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1929 United Kingdom general election

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1929 United Kingdom general election
← 1924
30 May 1929
1931 →
All 615 seats in the House of Commons
308 seats needed for a majority
Registered28,854,746
Turnout22,648,375
76.3% (Decrease0.7 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Ramsay MacDonald Stanley Baldwin David Lloyd George
Party Labour Conservative Liberal
Leader since 21 November 1922 23 May 1923 14 October 1926
Leader's seat Seaham Bewdley Caernarvon Boroughs
Last election 151 seats, 33.3% 412 seats, 46.8% 40 seats, 17.8%
Seats won 287 260[a] 59
Seat change Increase 136 Decrease 152 Increase 19
Popular vote 8,370,417 8,656,225 5,308,738
Percentage 37.1% 38.1% 23.5%
Swing Increase3.8 pp Decrease8.7 pp Increase5.7 pp
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Diagram displaying the composition of the House of Commons following the election
Prime Minister before election

Stanley Baldwin
Conservative

 Prime Minister after election

Ramsay MacDonald
Labour

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday 30 May 1929, after the previous Parliament was dissolved on 10 May.[1] It resulted in a hung parliament: the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, won the most votes, but Ramsay MacDonald's Labour Party won the most seats in the House of Commons. This marked the first election where Labour emerged as the largest party, though they failed to win a majority. The Liberal Party, led again by former Prime Minister David Lloyd George, regained some of the ground lost in 1924 and held the balance of power.

The election was often referred to as the "Flapper Election", because it was the first in which women aged 21–29 had the right to vote (owing to the Representation of the People Act 1928). Women over 30, with some property qualifications, had been able to vote since the 1918 general election, but the 1929 vote was the first general election with universal suffrage for adults over 21, which was then the age of majority.

The election was fought against a background of rising unemployment, with the memory of the 1926 general strike still fresh in voters' minds. By 1929, the Cabinet was being described by many as "old and exhausted".[2]

The Liberals campaigned on a comprehensive programme of public works under the title "We Can Conquer Unemployment". There was anticipation of a potential revival of the Liberal Party after the reunification of Independent Liberals and National Liberals now under Lloyd George's leadership since 1926 and following some victories in a series of recent by-elections after 1926.[3] The incumbent Conservatives campaigned on the theme of "Safety First", with Labour campaigning on the theme of "Labour & the Nation".

This was the first general election to be contested by the newly formed Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru.

It stood as the last time when a third party polled more than one-fifth of the popular vote until 1983. The Liberals performed more successfully than at the previous general election in 1924, but could not regain their pre-World War I status as a party of government.[3]

Results

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Summary of seats returned

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Party[4] Leader MPs Aggregate votes
Of total Of total[b]
Labour Party Ramsay MacDonald 287[c] 46.7%
8,370,417 37.1%
Conservative and Unionist Party Stanley Baldwin 260[a] 42.3%
8,656,225 38.1%
Conservative Party[d] Stanley Baldwin 227[a] 36.9%
7,493,791 33.4%
Unionist Party John Craik-Henderson 22 3.6%
807,777 3.6%
Ulster Unionist Party James Craig 11 1.8%
354,657 1.1%
Liberal Party David Lloyd George 59 9.6%
5,308,738 23.5%
Independent N/a 4 0.7%
89,952 0.4%
Scottish Prohibition Party Edwin Scrymgeour 1 0.2%
50,073 0.1%
Nationalist Party Joseph Devlin 2 0.3%
24,177 0.1%
Independent Labour Joseph Devlin 1 0.2%
19,770 0.1%
Irish Nationalist T. P. O'Connor 1 0.2%
0 0.0%

Full Results

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Results of the October 1924 general election to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom
Party[5][6][7] Leader Candidates MPs Aggregate votes
Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%)[e] Change (%)
  Conservative[f] Stanley
Baldwin		 590 260[a]2154Decrease15242.38,656,22538.1Decrease8.7
  Labour Ramsay
MacDonald		 569[g] 287[h]142[i]6Increase13646.7[j]8,370,417[k]37.1[l]Increase3.8[m]
  Liberal David Lloyd George 513 593415Increase199.65,308,73823.5Increase5.7
  Independent N/a 11 431Increase20.889,9520.4Increase0.2
  Communist Harry
Pollitt		 25 001[n]Decrease1—50,6340.2Decrease0.1
  Independent
Unionist		 N/a 8 000Steady—46,2780.2Increase0.2
  Scottish
Prohibition		 Edwin Scrymgeour 1 1[o]00Steady0.250,0730.1Steady
  Nationalist Joseph
Devlin		 3 2Did not stand in 1924Increase20.324,1770.1N/a
  Independent
Liberal		 N/a 2 000Steady—21,2870.1Increase0.1
  Independent
Labour		 N/a 3 1[p]Did not stand in 1924Increase10.219,7700.1N/a
  Scottish Protestant League Alexander
Ratcliffe		 1[q] 0New—6,9020.0new
  National (Scotland) Roland
Muirhead		 2 0New—3,3130.0new
  Plaid Cymru Saunders
Lewis		 1[r] 0New—3,3130.0new
  Irish Nationalist [[T. P.
O'Connor]]		 1 1[s]00Steady0.200.0Decrease0.1
Total 1,730 615 0 100.0 22,648,375 100.0 0.0
Registered voters, and turnout 28.854,746[8][t] 76.3[9][u] Decrease0.7

Votes summary

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Popular vote
Conservative
 
 38.06%
Labour
 
 37.12%
Liberal
 
 23.54%
Others
 
 1.28%

Seats summary

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Parliamentary seats
Labour
 
 46.67%
Conservative
 
 42.28%
Liberal
 
 9.59%
Others
 
 1.46%

Constituency results

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Transfers of seats

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  • All comparisons are with the 1924 election.
    • In some cases, the change is due to the MP's having defected to the gaining party, and then retaining the seat in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
    • In other circumstances, the change is due to the seat's having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a †.
To From No. Seats
Independent Labour Labour 1 Govan*
Labour Communist 1 Battersea North
Liberal 15 Chesterfield, South Shields, Walthamstow West, Bristol North, Bristol South, Kingston upon Hull Central*, Blackburn (one of two), Oldham (one of two), Hackney South, Lambeth North, Bradford East, Batley and Morley, Wrexham, Carmarthen, Swansea West
Constitutionalist 3 Walthamstow East1, Accrington2, Stoke2
Conservative 121 Stirlingshire West, Dunbartonshire, Lanark, Partick, Lanarkshire North†, Renfrewshire West, Maryhill, Kilmarnock, Edinburgh West, Linlithgow†, Berwick & Haddington, Reading, Birkenhead West, Crewe, Stalybridge and Hyde, Stockport (one of two)†, Carlisle, Whitehaven, Derby (one of two), Belper, Derbyshire South, Drake, Barnard Castle, Sedgefield, Darlington†, Stockton-on-Tees, Sunderland (both seats), Leyton East, East Ham North, Essex SE, Leyton West, Romford, Upton, Bristol Central, Portsmouth Central, Southampton (both seats), Dudley, Stourbridge†, Kingston upon Hull East, Kingston upon Hull South West, Chatham, Dartford, Blackburn (one of two), Ormskirk, Rossendale, Ashton-under-Lyne†, Bolton (both seats), Eccles, Hulme, Oldham (one of two), Salford North, Salford South, Salford West, Bootle, Everton, Kirkdale, Warrington, Widnes, Leicester East, Loughborough, Brigg, Fulham West, Hammersmith South, Islington North, Kensington North, Battersea South†, Greenwich, Islington East, Camberwell North-West, Hackney Central, Kennington, Hammersmith North†, St Pancras North, St Pancras South East, St Pancras South West, Wandsworth Central, Norfolk South West, Norwich (one of two), Kettering, Northampton†, Peterborough, Bassetlaw, Nottingham South, The Wrekin, Frome, Lichfield, Walsall, Wolverhampton West, Nuneaton, Duddeston, Coventry, Aston, Deritend, Erdington, Ladywood, Yardley, Swindon, York, Cleveland, Acton, Enfield, Tottenham South, Sheffield Central, Bradford North, Leeds Central, Sowerby, Wakefield, Sheffield Park, Bradford Central, Pontefract, Newport (Monmouthshire), Brecon and Radnor, Llandaff & Barry, Cardiff Central, Cardiff East, Cardiff South
Speaker 1 Halifax†
Independent 1 Mossley
Labour gains: 142
Liberal Labour 2 Bethnal Green North-East, Newcastle upon Tyne East
Constitutionalist 2 Camborne, Heywood and Radcliffe*
Conservative 32 Banff, Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine, Fife East, Dumfriesshire, Galloway, Bedfordshire Mid, Luton, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Ely, Birkenhead East, Eddisbury, Bodmin, Cornwall North, Penryn and Falmouth, St Ives†, South Molton, Dorset East, Harwich, Hereford, Ashford, Darwen, Preston (one of two), Blackley, Withington, Bosworth†, Holland with Boston†, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk East, Nottingham East, Eye, Flintshire, Pembrokeshire
Liberal gains: 36
Conservative Labour 1 King's Norton
Constitutionalist 1 Epping*
Conservative gains: 2
Independent Constitutionalist 1 Stretford*
Conservative 2 Combined English Universities (one of two), Exeter*
Nationalist UUP 2 Fermanagh and Tyrone (both seats)
1 Previous MP had defected to the Conservatives by the 1929 election
2 Previous MP had defected to the Liberals by the 1929 election

See also

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References

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  1. ↑ "Parliamentary Election Timetables" (PDF) (3rd ed.). House of Commons Library. 25 March 1997. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  2. ↑ Doerr 1998, pp. 104–5.
  3. 1 2 Campbell, John (2010). Pistols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown. London: Vintage. p. 192. ISBN 978-1-84595-091-0. OCLC 489636152.
  4. ↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
  5. ↑ Craig, F. W. S. (1977). British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–49 (1st ed.). London and Basingstoke: The Macmillan Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-349-81467-1.
  6. ↑ "UK General Elections Results 1832-2019". Retrieved 12 August 2026.
  7. ↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
  8. ↑ F.W.S. Craig (1976). British Electoral Facts 1885-1975 (3 ed.). Macmillan Press. p. 76. ISBN 0333197348.
  9. ↑ Cracknell, Richard; Uberoi, Elise; Burton, Matthew (9 August 2023). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 29. Retrieved 8 August 2026.

Note list

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  1. 1 2 3 4 Figure includes Speaker of the House of Commons Edward FitzRoy in Daventry.
  2. ↑ Adjusted for multi-member constituencies.
  3. ↑ Includes 9 Co-operative Party MPs, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.
  4. ↑ Results for England and Wales.
  5. ↑ Adjusted for multi-member constituencies.
  6. ↑ Figure includes the Unionist Party and the Ulster Unionist Party under their nation affiliations with the Conservative Party.
  7. ↑ Includes 12 Co-operative Party candidates, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.
  8. ↑ Includes 9 Co-operative Party MPs, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.
  9. ↑ Includes 4 Co-operative Party MPs, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.
  10. ↑ Includes 1.5% for the Co-operative Party, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.
  11. ↑ Includes 208,762 for the Co-operative Party, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.
  12. ↑ Includes 1.0% for the Co-operative Party, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.
  13. ↑ Includes Increase0.2% for the Co-operative Party, as part of the Labour-Co-op alliance.
  14. ↑ Shapurji Saklatvala in Battersea North.
  15. ↑ Edwin Scrymgeour in Dundee.
  16. ↑ Neil Maclean in Glasgow Govan.
  17. ↑ Leader Alexander Ratcliffe stood in Stirling and Falkirk.
  18. ↑ Founder Lewis Valentine stood in Caernarvonshire.
  19. ↑ T. P. O'Connor in Liverpool Scotland.
  20. ↑ Including the electorate in uncontested constituencies.
  21. ↑ Adjusted for multi-member constituencies.

Sources

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Further reading

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Manifestos

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