United Kingdom general election, 1966
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The 1966 UK general election on March 31, 1966 and was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected only two years previously in 1964 had an unworkable small majority of only 4 MPs. Wilson's hope that he would be returned to office with a larger majority had been encouraged by the government's victory in a by-election in Kingston upon Hull North. In the end the hope was vindicated: the Labour government was returned with a much larger majority of 96.
Contents |
[edit] National opinion poll summary
Research Services : 3% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 101)
National Opinion Polls : 3.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 115)
Gallup : 4.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of 150)
Express (known as Harris): 7.5% swing to Labour (forecast majority of in excess of 255)
[edit] Results
The results were as follows -
| UK General Election 1966 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net Gain/Loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/- | |
| Labour | 364 | 49 | 1 | + 48 | 48.0 | 13,096,629 | |||
| Conservative | 253 | 0 | 52 | - 52 | 41.9 | 11,418,455 | -1.5 | ||
| Liberal | 12 | 4 | 1 | + 3 | 8.5 | 2,327,457 | |||
| Scottish National Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.5 | 128,474 | |||
| Independent Republican | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 62,782 | |||
| Communist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 62,092 | |||
| Plaid Cymru | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 61,071 | |||
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 35,039 | |||
| Republican Labour | 1 | 1 | 0 | + 1 | 0.1 | 26,292 | |||
| Irish Nationalist | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 22,167 | |||
| Independent Liberal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5,689 | |||
| British National | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5,182 | |||
| Independent Conservative | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,089 | |||
| Union Movement | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,075 | |||
| Independent Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,031 | |||
| Fellowship Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 906 | |||
| National Democratic | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 769 | |||
| National Teenage | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 585 | |||
| Ind. Labour Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 441 | |||
| Socialist Party (GB) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 333 | |||
| Radical Alliance | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 163 | |||
| Patriotic Party | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 126 | |||
Total votes cast on 31st March 1966: 27,264,747. All parties shown. The Conservative figure includes Ulster Unionists and National Liberals.
[edit] Televised declarations
(From BBC Parliament Replay.)
These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected".
| Constituency | Winning party 1964 | Constituency result 1966 by party | Winning party 1966 | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Con | Lab | Lib | PC | SNP | Others | |||||
| Cheltenham | Conservative | 22,683 | 19,768 | Conservative hold | ||||||
| Wolverhampton North East | Labour | 12,965 | 21,067 | Labour hold | ||||||
| Wolverhampton South West | Conservative | 21,466 | 14,881 | Conservative hold | ||||||
| Salford West | Labour | 13,257 | 19,237 | Labour hold | ||||||
| Salford East | Labour | 9,000 | 18,409 | Labour hold | ||||||
| Exeter | Conservative | 18,613 | 22,189 | 4,869 | Labour gain | |||||
| Devon North | Liberal | 15,631 | 6,127 | 16,797 | Liberal hold | |||||
| Smethwick | Conservative | 14,550 | 18,440 | 508 | Labour gain | |||||
| Nelson and Colne | Labour | 13,829 | 18,406 | 5,117 | Labour hold | |||||
| Leyton | Labour | 18,157 | 26,803 | 3,851 | 441 | Labour recovery | ||||
| Huyton | Labour | 20,182 | 41,132 | 585 | Labour hold | |||||
| Billericay | Conservative | 38,371 | 40,013 | 7,587 | Labour gain | |||||
| Preston South | Labour | 17,931 | 20,720 | Labour hold | ||||||
| Bexley | Conservative | 26,377 | 24,044 | 4,405 | Conservative hold | |||||
| Brentford and Chiswick | Conservative | 14,031 | 14,638 | 2,063 | Labour gain | |||||
| Aberdeenshire West | Conservative | 13,956 | 6,008 | 15,151 | Liberal gain | |||||
| Taunton | Conservative | 22,359 | 19,216 | 5,460 | Conservative hold | |||||
| Monmouth | Conservative | 25,654 | 28,619 | Labour gain | ||||||
- The 5,117 votes polled for the "Others" in Nelson and Colne were all polled for a candidate who advocated the return of hanging.
[edit] See also
| 1801 co-option | 1802 | 1806 | 1807 | 1812 | 1818 | 1820 | 1826 | 1830 | 1831 | 1832 | 1835 | 1837 | 1841 | 1847 | 1852 | 1857 | 1859 | 1865 | 1868 | 1874 | 1880 | 1885 | 1886 | 1892 | 1895 | 1900 | 1906 | 1910 (Jan) | 1910 (Dec) | 1918 | 1922 | 1923 | 1924 | 1929 | 1931 | 1935 | 1945 | 1950 | 1951 | 1955 | 1959 | 1964 | 1966 | 1970 | 1974 (Feb) | 1974 (Oct) | 1979 | 1983 | 1987 | 1992 | 1997 | 2001 | 2005 | Future: 54th | ||
