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The United Kingdom general election of 7 June 2001 was dubbed as "the quiet landslide" by the media. After a landslide victory of the Labour Party in the previous 1997 elections, they now had another major victory by managing to maintain their position. In fact, Tony Blair was the first Labour prime minister to win a full second consecutive term in office, and he did so with the greatest majority ever for a party in government. Outside Northern Ireland (which mostly has different parties and a different electoral landscape from the rest of the UK although a few UK-wide parties stand with minimal success), 620 out of 641 seats remained with the same party as they had been in 1997. The Conservatives netted a gain of only 1 seat after their crushing defeat of 1997 (gaining a few seats from Labour, but losing to the Liberal Democrats), but the Liberal Democrats made a gain of 6 more seats from their already historical high of 1997. With 52 seats, the Liberal Democrats were well established as the third party of Britain and had their best result since the 1920s.
The elections were also marked by apathy from the voting public, turnout being only 59%, the lowest since 1918. Throughout the election the Labour party had maintained a significant lead in the opinion polls and the result was deemed to be so certain that some bookmakers paid out for a Labour majority before the election day.
Labour won an majority of 167 overall (previously 179) and 247 over the Conservatives (previously 254).
In Northern Ireland, the election was far more dramatic and marked a move away from the Good Friday Agreement, with the moderate unionist and nationalist parties (UUP and SDLP) losing to the more extreme parties (DUP and Sinn Féin). It also saw a tightening of the parties as the small UK Unionist Party lost its only seat.
Results
| Party |
Votes |
Seats |
Loss/Gain |
Share of Vote (%) |
| Labour (social-democratic) |
10,724,953 |
412 |
- 6 |
40.7 |
| Conservative (conservative) |
8,357,615 |
166 |
+ 1 |
31.7 |
| Liberal Democrats (liberal democratic) |
4,814,321 |
52 |
+ 6 |
18.3 |
| SNP (Scottish pro-independence) |
464,314 |
5 |
- 1 |
1.8 |
| UK Independence (anti-EC) |
390,563 |
0 |
|
1.5 |
| Ulster Unionist (Northern Irish unionist) |
216,839 |
6 |
- 4 |
0.8 |
| Plaid Cymru |
195,893 |
4 |
|
0.7 |
| Democratic Unionist |
181,999 |
5 |
+ 3 |
0.7 |
| Sinn Féin |
175,933 |
4 |
+ 2 |
0.7 |
| SDLP |
169,865 |
3 |
|
0.6 |
| Green |
166,477 |
0 |
|
0.6 |
| Independent |
97,070 |
0 |
- 1 |
0.4 |
| Scottish Socialist |
72,516 |
0 |
|
0.3 |
| Socialist Alliance |
57,553 |
0 |
|
0.2 |
| Socialist Labour |
57,288 |
0 |
|
0.2 |
| BNP |
47,129 |
0 |
|
0.2 |
| Alliance (NI) |
28,999 |
0 |
|
0.1 |
| Health Concern |
28,487 |
1 |
+ 1 |
0.1 |
| Liberal |
13,685 |
0 |
|
0.1 |
| UK Unionist |
13,509 |
0 |
- 1 |
0.1 |
| Prolife Alliance |
9,453 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Cannabis |
8,677 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| PJP |
7,443 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Monster Raving Loony |
6,655 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Progressive Unionist |
4,781 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Mebyon Kernow |
3,199 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| NI Women's Coalition |
2,968 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Scottish Unionist |
2,728 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Rock 'n' Roll Loony |
2,634 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| National Front |
2,484 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Workers |
2,352 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Neath Port Talbot Ratepayers |
1,960 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Northern Ireland Unionist |
1,794 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Socialist Alternative |
1,454 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Reform 2000 |
1,418 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Isle of Wight |
1,164 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Muslim |
1,150 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
| Communist |
1,003 |
0 |
|
0.0 |
Total votes cast: 26,368,204. All parties with more than 1,000 votes shown.
The seat gains reflect changes on the 1997 general election result. Two seats had changed hands in by-elections in the intervening period. These were as follows:
See also
Manifestos
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