0.2 3 2 0 2 6.2 836,547 14.7 10.7 1 0 4 4 2.1 370,541 33.2 9.9 Others 0 0 0 0.0 19,129 0.8 0.5 Total 48 2 2,521,954
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 5 0 5 62.1 1,261,378 45.0 2.1 22 0 3 3 37.9 874,190 31.2 8.9 0 0 0 0.0 655,982 23.4 11.9 Others 0 0 0 0.0 12,444 0.4 0.9 Total 58 2 2,803,994
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 2 6 49.3 1,405,451 40.0 3.6 35 2 12 10 47.9 1,266,103 36.0 6.8 2 0 0 2.7 822,237 23.4 10.5 Others 0 0 0 0.0 23,179 0.7 Total 73 4 3,516,970
See also 1983 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1983 United Kingdom general election in Wales 1983 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
Notes
References