2019 United Kingdom general election

The 2019 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 12 December 2019. It resulted in the governing Conservative Party receiving a landslide majority of 80 seats.[n 5] The Conservatives made a net gain of 48 seats and won 43.6% of the popular vote – the highest percentage for any party since 1979.[3]

2019 United Kingdom general election

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All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326[n 1] seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Registered	47,568,611
Turnout	67.3% ( 1.5 pp)[2]
First party Second party   Leader Boris Johnson Jeremy Corbyn Party Conservative Labour Leader since 23 July 2019 12 September 2015 Leader's seat Uxbridge and South Ruislip Islington North Last election 317 seats, 42.4% 262 seats, 40.0% Seats won 365 202[n 2] Seat change 48 60 Popular vote 13,966,454 10,269,051 Percentage 43.6% 32.1% Swing 1.2 pp 7.9 pp   Third party Fourth party   Leader Nicola Sturgeon Jo Swinson Party SNP Liberal Democrats Leader since 14 November 2014 22 July 2019 Leader's seat Did not stand[n 3] East Dunbartonshire (defeated) Last election 35 seats, 3.0% 12 seats, 7.4% Seats won 48[n 4] 11 Seat change 13 1 Popular vote 1,242,380 3,696,419 Percentage 3.9% 11.6% Swing 0.8 pp 4.2 pp
A map presenting the results of the election, by party of the MP elected from each constituency.
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election Boris Johnson Conservative Prime Minister after election Boris Johnson Conservative

Having failed to obtain a majority in the 2017 general election, the Conservative Party had faced prolonged parliamentary deadlock over Brexit while it governed in minority with the support of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP). This situation led to the resignation of the prime minister, Theresa May, and the selection of Boris Johnson as Conservative leader and prime minister in July 2019. Johnson could not induce Parliament to approve a revised withdrawal agreement by the end of October, and chose to call for a snap election, which the House of Commons supported via the Early Parliamentary General Election Act 2019.[4] Opinion polls up to polling day showed a firm lead for the Conservatives against the Labour Party throughout the campaign.[5]

The Conservatives won 365 seats, their highest number and proportion of seats since 1987, and recorded their highest share of the popular vote since 1979; many of their gains were made in long-held Labour seats, dubbed the 'red wall', which had registered a strong 'Leave' vote in the 2016 EU referendum. Labour won 202 seats, its lowest number and proportion of seats since 1935.[6][7] The Scottish National Party (SNP) made a net gain of 13 seats and won 3.9% of the UK vote (translating to 45% of the popular vote in Scotland), resulting in 48 out of 59 seats won in Scotland.[8] The Liberal Democrats improved their vote share to 11.6% but won only 11 seats, a net loss of one since the last election.[9] The DUP won a plurality of seats in Northern Ireland. There, the SDLP and Alliance regained parliamentary representation as the DUP lost seats.

The election result gave Johnson the mandate he sought from the electorate to formally implement the UK's departure from the European Union on 31 January 2020 and repeal the European Communities Act 1972, thereby ending hopes^{[citation needed]} of the Remain movement of overturning the result of the 2016 referendum. Labour's defeat led to Jeremy Corbyn conceding defeat and announcing his intention to resign, triggering a leadership election won by Keir Starmer.[7][10] For Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, the loss of her constituency seat compelled her to resign as well, triggering a leadership election,[9] which was won by Ed Davey.[11] The party's leader in Wales, Jane Dodds, was also unseated.[12] For the SNP leader, Nicola Sturgeon, her party's landslide victory in Scotland led to renewed calls for a second independence referendum.[8] In Northern Ireland, nationalist MPs outnumbered unionist ones for the first time, although the unionist popular vote remained higher (43.1%).