2005 United Kingdom general election
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All 646 seats to the House of Commons 324 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Opinion polls | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Registered | 44,245,939 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Turnout | 61.4% (2.0%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results. * Indicates boundary change – so this is a notional figure ‡ Figure does not include the Speaker, Michael Martin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Composition of the House of Commons after the election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats; the majority it won four years earlier had been of 167 seats. This was the first time the Labour Party had won a third consecutive election, and as of 2024 remains the party's most recent general election victory.
The Labour campaign emphasised a strong economy; however, Blair had suffered a decline in popularity, which was exacerbated by the decision to send British troops to invade Iraq in 2003. Despite this, Labour mostly retained its leads over the Conservatives in opinion polls on economic competence and leadership, and Conservative leaders Iain Duncan Smith (2001–2003) and Michael Howard (2003–2005) struggled to capitalise on Blair's unpopularity, with the party consistently trailing behind Labour in the polls throughout the 2001–2005 parliament.[1]
The Conservatives campaigned on policies such as immigration limits, improving poorly managed hospitals, and reducing high crime rates. The
leading to the Liberal Democrats achieving their largest share of seats in the party's history.Tony Blair was returned as
This is the most recent general election in which the winning political party won a majority of the seats that were contested in each of the constituent countries of Great Britain (i.e. England, Scotland and Wales) at the same time.
In Northern Ireland, the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), the more moderate of the main unionist parties, which had dominated Northern Irish politics since the 1920s, was reduced from six MPs to one, with party leader David Trimble himself being unseated. The more hardline Democratic Unionist Party became the largest Northern Irish party, with nine MPs elected.
Apart from Trimble, notable MPs leaving the House of Commons at this election included former
Following the election, Michael Howard conceded defeat, resigned as Conservative leader and was succeeded by future prime minister David Cameron. Blair resigned as both prime minister and leader of the Labour Party in June 2007, and was replaced by then–Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. The election results were broadcast live on the BBC and presented by Peter Snow, David Dimbleby, Tony King, Jeremy Paxman, and Andrew Marr.
Overview
The governing
Many seats were contested by other parties, including several parties without incumbents in the House of Commons. Parties that were not represented at Westminster, but had seats in the
All parties campaigned using such tools as party manifestos, party political broadcasts and touring the country in what are commonly referred to as battle buses.
Campaign
Following the death of Pope John Paul II on 2 April, it was announced that the calling of the election would be delayed until 5 April.[5]
Thanks to eight years of sustained economic growth Labour could point to a strong economy, with greater investment in public services such as education and health. This was overshadowed, however, by the issue of the controversial 2003 invasion of Iraq, which met widespread public criticism at the time, and would dog Blair throughout the campaign. The Chancellor, Gordon Brown, played a prominent role in the election campaign, frequently appearing with Blair and ensuring that the economy would remain the central focus of Labour's message.
Recently elected Conservative leader Michael Howard brought a great level of experience and stability to a party that had ousted its former leader Iain Duncan Smith[6] just 18 months prior. The Conservative campaign was managed by Australian strategist Lynton Crosby.[7] The campaign focused on more traditional conservative issues like immigration, which created some controversy with the slogan "It's not racist to impose limits on immigration".[8] They also criticised Labour's "dirty" hospitals and high crime levels, under the umbrella of the slogan "Are you thinking what we're thinking?"[9]
However, Labour counter-attacked, by emphasising Howard's role in the unpopular
For the Liberal Democrats, this was the second and final election campaign fought by leader Charles Kennedy, who strongly opposed the Iraq War and personally offered a more down-to-earth approach to voters, which proved popular. There were some questions, however, over Kennedy's abilities when, at the Liberal Democrat manifesto launch, he was asked about local income tax, but appeared confused on the figures.[11] Both the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives were keen to tackle Labour's introduction of tuition fees, which both opposition parties opposed and promised to abolish.[12]
Ballot
At the close of voting (2200
The constituency of Crawley in West Sussex had the slimmest majority of any seat, with Labour's Laura Moffatt holding off the Conservatives' Henry Smith by 37 votes after three recounts.
Polling
Opinion polling for UK general elections |
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1997 election |
Opinion polls |
2001 election |
Opinion polls |
2005 election |
Opinion polls |
2010 election |
Opinion polls |
2015 election |
Opinion polls • Leadership approval |
Following problems with exit polls in previous British elections, the BBC and ITV agreed for the first time to pool their respective data, using results from Mori and NOP. More than 20,000 people were interviewed for the poll at 120 polling stations across the country. The predictions were very accurate—initial projections saw Labour returned to power with a majority of 66 (down from 160),[13] and the final result (including South Staffordshire, where the election was postponed due to the death of a candidate) was indeed a Labour majority of 66.
The projected shares of the vote in Great Britain were Labour 35% (down 6% on 2001), Conservatives 33% (up 1%), Liberal Democrats 22% (up 4%) and other parties 8% (up 1%).[13] The Conservatives were expected to make the biggest gains, however — 44 seats according to the exit poll — with the Liberal Democrats expected to take as few as two. While the Lib Dems' vote share predicted by the exit poll was accurate (22.6% compared to the actual 22.0%), they did better in some Lib Dem-Labour marginals than predicted on the basis of the national share of the vote, and achieved a net gain of 11 seats.
2001 notional result
There were major boundary changes in Scotland, where the number of seats was reduced from 72 to 59. As a result of this each party lost some seats, and this notional election result below is based on the 2001 election results if they had been fought on these new 2005 boundaries.
Party | Seats | Gains | Losses | Net gain/loss | Seats % | Votes % | Votes | +/− | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | 403 | 2 | 8 | -6 | 62.38 | 40.7 | 10,724,953 | ||
Conservative | 165 | 9 | 8 | +1 | 25.54 | 31.7 | 8,357,615 | ||
Liberal Democrats | 51 | 8 | 2 | +6 | 7.89 | 18.3 | 4,814,321 | ||
SNP | 4 | -1 | 0.62 | 1.8 | 464,314 | ||||
Other parties
|
23 | 3.57 | 7.5 |
Results
Party | Labour Party | Conservative and Unionist Party |
Liberal Democrats | UK Independence Party | Scottish National Party | Greens ( GPNI )
|
Democratic Unionist Party |
Leader | Tony Blair | Michael Howard | Charles Kennedy | Roger Knapman | Alex Salmond | GPEW )
|
Ian Paisley |
Votes | 9,552,436 (35.2%) | 8,784,915 (32.4%) | 5,985,454 (22.0%) | 605,973 (2.2%) | 412,267 (1.5%) | 257,758 (1.0%) | 241,856 (0.9%) |
Seats | 355 (55.2%) | 198 (30.7%) | 62 (9.6%) | 0 (0.0%) | 6 (0.9%) | 0 (0.0%) | 9 (1.4%) |
At 04:28 BST, it was announced that Labour had won Corby, giving them 324 seats in the House of Commons out of those then declared and an overall majority, Labour's total reaching 355 seats out of the 646 House of Commons seats. Labour received 35.3% of the popular vote, equating to approximately 22% of the electorate on a 61.3% turnout, up from 59.4% turnout in 2001.
As expected, voter disenchantment led to an increase of support for many opposition parties, and caused many eligible to vote, not to turn out. Labour achieved a third successive term in office for the first time in their history, though with reduction of the Labour majority from 167 to 67 (as it was before the declaration of South Staffordshire). As it became clear that Labour had won an overall majority, Michael Howard, the leader of the Conservative Party, announced his intention to retire from frontline politics. The final seat to declare was the delayed poll in South Staffordshire, at just after 1 a.m. on Friday 24 June.
The election was followed by further criticism of the UK electoral system. Calls for reform came particularly from Lib Dem supporters, citing that they received only just over 10% of the overall seats with 22.1% of the popular vote. The only parties to win a substantially higher percentage of seats than they achieved in votes were Labour, the Democratic Unionist Party, Sinn Féin, and
The Labour Government claimed that being returned to office for a third term for the first time ever showed the public approval of
The Conservatives claimed that their increased number of seats showed disenchantment with the Labour government and was a precursor of a Conservative breakthrough at the next election. Following three consecutive elections of declining representation and then in 2001 a net gain of just one seat, 2005 was the first general election since their famous 1983 landslide victory where the number of Conservative seats increased appreciably, although the Conservatives' vote share increased only slightly and this election did mark the third successive general election in which the Conservatives polled below 35%. In some areas the Conservative vote actually fell. The Conservatives claimed to have won the general election in England, since they received more votes than Labour although Labour still won a majority of seats.[15]
The Liberal Democrats claimed that their continued gradual increase in seats and percentage vote showed they were in a position to make further gains from both parties. They pointed in particular to the fact that they were now in second place in roughly one hundred and ninety constituencies and that having had net losses to Labour in the
The Liberal Democrats increased their percentage of the vote by 3.7%, the Conservatives by 0.6%, and Labour's dropped by 5.4%.
The
Meanwhile, the Scottish National Party improved its position in Scotland, regaining the Western Isles and Dundee East from Labour, having lost both seats in 1987.[17] In Wales Plaid Cymru failed to gain any seats and lost Ceredigion to the Liberal Democrats. In Northern Ireland the Ulster Unionists were all but wiped out, only keeping North Down, with leader David Trimble losing his seat in Upper Bann. For the first time the DUP became the biggest party in Northern Ireland.
It was the first general election since 1929 in which no party received more than ten million votes. It was the most "three-cornered" election since 1923, though the Liberal Democrats failed to match the higher national votes of the SDP–Liberal Alliance in the 1980s either in absolute or percentage terms. The total combined vote for Labour, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats proved to be the lowest main three-party vote since 1922.
Political party |
Leader |
Candidates |
Elected |
Seats gained |
Seats lost |
Net change in seats |
% of seats |
Number of votes |
% of votes |
Change in % of vote |
Votes per seat won | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Tony Blair | 627 | 355 | 0 | 47 | –47 | 55.2 | 9,552,436 | 35.2 | –5.5 | 26,908 | |
Conservative | Michael Howard | 630 | 198 | 36 | 3 | +33 | 30.7 | 8,784,915 | 32.4 | +0.7 | 44,368 | |
Liberal Democrats | Charles Kennedy | 626 | 62 | 16 | 5 | +11 | 9.6 | 5,985,454 | 22.0 | +3.8 | 96,540 | |
UKIP | Roger Knapman | 496 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 605,973 | 2.2 | +0.8 | N/A | |
SNP | Alex Salmond | 59 | 6 | 2 | 0 | +2 | 0.9 | 412,267 | 1.5 | –0.2 | 68,711 | |
Green | Caroline Lucas and Keith Taylor | 182 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 257,758 | 1.0 | +0.4 | N/A | |
DUP | Ian Paisley | 18 | 9 | 4 | 0 | +4 | 1.4 | 241,856 | 0.9 | +0.2 | 26,873 | |
BNP | Nick Griffin | 119 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 192,745 | 0.7 | +0.5 | N/A | |
Plaid Cymru | Ieuan Wyn Jones | 40 | 3 | 0 | 1 | –1 | 0.5 | 174,838 | 0.6 | –0.1 | 58,279 | |
Sinn Féin | Gerry Adams | 18 | 5 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0.8 | 174,530 | 0.6 | –0.1 | 34,906 | |
Ulster Unionist | David Trimble | 18 | 1 | 0 | 5 | –5 | 0.2 | 127,414 | 0.5 | –0.3 | 127,414 | |
SDLP | Mark Durkan | 18 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.5 | 125,626 | 0.5 | –0.1 | 41,875 | |
Independent | N/A | 180 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0.2 | 122,416 | 0.5 | +0.1 | 122,416 | |
Respect | Linda Smith | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +1 | 0.2 | 68,094 | 0.3 | N/A | 68,094 | |
Scottish Socialist | Colin Fox | 58 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 43,514 | 0.2 | –0.1 | N/A | |
Veritas | Robert Kilroy-Silk | 65 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 40,607 | 0.1 | N/A | N/A | |
Alliance | David Ford | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 28,291 | 0.1 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Scottish Green | Shiona Baird and Robin Harper | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 25,760 | 0.1 | +0.1 | N/A | |
Socialist Labour | Arthur Scargill | 49 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 20,167 | 0.1 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Liberal | Michael Meadowcroft | 14 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 19,068 | 0.1 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Health Concern
|
Richard Taylor |
1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 18,739 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 18,739 | |
Speaker | N/A | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.2 | 15,153 | 0.1 | 0.0 | 15,153 | |
English Democrat
|
Robin Tilbrook | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 15,149 | 0.1 | N/A | N/A | |
Socialist Alternative | Peter Taaffe | 17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 9,398 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
National Front | Tom Holmes | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 8,079 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Legalise Cannabis
|
Alun Buffry | 21 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 6,950 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Monster Raving Loony | Howling Laud Hope | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 6,311 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Community Action | Peter Franzen | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 5,984 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Christian Vote
|
George Hargreaves | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 4,004 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Mebyon Kernow | Dick Cole | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,552 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Forward Wales | John Marek |
6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,461 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
CPA | Alan Craig | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 3,291 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Rainbow Dream Ticket
|
Rainbow George Weiss | 23 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,463 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Community Group | Martin Williams | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,365 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Ashfield Independents | Roy Adkins | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 2,292 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Alliance for Green Socialism | Mike Davies | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,978 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Residents Association of London | Malvin Brown | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,850 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Workers' Party | Seán Garland | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,669 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Socialist Environmental
|
Goretti Horgan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,649 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Scottish Unionist | Daniel Houston | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,266 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Workers Revolutionary | Sheila Torrance | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,241 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
New England
|
Michael Tibby | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,224 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Communist | Robert Griffiths | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,124 | 0.0 | 0.0 | N/A | |
Community Group | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,118 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | ||
Peace and Progress | Chris Cooper | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,036 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Scottish Senior Citizens | John Swinburne | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,017 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Your Party | Daniel Thompson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 1,006 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
SOS! Northampton | Yvonne Dale | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 932 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Ind. Working Class | None | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 892 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Democratic Labour | Brian Powell | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 770 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
British Public Party | Kashif Rana | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 763 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Free Scotland Party | Brian Nugent | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 743 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Pensioners Party Scotland
|
George Rodger | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 716 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Publican Party | Kit Fraser and Don Lawson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 678 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
English Independence Party | Andrew Constantine | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 654 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Socialist Unity | None | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 581 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Local Community Party | Jack Crossfield | 1 |
0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 570 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Clause 28 | David Braid | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 516 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
UK Community Issues Party | Michael Osman | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 502 | 0.0 | N/A | N/A | |
Total | 646 | Turnout | 27,148,510 | 61.4 | 42,026 |
The figure of 355 seats for Labour does not include the Speaker Michael Martin. See also the list of parties standing in Northern Ireland.
Government's new majority | 66 |
---|
Seats changing hands
MPs who lost their seats
Seats which changed allegiance
Labour to Conservative (31)
- Bexleyheath and Crayford
- Braintree
- Croydon Central
- Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale
- Enfield Southgate
- Forest of Dean
- Gravesham
- Hammersmith and Fulham
- Harwich
- Hemel Hempstead
- Hornchurch
- Ilford North
- Kettering
- Lancaster and Wyre
- Monmouth
- North East Milton Keynes
- Northampton South
- Peterborough
- Preseli Pembrokeshire
- Putney
- Reading East
- Rugby and Kenilworth
- St Albans
- Scarborough and Whitby
- Shipley
- Shrewsbury and Atcham
- Wellingborough
- Welwyn Hatfield
- Wimbledon
- The Wrekin
Labour to Liberal Democrat (11)
- Birmingham Yardley
- Bristol West
- Cambridge
- Cardiff Central
- East Dunbartonshire
- Falmouth and Camborne
- Hornsey and Wood Green
- Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey
- Leeds North West
- Manchester Withington
- Rochdale
Liberal Democrat to Conservative (5)
- Guildford
- Ludlow
- Newbury
- Torridge and West Devon
- Weston-Super-Mare
Conservative to Liberal Democrat (3)
Labour to SNP (2)
UUP to DUP (2)
Labour to Independent (1)
Liberal Democrat to Labour (1)
- Leicester South
PC to Liberal Democrat (1)
UUP to SDLP (1)
Labour to Respect (1)
- Bethnal Green and Bow
SDLP to Sinn Fein (1)
Post-election events
Formation of government
Following the election, Labour remained in power with
The new Parliament met on 11 May for the election of the Speaker of the House of Commons.
New party leaders
On 6 May, Michael Howard announced he would be standing down as leader of the Conservative Party, but not before a review of the leadership rules. The formal leadership election began in October, and was ultimately won by David Cameron. On 7 May, David Trimble resigned as leader of the Ulster Unionist Party; Sir Reg Empey was elected as his successor at an Ulster Unionist Council meeting on 24 June.
End of the term
Blair's successor as Prime Minister, Gordon Brown (who came to office on 27 June 2007), visited Buckingham Palace on 6 April 2010 and asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament on 12 April. The next election was held on 6 May 2010.[20]
Further reading
- John Bartle and Anthony King, eds. Britain at the Polls 2005 (2005) excerpt and text search
- Andrew Geddes and Jonathan Tonge, eds. Britain decides: the UK general election 2005 (2005) 311 pages
- Dennis Kavanagh and David Butler, eds. The British General Election of 2005 (2006) essays by political scientists
See also
- List of MPs elected in the 2005 United Kingdom general election
- 2005 United Kingdom general election in England
- 2005 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
- 2005 United Kingdom general election in Wales
- 2005 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
- List of MPs for constituencies in England (2005–2010)
- List of MPs for constituencies in Northern Ireland (2005–2010)
- List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (2005–2010)
- List of MPs for constituencies in Wales (2005–2010)
- 2005 United Kingdom local elections
- Results of the 2005 United Kingdom general election
- Results breakdown of the 2005 United Kingdom general election
References
- ^ "2001-2005 Polls". UK Polling Report. Archived from the original on 14 November 2021. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ^ "Blair is not the only one with Iraq amnesia – the Lib Dems were NOT anti-invasion, just anti-that-kind-of-invasion". UK: Left Foot Forward. 17 June 2014. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
- ^ Cowling, David (7 May 2005). "Who deserted Labour?". BBC News. Retrieved 14 November 2021.
- ^ "The 2005 General Election: Worst Election Ever". www.electoral-reform.org.uk. Retrieved 1 April 2023.
- ^ "Blair delays election call". The Daily Telegraph. London. 3 April 2005. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
- ^ "Tory leader ousted". BBC News. 29 October 2003. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ Ha, Tu Thanh (11 September 2015). "Who is Lynton Crosby, the 'master of dark arts' now behind Harper's campaign?". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 10 November 2021.
- ^ "Tory election poster sparks complaints of racism from students and teachers". The Independent. London. 7 February 2005. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022.
- ^ "Manifesto UK 2005" (PDF). www.webcitation.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 16 June 2007.
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
- ^ "Kennedy struggles to explain flagship policy". The Guardian. 15 April 2005. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ "2005: Historic third term for Labour". BBC News. 20 September 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2022.
- ^ a b Plunkett, John (6 May 2005). "Broadcasters hail success of joint poll". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 21 July 2009.
- ^ "Labour loses safest seat in Wales". BBC News. 6 May 2005.
- ^ McSmith, Andy (4 July 2006). "The Big Question: What is the West Lothian question, and can it be resolved satisfactorily?". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008.
- ^ Carlin, Brendan; Sapsted, David (4 May 2005). "Defiant Kennedy takes 'decapitation' strategy into Tory heartland". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 11 January 2022.
- ^ "SNP secures Western Isles victory". BBC News. 6 May 2005.
- ^ Election 2005: constituencies, candidates and results Archived 9 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine. The Electoral Commission. March 2006
- ^ "2005 UK General election results, manifestos, PMs biography". UK Political Info. 13 April 2005. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
- ^ Gordon Brown calls 6 May general election – BBC News, 6 April 2010
External links
- Media related to 2005 United Kingdom general election at Wikimedia Commons
- NSD: European Election * http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/ifs_news/hi/uk_news/politics/vote_2005/default.stm Database – UK
Manifestos
- Main parties
- Are You Thinking What We're Thinking?, Conservative Party
- Britain forward, not back, Labour Party
- The REAL alternative, Liberal Democrats
- Smaller parties which won seats
- Leadership That's Working, Democratic Unionist Party
- We can build a better Wales, Plaid Cymru
- Peace Justice Equality, Respect Party
- Let's Make Scotland Matter, Scottish National Party
- 2005 Westminster Election Manifesto, Sinn Féin
- SDLP Manifesto 2005, Social Democratic and Labour Party
- Ulster Unionist Manifesto 2005, Ulster Unionist Party
- Other parties
- Alliance Works: Working for You at Westminster, Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
- Rebuilding British Democracy, British National Party
- The Real Choice For Real Change, Green Party of England and Wales
- The 2005 Manifesto, Liberal Party
- People, Planet, Peace, Scottish Green Party
- SSP Manifesto 2005, Scottish Socialist Party
- Programme For A Socialist Britain, Socialist Labour Party
- We Want Our Country Back, UK Independence Party
- Manifesto General Election 2005, Veritas