February 1974 United Kingdom general election
general election held in the United Kingdom / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A general election was held on 28 February 1974 to elect all 635 members of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. The election ended in a hung parliament as no party had a majority. Nobody agreed to start a coalition, so Labour had to start a minority government (as they had won the most seats), and Harold Wilson became Prime Minister.
Quick Facts All 635 seats in the House of Commons 318 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...
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← List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1970 List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, February 1974 → | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 635 seats in the House of Commons 318 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Turnout | 78.8%, 6.8% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Colours show the winning party—as shown in § Results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Composition of the House of Commons after the election | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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It is very hard to run a government if the party has no majority, and so the House of Commons agreed to hold another general election in October. This was done so that a party could win a majority.