2017 United Kingdom general election

A general election was held on the 8 June 2017 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. It ended in a hung parliament, with the Conservative Party winning the most seats. They made a confidence-and-supply agreement with the Democratic Unionist Party so they could pass a vote of no confidence. Theresa May stayed as prime minister.^[2]

2017 United Kingdom general election

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← List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 2015 List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 2017 →
All 650 seats in the House of Commons 326[n 1] seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	68.8% (2.5%)[1]
First party Second party   Leader Theresa May Jeremy Corbyn Party Conservative Labour Leader's seat Maidenhead Islington North Last election 330 seats, 36.9% 232 seats, 30.4% Seats won 317* 262 Seat change 13 30 Popular vote 13,636,684 12,878,460 Percentage 42.4% 40.0% Swing 5.5% 9.6%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Nicola Sturgeon Tim Farron Party SNP Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Did not stand[n 2] Westmorland and Lonsdale Last election 56 seats, 4.7% 8 seats, 7.9% Seats won 35 12 Seat change 21 4 Popular vote 977,569 2,371,910 Percentage 3.0% 7.4% Swing 1.7% 0.5%
A map of UK parliamentary constituencies * Figure does not include the Speaker of the House of Commons John Bercow, who was included in the Conservative seat total by some media outlets.
Prime Minister before election Theresa May Conservative Prime Minister after election Theresa May Conservative

Labour won a lot of seats from the Conservatives. This was the first time Labour had gained seats since 1997. The election happened because Parliament voted for a snap election after the 2016 Brexit referendum.^[3]

Date

The next general election was due to be held on 8 May 2020. Theresa May announced on 18 April 2017 that she wanted it to be held on 8 June .^[4] The House of Commons voted in favour of this proposal on 19 April 2017^[4] allowing the election to take place in June 2017.

Results

Exit poll

BBC News, ITV and Sky News all released an exit poll at 10pm. This poll predicted the Conservatives would be the largest party but lose their majority. Exit poll results:

• Conservative Party - 314
• Labour Party - 266
• Scottish National Party - 34
• Liberal Democrats - 14
• Plaid Cymru - 3
• Green Party - 1
• UK Independence Party - 0
• Others - 18

Final results

The final results were very similar to the exit poll.

• Conservative Party - 317 (down 13 seats)
• Labour Party - 262 (up 30 seats)
• Scottish National Party - 35 (down 21 seats)
• Liberal Democrats - 12 (up 4 seats)
• Plaid Cymru - 3 (no change)
• Green Party - 1 (no change)
• United Kingdom Independence Party - 0 (down 1 seat)
• Others - 18

When the election was called the Conservative Party had a big lead in the polls and they were expected to win by a landslide. As the campaign went on the Labour Party closed the gap in the polls and the Conservatives lost their majority in the House of Commons.^[5]

Important MPs who lost their seats include former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond and The leader of the SNP in the House of Commons Angus Robertson.

Notes

1. Given that Sinn Féin MPs do not take their seats and the Speaker and deputies do not vote, the number of MPs needed for a majority is, in practice, slightly lower. Sinn Féin won 7 seats, meaning a practical majority requires at least 320 MPs.
2. Nicola Sturgeon sits as an MSP in the Scottish Parliament for Glasgow Southside. Before the election, the SNP delegation to the House of Commons had been led by Angus Robertson, MP for Moray, who lost his seat. Ian Blackford, MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber, succeeded him.

References

1. "General Election 2017: full results and analysis". UK Parliament. Retrieved 24 June 2017.
2. "Confidence and Supply Agreement between the Conservative Party and the DUP" (PDF). assets.publishing.service.gov.uk.
3. McAuley, James (9 June 2017). "After shocking British vote result, Europe ponders fate of Brexit negotiations". Washington Post. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
4. "Theresa May seeks general election". BBC News. 18 April 2017. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
5. "UK election 2017: Conservatives 'to fall short of majority'". bbc.com. BBC. Retrieved 9 June 2017.