On Thursday 26 May 1955, the 1955 United Kingdom general election was held in Wales, to elect all 630 members of the House of Commons, with 36 constituencies being in Wales. The election saw the Labour party win the most votes and seats in Wales, retaining its overall 27 seats.
The changes in Wales were very minor during the election, with no seats changing compared to 1951.
It was the first of 18 general elections held under the reign of Queen Elizabeth II and the first general election whose television coverage is existent. It was the first election under the first periodic review of Westminster constituencies, the first review following the Initial Review of Westminster constituencies, however it did not change any seats in Wales. At the same time, it was the fifth and the last election in which the Labour Party was led by Clement Attlee.
Candidates
Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1955 general election in Wales.
Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 36Conservative Party 28Plaid Cymru 11Liberal Party 10National Liberal Party 4Communist Party of Great Britain 1Independent 1Total 91
Results
Below is a table summarising the results of the 1955 general election in Wales.
+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%) Labour 27 0 0 75.0 825,690 57.6 2.9 Conservative (Total) 6 0 0 16.7 428,866 29.9 0.9 5 0 0 13.9 383,132 26.7 0.9 1 0 0 2.8 45,734 3.2 0.1 Liberal 3 0 0 8.3 104,095 7.3 0.3 Plaid Cymru 0 0 0 — 45,119 3.1 2.4 Independent 0 colspan=3 — 25,410 1.8 Communist 0 0 0 — 4,544 0.3 0.1 Total 36 0 100.0 1,433,724 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 1,801,217 79.6 4.8
See also 1955 United Kingdom general election in England 1955 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 1955 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland List of MPs for constituencies in Wales (1955–1959)
Notes
References