United Kingdom by-election records

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Notes about records

Prior to 1945, electoral competition in the United Kingdom exhibited features which make meaningful comparisons with modern results difficult. Among the most significant were:-

  • Frequent interventions and withdrawals of parties in different seats.
  • Frequent Coalitions between parties, splits within parties and floor-crossing by members.
  • Uncontested elections and truces between parties, in particular during both World Wars.
  • Generally more significant competition from independent candidates and minor parties.
  • Multi-member seats.
  • Higher frequency of by-elections.
  • Generally higher turnouts, although several wartime elections exhibited the lowest recorded turnouts.
  • Generally higher variation in size of constituency electorates.

Since 1945, the evolution of a stable 3-party system has tended to negate each of the above features so that, generally speaking, elections are more comparable.

In Northern Ireland, as ever, the pattern of party competition is completely different to that on the mainland and comparisons remain problematic.

Hence, unless otherwise stated records are based on results since the 1945 General Election, and earlier exceptional results are listed separately.

Largest swings

Conservative -> Labour

29.2% at the Dudley West by-election, 1994

23.1% at the Dagenham by-election, 1994

22.1% at the South East Staffordshire by-election, 1996

22.0% at the Barking by-election, 1994

21.3% at the Mid Staffordshire by-election, 1990

Labour -> Conservative

22.6% at the Walsall North by-election, 1976

21.2% at the Dudley by-election, 1968

20.9% at the Ashfield by-election, 1977


Largest fall in percentage share of vote

Conservative

-32.2% at the Christchurch by-election, 1993

-31.7% at the Rochdale by-election, 1958

-30.2% at the Dudley West by-election, 1994

-29.5% at the Paisley by-election, 1961

-29.0% at the Newbury by-election, 1993

-28.3% at the West Lothian by-election, 1962

-27.7% at the Torrington by-election, 1958

-25.2% at the West Derbyshire by-election, 1962

-25.0% at the Stratford by-election, 1963


Labour

-37.5% at the Bermondsey by-election, 1983

-33.4% at the Birmingham Ladywood by-election, 1969

-29.7% at the Hamilton by-election, 1967

-29.6% at the Birmingham Hodge Hill by-election, 2004

-29.4% at the Brent East by-election, 2003

-28.7% at the Caerphilly by-election, 1968

-28.7% at the Hamilton South by-election, 1999

-28.1% at the Liverpool Edge Hill by-election, 1979


Liberal/Liberal Democrat

-18.3% at the Sowerby by-election, 1949

-14.4% at the Bradford South by-election, 1949

-14.2% at the Clitheroe by-election, 1979

-13.8% at the Epsom and Ewell by-election, 1978


Nationalist parties

Largest increase in percentage share of vote

Conservative

22.5% at the Bristol West by-election, 1951

20.8% at the Walthamstow East by-election, 1969

20.8% at the Ashfield by-election, 1977


Labour

28.1% at the Dudley West by-election, 1994

24.3% at the Mid Staffordshire by-election, 1990


Liberal/Liberal Democrat

50.9% at the Bermondsey by-election, 1983

41.4% at the Paisley by-election, 1961

Nationalist Parties

Largest Share of the Vote

Largest share of the vote won by any candidate, since 1918:

Lowest Share of the Vote

Major parties winning 2% or less of the vote, since 1918:


Candidates winning fewer than ten votes, since 1918:1
1 F. R. Lees, a Temperance Chartist, won no votes in the Ripon by-election, 1860, as his supporters mistakenly believed that he had withdrawn.

Smallest majorities

57 votes Berwick-upon-Tweed by-election, 1973

62 votes Walthamstow West by-election, 1967

100 votes West Derbyshire by-election, 1986

Largest majorities

Highest turnout

Highest turnout in any by-election since 1918:

Lowest turnout

Lowest turnout in any by-election since 1918:

Most candidates

Fewest candidates

Uncontested by-elections since 1945:
Most recent by-elections with two candidates:
Most recent by-election with three candidates:

1 Four of the eight straight fights were between the Unionist incumbent and a "paper candidate" named Peter Barry, the name of the then Irish Foreign Minister.

Durable by-election candidates

Tony Benn has contested no fewer than four by-elections, topping the poll on each occasion: Bristol South-East in 1950, 1961 and 1963 and Chesterfield in 1984.

Former Speaker of the House of Commons, Betty Boothroyd finally secured election at her third by-election attempt at West Bromwich in 1973. She had previously failed in the Leicester South East by-election, 1957 and the Nelson and Colne by-election, 1968 as well as the General Elections of 1959 and 1970.

Fringe candidates Bill Boakes, Screaming Lord Sutch of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party and Tom Keen of the Campaign for a More Prosperous Britain contested numerous by-elections without success.


Pre-1945

Arthur Henderson was distinguished in being successful in no fewer than five by-elections in different seats, in Barnard Castle, Widnes, Newcastle-upon-Tyne East, Burnley, and Clay Cross.

Joseph Gibbins is the only person in modern times to gain the same seat twice in two different by-elections. He triumphed for Labour in the Liverpool West Toxteth by-election, 1924 and the Liverpool West Toxteth by-election, 1935

Shortest-serving by-election victors since 1945

Notes

  • 1 died
  • 2 defeated at next general election
  • 3 disqualified (Beattie was never elected. He was awarded the seat on the disqualification of his predecessor, only to be found to be disqualified himself)
  • 4 retired at next general election (seat abolished by redistribution and failed to secure alternative seat)
  • 5 retired at next general election due to personal difficulties


Pre-1945

  • 1 died
  • 2 defeated at next general election
  • 3 retired at next general election, upon succession to a peerage
  • a returned to Parliament at a subsequent election
  • b had served previously as an MP

Babies of the House elected at by-elections

See Baby of the House of Commons

Most by-elections in one day

The largest number of by-elections held on a single day occurred on 23 January 1986 when 15 simultaneous contests were held in Northern Ireland. The elections had been engineered by the incumbent Unionist parties as a protest against the Anglo-Irish Agreement of 1985. They intended the results to be interpreted as a referendum on the treaty. The elections were boycotted by the main Nationalist parties except in four seats where they had a reasonable prospect of victory. In the event, the SDLP gained one seat, Newry and Armagh, from the Ulster Unionist party.

Apart from the above example, it is common for UK mainland parties to schedule several by-elections on the same day. Motivations include attempting to divide opponents resources and getting bad news (expected losses) out of the way. Since 1945, the largest number of simultaneous mainland by-elections has been 6, held on 16 November 1960. On four occasions, 5 by-elections have been held on the same day, most recently on 9 June 1994. Groups of two or three are very common.

The largest number of by-elections lost on a single day is 3, when the Labour party lost Acton, Dudley and Meriden on 28 March 1968.

Seats with more than one by-election in a single Parliament

Longest period without a by-election

All periods of over a year between by-elections are listed:

Notes. 1992 and 1998 are the only calendar years in history without a single by-election. Since 1992 was nonetheless a General Election year, 1998 stands as the only year in British history without any parliamentary election.

Longest period without a seat changing hands

The longest period without a seat changing hands in a by-election was the 5 years between the Conservative victories in the Glasgow Camlachie by-election, 1948 and the Sunderland South by-election, 1953.

During the short Parliaments of 1910, 1950-1 and 1974 no seats changed hands in a by-election.

Length of time between by-election gains for a party

The Liberal Party endured 29 years without a single by-election gain between the Holland and Boston by-election, 1929 and the Torrington by-election, 1958. It did not win a single by-election in the thirteen years from the Middlesbrough West by-election, 1945 until Torrington.

At the time of writing, late 2006, the Conservative Party has not gained a seat in almost 25 years, the last being the Mitcham and Morden by-election, 1982. It did not win a single by-election in the eight years between the Richmond by-election, 1989 and the Uxbridge by-election, 1997, losing a record 15 consecutive seats where it was the incumbent.

Labour's longest lean stretch was almost 18 years, between the Brecon and Radnor by-election, 1939 and the Lewisham North by-election, 1957.1

Note 1 The Labour Party acted as the official opposition throughout the Parliament elected in 1935, but after joining the Coalition Government in 1939, they did not contest any Government seats for the remainder of the Parliament, a period of six years.

Longest period without an opposition gain

Since the 1997 General Election, the principal opposition Conservative Party has failed to register a by-election gain against the incumbent Labour Government. This is the longest period of such failure since records began, and nearly twice the previous record of the 5 years it took the Labour opposition to gain the Lewisham North by-election, 1957.

Apart from the brief parliaments of 1910, 1950-1 and 1974, the parliaments of 1951-5 and 1997-2001 are the only occasions when the incumbent government did not lose a by-election.

Miscellaneous Records

Incumbents fall directly from first place to third place

Notes

1 Bruce Douglas-Mann had been re-elected as Labour MP for the seat in the 1979 General Election. In 1982, along with several other MPs, he defected to the newly-formed SDP. Against his new colleagues' advice, he honoured a pledge to face his electors under his new party colours and precipitated a by-election. He came second in the by-election which was won by the Conservatives. The new Labour candidate finished third.

By-election victors had not contested previous election

Incumbent party did not contest

Incumbent Governments gain seats

Conservative Government gains:
Labour Government gains:
1Uncontested gain from Irish Nationalist.
2Liberal MP defected to Labour and was re-elected as Labour at by-election.

Principal Opposition loses seats to third parties

Conservative

1A confused situation, where the victorious Empire Free Trade Crusade candidate was basically an extreme Conservative, who quickly took the whip and was subsequently re-elected as official Conservative candidate.

Labour

By-election holds overturned at next election

By-elections usually see the high watermark of any challenge to the incumbents. On rare occasions a party has failed to overturn an incumbent in the by-election yet has gone on to win the seat at the subsequent general election.

South Down by-election, 1986 gained by the Social Democratic and Labour Party in 1987.

Darlington by-election, 1983 gained by the Conservatives in 1983.

Dundee East by-election, 1973 gained by the Scottish National Party in 1974.

Bolton East by-election, 1960 gained by Labour in 1964.

Minor parties strong performance

Miscellaneous notable results

  • The drop in the Conservative share of the vote, 11.1%, at the Bromley and Chislehurst by-election, 2006 was their worst result in a Conservative-held seat while in opposition since at least 1918. At the same by-election, the Labour Party's fall from second to fourth place was the first time the party had suffered such a reverse in an English seat.
  • At the Blaenau Gwent by-election, 2006, held on the same day as Bromley, the Conservative Party's fifth-place ranking equalled the worst-place achieved by a major party in England or Wales, a feat the Conservatives had first achieved in the same seat in the 2005 General Election. The Blaenau by-election victor, Dai Davies was the first independent to hold a seat previously occupied by a independent since Sir C.V.F. Townshend held The Wrekin in 1920.
  • The Conservative party fell from second place to fourth place in the Bermondsey by-election, 1983, the first time they had suffered such a reverse since at least 1945.
  • At the Walsall North by-election, 1976, the Liberal Party could take only fifth place. Beaten by an independent and a minor party candidate, this was the worst placing for any major party in an English by-election since at least 1945.
  • The Conservative party fell from third place to fourth place in the Newham South by-election, 1974, at the time their worst ranking in an English by-election since at least 1945.
  • The last time time the Liberals lost a by-election they were defending was at the Carmarthen by-election, 1957, defeated by the former Liberal MP turned Labour candidate, Lady Megan Lloyd-George. The Liberal parliamentary contingent was thus reduced to 5 MPs, its lowest ever level.

See also

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