On Thursday 18 June 1970, the 1970 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 630 members of the House of Commons, with 511 constituencies being in England.

This was the first general election in which people could vote from the age of eighteen years, after passage of the Representation of the People Act the previous year, and the first UK general election in which party affiliations of candidates were put on the ballot papers. The closing of the polls was also extended from 9.00 pm to 10.00 pm.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1970 general election in England.

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 511Conservative Party 510Scottish Liberal Party 282Communist Party of Great Britain 35 Independent 22National Front 9National Democratic Party 4Democratic Party 4 Anti-Common Market 3 Independent Conservative 3 Socialist Party of Great Britain 2 Other 18Total 1,403

Analysis

In England, the Conservative Party led by Edward Heath scored a decisive victory by winning 292 seats over the incumbent Labour Party led by Prime Minister Harold Wilson which was restricted to 217 seats. Overall, the Conservative Party won 330 seats in the House of Commons while Labour won 288 seats.

The Labour Party lost an overall 70 seats to the Conservatives in England, though David Clark won Colne Valley from Richard Wainwright of the Liberal Party. The Labour party had lost the seat to the Liberal Party in the 1966 general election, being the only seat it lost in that election. This was the only gain the Labour party made in England and the wider United Kingdom compared to the previous election. Wainwright would regain the constituency in 1974. The Liberal Party also lost Orpington, Bodmin and Cheadle to the Conservative Party. As such, the Liberal Party were reduced to just two seats, with a slight decrease in its vote share.

Notable politicians that entered Parliament in English constituencies include future Conservative Party Ministers Kenneth Clarke in Rushcliffe and Norman Fowler in Nottingham South for the Conservative Party. Geoffrey Howe re-entered Parliament in the seat of Reigate.

Among the five Conservative members of Parliament who won by-elections against Labour in English constituencies since the previous election, only Keith Speed retained his seat in Meriden which he had initially won in 1968. Kenneth Baker, elected initially on the same day, was unsuccessful in retaining Acton. Donald Williams was also unsuccessful in retaining Dudley after the 1968 by-election; he also initially entered Parliament on the same day as Speed and Baker. Baker would, however, shortly re-entered Parliament following the 1970 St Marylebone by-election. Additionally, Bruce Campbell and Christopher Ward were also unsuccessful in retaining seats won in by-elections.

Results +Party SeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 292 73 0 73 57.1 11,282,524 48.3 5.6 217 1 70 69 42.3 10,131,555 43.4 4.6 2 0 4 4 0.4 1,853,616 7.9 1.1 0 0 0 — 20,103 0.1 0 0 0 — 15,877 0.1 0 0 0 — 14,321 0.1 0.1 0 colspan=3 — 10,467 0.0   Anti-Common Market 0 colspan=3 — 5,714 0.0 0 0 0 — 4,675 0.0 0 0 0 — 3,937 0.0   Ratepayers (Leigh) 0 colspan=3 — 3,776 0.0   Democratic 0 colspan=3 — 3,468 0.0   Anti-Immigration 0 colspan=3 — 1,616 0.0 0 0 0 — 1,161 0.0 0 colspan=3 — 1,607 0.0 0 colspan=3 — 960 0.0 0 0 0 — 847 0.0   World Government 0 colspan=3 — 840 0.0 0 colspan=3 — 704 0.0 0 colspan=3 — 658 0.0   Independent Resident 0 colspan=3 — 542 0.0   Radical Alliance 0 0 0 — 421 0.0 0 0 0 — 376 0.0   Anti-Party 0 colspan=3 — 334 0.0   Social Credit 0 0 0 — 254 0.0   Young Ideas 0 colspan=3 — 157 0.0   Independent Anti-Labour 0 colspan=3 — 157 0.0   British Commonwealth 0 colspan=3 — 117 0.0   Anti-Election 0 colspan=3 — 112 0.0 Total 511 0 100.0 23,360,896 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 32,737,025 71.4 4.5

By region

Note: the following tables indicate the results according to the regions of England which were established in 1994, based on the county boundaries established in the 1974 local government reforms. These regions were not used at the time for the purposes of this election. East Midlands

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 19 8 0 8 50.0 47.5 6.3 19 0 8 8 50.0 47.5 5.2 0 0 0 0.0 4.5 1.6   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.5 0.4 Total 38

East of England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 37 11 0 11 90.2 52.2 6.5 4 0 11 11 9.8 40.2 4.7 0 0 0 0.0 7.4 1.9   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.2 0.1 Total 41

Greater London

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 55 0 10 10 53.9 45.8 3.2 47 10 0 11 46.1 46.6 5.6 0 0 1 1 0.0 6.9 2.4   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.7 Total 102

North East England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 26 0 1 1 83.9 59.6 3.5 5 0 1 1 16.1 38.2 3.7 0 0 0 0.0 2.2 0.2   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.0 0.4 Total 31

North West England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 44 0 13 13 53.0 45.7 4.7 39 14 0 14 47.0 46.7 5.2 0 0 1 1 0.0 7.2 0.4   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.4 Total 83

South East England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 58 10 0 10 95.1 54.4 5.4 3 0 10 10 4.9 32.1 4.3 0 0 0 0.0 12.8 1.6   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.7 0.5 Total 61

South West England

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 37 6 0 6 82.2 51.5 5.9 6 0 5 5 13.3 33.8 4.2 2 0 1 1 4.4 14.5 1.7   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.1 0.1 Total 45

West Midlands

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 30 8 0 8 55.6 50.5 5.8 24 0 8 8 44.4 44.9 5.8 0 0 0 0.0 4.2 0.1   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.4 Total 54

Yorkshire and the Humber

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 36 1 4 3 64.3 50.2 4.7 20 4 0 4 35.7 41.8 4.5 0 0 1 1 0.0 7.8 0.3   Others 0 0 0 0.0 0.3 Total 56

See also 1970 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland 1970 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1970 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Notes

References

Further reading "Heath: The victory few predicted", BBC News, "1970: Heath's surprise victory", BBC News Richard Rose (1970). "Voting Trends Surveyed". The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1970. London: Times Newspapers Ltd. p. 31.