United Kingdom general election, 1997 (Wales)

United Kingdom general election, 1997 (Wales)

1 May 1997
All 40 Welsh seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader Tony Blair Dafydd Wigley Paddy Ashdown Party Labour Plaid Cymru Liberal Democrat Leader since 21 July 1994 1991 16 July 1988 Last election 27 seats, 49.5% 4 seats, 8.9% 1 seat, 12.4% Seats before 27† 4† 1† Seats won 34 4 2 Seat change 7* 1* Popular vote 885,935 161,030 200,020 Percentage 54.7% 10.0% 12.4% Swing 5.2% 1.1% 0.1%
†Notional 1992 results if held on the 1997 boundaries *Indicates boundary change - so this is a notional figure.

These are the results of the 1997 United Kingdom general election in Wales. The election was held on 1 May 1997 and all 40 seats in Wales were contested. The Labour Party won a landslide majority of Welsh MPs, gaining seven seats for a total of 34 out of 40. The Conservatives lost all of their Welsh MPs, leaving them without representation in Wales for the first time since universal suffrage was introduced. The Liberal Democrats gained 1 seat, whilst Plaid Cymru retained their 4 MPs.

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the 1997 general election in Wales.^[1]

Party[2]		Seats					Votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	% seats	Total votes	% votes	Change
	Labour	34	7	0	7	85.0	885,935	54.7	5.2
	Conservative	0	0	8	8	—	317,127	19.6	9.0
	Liberal Democrat	2	1	0	1	5.0	200,020	12.4	0.1
	Plaid Cymru	4	0	0		10.0	161,030	10.0	1.1
	Referendum	0	0	0		—	38,245	2.4	N/A
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0		—	6,203	0.4	N/A
	Independent Labour	0	0	0		—	4,633	0.3	N/A
	Independent	0	0	0		—	2,258	0.2	N/A
	Green	0	0	0		—	1,718	0.1	0.3
	Other parties	0	0	0		—	3,087	0.2	N/A

References