British general election 1983

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(Share of votes in%)

 %

50

40

30th

20th

10

0

42.4

28.0

25.6

1.1

0.8

2.2

Tories

Labor ^b

SDP ^c

SNP

UUP

Otherwise.

Gains and losses

compared to 1979

 % p

 12

 10

   8th

   6th

   4th

   2

   0

  -2

  -4

  -6

  -8th

-10

-1.5

-9.3

+11.5

-0.5

± 0.0

-0.5

Tories

Labor ^b

SDP ^c

SNP

UUP

Otherwise.

Remarks:

^b with SDLP

^c with Alliance

1

1

209

2

2

23

1

11

397

3

1 1 209 2 2 23 1 11 397 3 

A total of 650 seats

• SF : 1
• SDLP : 1
• Labor : 209
• Plaid : 2
• SNP : 2
• SDP : 23
• Otherwise: 1
• UUP : 11
• Tories : 397
• DUP : 3

The British general election in 1983 took place on June 9, 1983. It was the greatest electoral success of the Conservative Party under Margaret Thatcher or a party since Labor won the general election in 1945 .

The opposition parties SDP / Liberal Alliance and Labor received almost the same number of votes. This was the Labor Party's biggest electoral defeat since 1918, losing over 3 million votes compared to 1979 and giving the Conservatives a majority of 144 seats, although the latter also suffered a slight loss of votes.

The SDP-Liberal Alliance was only 675,985 votes behind Labor, but received 186 seats less due to the relative majority voting rights.

Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Party Leader and Acting Prime Minister

Results

Results by constituency. The colors correspond to the adjacent table.

Political party		be right			Mandates
		number	%	+/-	number	+/-
	Conservative party	13,012,316	42.4	−1.5	397	+58
	Labor Party	8,456,934	27.6	−9.3	209	−60
	SDP-Liberal Alliance	7,780,949	25.4	+11.6	23	+12
	Scottish National Party	331.975	1.1	−0.5	2	-
	Ulster Unionist Party	259,952	0.8	-	11	+5
	Democratic Unionist Party	152.749	0.5	+0.3	3	-
	Social Democratic and Labor Party	137.012	0.4	-	1	-
	Plaid Cymru	125,309	0.4	-	2	-
	Sinn Féin	102,701	0.3	+0.3	1	+1
	Alliance Party of Northern Ireland	61,275	0.2	−0.1	-	-
	Ecology Party	52.507	0.2	+0.1	-	-
	British National Front	27,065	0.1	−0.5	-	-
	Independent	26,031	0.1	-	-	-
	Ulster Popular Unionist Party	22,861	0.1	-	1	+1
	Independent Labor	17,151	0.1	-	-	-
	Independent Conservative	16,657	0.1	-	-	-
	Workers' Party of Ireland	14,650	0.0	−0.1	-	-
	British National Party	14,621	0.0	-	-	-
	Independent liberal	13,632	0.0	-	-	-
	Communist Party of Great Britain	11.606	0.0	−0.1	-	-
	Independent socialist	10,414	0.0	-	-	-
	Workers Revolutionary Party	3,798	0.0	−0.1	-	-
	Official Monster Raving Loony Party	3,524	0.0	-	-	-
	Wessex Regionalist Party	1,750	0.0	-	-	-
	Others	13,698	0.0	-	-	-
	total	30,671,137	100.0		650
Eligible voters		42.192.999
voter turnout		72.69%
Source:

See also

• United Kingdom Political System

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Summary results of the 1983 election United Kingdom Election Results (English)