1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

The European Parliament Election, 1989, was the third European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 15 June. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single Transferable Vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe.

1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

15 June 1989
81 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	36.4% (3.8%)
First party Second party   Leader Neil Kinnock Margaret Thatcher Party Labour Conservative Alliance PES EPP Leader since 2 October 1983 11 February 1975 Last election 32 seats, 34.8% 45 seats, 38.8% Seats won 45 32 Seat change 13 13 Popular vote 6,153,640 5,331,077 Percentage 38.7% 33.7% Swing 3.9% 5.1%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
Leader of Largest Party before election Margaret Thatcher Conservative Subsequent Leader of Largest Party Neil Kinnock Labour

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This election saw the best performance ever by the Green Party (UK) (formerly the Ecology Party), collecting over 2 million votes and 15% of the vote share. It had only received 70,853 as the Ecology Party in the previous election. However, because of First Past the Post system, the Green Party did not gain a single MEP, while the Scottish National Party received 1 seat with only 3% of the vote share. The Green Party's vote total of 2,299,287 remains its best performance in a national election, as does its percentage result of 14.5%.

The election also saw Labour overtake the Conservatives for the first time in any election since October 1974 and the first time ever in a European election, winning 13 more seats.