United Kingdom general election, December 1910

United Kingdom general election, December 1910
United Kingdom
3–19 December 1910
All 670 seats in the House of Commons
336 seats needed for a majority

  First party Second party
 
Leader H. H. Asquith Arthur Balfour
Party Liberal Conservative and Liberal Unionist
Leader since 30 April 1908 11 June 1902
Leader's seat East Fife City of London
Last election 274 seats, 43.1% 272 seats, 46.7%
Seats won 272 271
Seat change Decrease2 Decrease1
Popular vote 2,293,869 2,420,169
Percentage 43.9% 46.3%
Swing Increase0.7% Decrease0.3%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader John Redmond George Nicoll Barnes
Party Irish Parliamentary Labour
Leader since 6 February 1900 14 February 1910
Leader's seat Waterford City Glasgow Blackfriars & Hutchesontown
Last election 71 seats, 1.2% 40 seats, 7.6%
Seats won 74 42
Seat change Increase3 Increase2
Popular vote 90,416 371,802
Percentage 1.7% 7.1%
Swing Increase0.7% Decrease0.6%

Colours denote the winning party.
Prime Minister before election

H. H. Asquith
Liberal

 Subsequent Prime Minister

H. H. Asquith
Liberal

The United Kingdom general election of December 1910 was held from 3 to 19 December. It was the last UK general election to be held over several days[1] and the last to be held prior to the First World War (1914–18).

The political context was the effort of the new Liberal Government to pass its budget, with higher taxes on the rich. It was blocked by the House of Lords. Government called an election to get a mandate for the Parliament Act 1911, which would prevent the House of Lords from permanently blocking legislation.[2] After the Liberals won a narrow majority, the House of Lords gave way and the budget was passed.

The Conservatives, led by Arthur Balfour with their Liberal Unionist allies, and the Liberals, led by H. H. Asquith, could not break the deadlock produced in the January general election, with the Conservatives again winning the largest number of votes. The Liberal Party under Asquith formed a government with the support of the Irish Nationalists. This was the last election in which the Liberals won the highest number of seats in the House of Commons. It was also the last United Kingdom national election in which a party other than Labour or the Conservatives won the most seats until the 2014 European Parliament elections.

Results

↓
272 74 42 11 271
Liberal IP Lab O Conservative
UK General Election December 1910
Candidates Votes
Party Leader Standing Elected Gained Unseated Net % of total % No. Net %
  Conservative and Liberal Unionist Arthur Balfour 548 271
(235 + 36)		 -1 40.6 46.6 2,270,753 -0.3
  Liberal H. H. Asquith 467 272 -2 40.6 43.2 2,157,256 +0.7
  Labour George Nicoll Barnes 56 42 5 3 + 2 6.3 6.3 309,963 -0.6
  Irish Parliamentary John Redmond 81 74 5 2 + 3 11.0 1.9 90,416 +0.7
  All-for-Ireland William O'Brien 21 8 2 2 0 1.2 0.6 30,322 +0.2
  Social Democratic Federation H. M. Hyndman 2 0 0 0 0 0.1 5,733 -0.1
  Independent Conservative N/A 4 1 1 1 0 0.1 0.1 4,647
  Independent Labour N/A 4 0 0 0 0 0.1 3,492
  Independent Liberal N/A 1 0 0 1 - 1 0.0 1,946
  Scottish Prohibition Edwin Scrymgeour 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 913
  Independent Nationalist N/A 4 2 0 1 - 1 0.3 0.0 911
  Independent N/A 2 0 0 0 0 0.0 57
Seat winners in England and Wales

Voting summary

Popular vote
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
  
 46.57%
Liberal
  
 44.23%
Labour
  
 6.36%
Irish Parliamentary
  
 1.85%
Independent
  
 0.23%
Others
  
 0.78%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Liberal
  
 40.6%
Conservative and Liberal Unionist
  
 40.45%
Labour
  
 6.27%
Irish Parliamentary
  
 11.04%
All-for-Ireland
  
 1.19%
Independent
  
 0.45%

See also

References

  1. ↑ General Election Dates 1832–2005, Parliament of the United Kingdom
  2. ↑ D.C. Somervell, The Reign of King George V, (1936) pp 17 – 28.online free

Further reading

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