The 1970 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 18 June 1970. It resulted in a surprise victory for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

under leader Edward Heath, which defeated the governing Labour Party under

Harold Wilson James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...

. The Liberal Party, under its new leader Jeremy Thorpe, lost half its seats. The Conservatives, including the

Ulster Unionist Party The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) is a unionist political party in Northern Ireland. The party was founded in 1905, emerging from the Irish Unionist Alliance in Ulster. Under Edward Carson, it led unionist opposition to the Irish Home Rule m ...

(UUP), secured a majority of 30 seats. This general election was the first in which people could vote from the age of 18, after passage of the

Representation of the People Act Representation of the People Act is a stock short title used in Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Ghana, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Mauritius, Pakistan, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and To ...

the previous year, and the first UK election where party, and not just candidate names were allowed to be put on the ballots. Most opinion polls prior to the election indicated a comfortable Labour victory, and put Labour up to 12.4% ahead of the Conservatives. On election day, however, a late swing gave the Conservatives a 3.4% lead and ended almost six years of Labour government, although Wilson remained leader of the Labour Party in opposition. Writing in the aftermath of the election, the political scientist

Richard Rose Richard Rose may refer to: * Richard Rose (mystic) (1917–2005), American mystic, esoteric philosopher, author, poet, and investigator of paranormal phenomena *Richard Rose (political scientist) (born 1933), American political scientist and profess ...

described the Conservative victory as "surprising" and noted a significant shift in votes between the two main parties. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ( ...

'' journalist George Clark wrote that the election would be "remembered as the occasion when the people of the United Kingdom hurled the findings of the opinion polls back into the faces of the pollsters". The result would provide the mandate for Heath as Prime Minister to begin formal negotiations for the United Kingdom to become a member state of the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

(EC)—or the "Common Market" as it was more widely known at the time, before it later became the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are located primarily in Europe, Europe. The union has a total area of ...

; the UK officially joined the EC on 1 January 1973, along with the Republic of Ireland and Denmark. Frontbench Labour politicians George Brown and Jennie Lee were voted out at this election. This marked the end of a series of elections where both main parties won over 40% of the vote. This would not occur again for the Conservatives for nine years; Labour would wait 27. This was also the most recent election at which a House of Commons majority for one party immediately before election day was replaced by a Commons majority for a different party on election day. The result was cast as a two-party politics outcome, with no third party reaching 10% of the (total) vote. Such an outcome would not happen again until the 2017 election. The election was the last in which a nationwide UK party gained seats in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

. The UUP sat with the Conservative Party at

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

, traditionally taking the Conservative parliamentary whip. To all intents and purposes the UUP functioned as the Northern Ireland branch of the Conservative Party. However, hardline unionist

Ian Paisley Ian Richard Kyle Paisley, Baron Bannside, (6 April 1926 – 12 September 2014) was a Northern Irish loyalist politician and Protestant religious leader who served as leader of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) from 1971 to 2008 and First ...

unseated the UUP incumbent in North Antrim, a clear sign that the UUP's complete dominance over unionist politics in Northern Ireland was already starting to weaken. In 1972, in protest over the permanent prorogation of the Parliament of Northern Ireland, Westminster UUP MPs withdrew from the alliance.

Election date

The date of 18 June was supposedly chosen because

wanted as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is ...

to go to the polls before the introduction of decimal coinage in early 1971, for which his government had been responsible and which he thought was hugely unpopular, and because Wilson sought to gain some momentum by surprising the Conservatives, who were expecting an October election.

Overview

Commentators believed that an unexpectedly bad set of balance of payments figures (a £31-million trade deficit) published three days before the election and a loss of national prestige after the England football team's defeat by West Germany on 14 June in the World Cup contributed to the Labour defeat. Iain Macleod

Other factors that were cited as reasons for the Conservative victory included union indiscipline, rising prices, the risk of devaluation, the imposition of Selective Employment Tax (SET), and a set of jobless figures released on final week of the campaign showing unemployment at its highest level since 1940. Interviewed by Robin Day, the outgoing Prime Minister

highlighted the possibility that "complacency engendered by the opinion polls" may have resulted in a poor turnout of Labour supporters. As defending world champions, England's venture in the World Cup attracted a much keener public interest than the general election did. However an analysis by pollster Matt Singh for the 50th anniversary of the election concluded that the late swing had been caused by the weak economic data and that there was "no evidence" that the World Cup had influenced the outcome. American pollster Douglas Schoen and

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

academic

R. W. Johnson R. W. Johnson (born 1943; Richard William, "Bill" ) is a British journalist, political scientist, and historian who lives in South Africa. Born in England, he was educated at Natal University and Oxford University, as a Rhodes Scholar. He was a ...

asserted that Enoch Powell had attracted 2.5 million votes to the Conservatives, although the Conservative vote only increased by 1.7 million. Johnson later stated "It became clear that Powell had won the 1970 election for the Tories ... of all those who had switched their vote from one party to another, 50 per cent were working class Powellites". The Professor of Political Science Randall Hansen assessed a range of studies, including some which contended that Powell had made little or no difference to the result, but concluded that "At the very least, Powell's effect was likely to have fired up the Conservative vote in constituencies which would have voted Tory in any event". Election night commentators Michael Barratt and Jeffrey Preece dismissed any special "Powell factor", as did Conservative MPs Reginald Maudling, Timothy Raison and Hugh Dykes. The 1970–74 Parliament has to date been the only time since the 1924–29 Parliament in which the Conservative Party were only in government for one term before returning to opposition. The most notable casualty of the election was George Brown, deputy leader of the Labour Party, who lost to the Conservative candidate in the

Belper Belper is a town and civil parish in the local government district of Amber Valley in Derbyshire, England, located about north of Derby on the River Derwent. As well as Belper itself, the parish also includes the village of Milford and the ...

constituency. Brown had held the seat since 1945. Labour Minister for the Arts, Jennie Lee lost her

Cannock Cannock () is a town in the Cannock Chase district in the county of Staffordshire, England. It had a population of 29,018. Cannock is not far from the nearby towns of Walsall, Burntwood, Stafford and Telford. The cities of Lichfield and Wolverh ...

seat, held by Labour since

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

on a swing of 10.7% to the Conservatives in what

called "the biggest upset" of the election. Unusually for the Liberal Party, the by-elections between 1966 and 1970 had proved almost fruitless, with many Liberal candidates losing deposits. The one exception was its by-election gain of Birmingham Ladywood in June 1969; this was promptly lost in the 1970 general election. The party found itself struggling to introduce its new leader Jeremy Thorpe to the public, owing to the extensive coverage and attention paid to Enoch Powell. The election result was poor for the Liberals, with Thorpe only narrowly winning his own seat in

North Devon North Devon is a local government district in Devon, England. North Devon Council is based in Barnstaple. Other towns and villages in the North Devon District include Braunton, Fremington, Ilfracombe, Instow, South Molton, Lynton and Lyn ...

. Indeed, of the six MPs returned, three (Thorpe, David Steel and

John Pardoe John Wentworth Pardoe (born 27 July 1934) is a retired British businessman and Liberal Party politician. He was Chairman of Sight and Sound Education Ltd from 1979 to 1989. Early life and education Pardoe was the son of Cuthbert B. Pardoe and ...

) were elected by a majority of less than 1,000 votes. The BBC's election coverage was led by

Cliff Michelmore Arthur Clifford Michelmore (11 December 1919 – 16 March 2016) was an English television presenter and producer. He is best known for the BBC television programme ''Tonight'', which he presented from 1957 to 1965. He also hosted the BBC's tel ...

, along with Robin Day, David Butler and Robert McKenzie. There were periodic cutaways to the BBC regions. This coverage has been rerun on

BBC Parliament BBC Parliament is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel from the BBC that broadcasts live and recorded coverage of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Select Committees of the British Parliament, the Scottish Parliam ...

on several occasions, including on 18 July 2005 as a tribute to Edward Heath after his death the previous day. Its most recent screening was on the 20th of June 2020, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of its first transmission. The BBC coverage was parodied by ''

Monty Python's Flying Circus ''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became ...

'' in its famous " Election Night Special" sketch. Both BBC and ITN carried their 1970 election night broadcasts in colour, although segments broadcast from some remote locations and some BBC and ITN regional bureaus were transmitted in black-and-white. Some ITV regions were not yet broadcasting in colour at the time of the 1970 elections.

Timeline

The Prime Minister,

, visited

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

on 18 May and asked the Queen to dissolve Parliament on 29 May, announcing that the election would be held on 18 June. The key dates were as follows:

Opinion poll summary

Summary of the final polling results before the general election.

Results

This was the first general election where 18-year-olds had the right to vote. Therefore, despite 1.1 million more people voting in 1970 compared to 1966, turnout actually fell by 3%. This 72% turnout was the lowest since the 1935 general election and compared with a post-War high of 84% in 1950. Professor Richard Rose described the low turnout, which he noted was "one of the lowest since the introduction of the democratic franchise", as surprising to politician and pollsters. Changes to electoral law as part of the

Representation of the People Act 1969 The Representation of the People Act 1969 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. This statute is sometimes known as the Sixth Reform Act. The Act lowered the voting age to 18. The United Kingdom was the first major democratic country ...

had made postal voting easier and polling stations were open an hour later than in past elections, and this would have been expected to improve turnout. On top of this it was reported by Rose that an estimated 25% of 18- to 21-year-olds who were now eligible to vote had not put their names on the electoral register, meaning the turnout was even lower than the percentage figure suggested. Rose also argued that the turnout figures in Britain were "now among the lowest in the Western world." Because the previous election had been in 1966, some people had not had their chance to vote in a general election until the age of 25. Labour's number of votes, 12.2 million, was ironically the same amount they had needed to win in 1964. The Conservative vote surge cost Labour in many marginal seats. Rose suggested the absolute fall in the number of Labour votes suggested that many of the party's supporters had decided to abstain. He also noted that the Labour Party's local organisation was poorer than that of the Conservatives, but did not feel this was a significant factor in Labour supporters failing to come out to vote for the Party given that this organisational difference had been the case in past elections without having this effect. For the Liberals, a small 1% drop in their vote share saw them lose 6 seats, 3 of which were held by the narrowest of margins. In the end the Conservatives achieved a swing of 4.7%, enough to give them a comfortable working majority. As for the smaller parties, they increased their number in the Commons from 2 to 6 seats. The

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; sco, Scots National Pairty, gd, Pàrtaidh Nàiseanta na h-Alba ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic political party in Scotland. The SNP supports and campaigns for Scottish independence from th ...

won its first-ever seat at a general election (they had won several by-elections previously, going back as far as 1945). 1970 UK parliament

, - , + style="caption-side: bottom; font-weight:normal" , All parties shown.

Votes summary

Seats summary

Televised declarations

These declarations were covered live by the BBC where the returning officer was heard to say "duly elected".

Incumbents defeated

Labour

* Donald Dewar ( Aberdeen South) * Edwin Brooks (

Bebington Bebington () is a town and unparished area within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England. Historically part of Cheshire, it lies south of Liverpool, close to the River Mersey on the eastern side of the Wirral Peninsul ...

) *

Brian Parkyn Brian Stewart Parkyn (28 April 1923 – 22 March 2006) was a British Labour Party politician. Early years Parkyn was educated at King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford, and at technical colleges. Like his father, Leslie Parkyn, in the Fir ...

(

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst t ...

) * Gwilym Roberts ( South Bedfordshire) * George Brown (

), Deputy Leader of the Labour Party * Eric Moonman ( Billericay) * Christopher Price (

Birmingham Perry Barr Birmingham Perry Barr is a constituency in the West Midlands, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2001 by Khalid Mahmood of the Labour Party. Constituency profile UK Polling Report stated in 2015: "Perry Barr and p ...

) *

Ioan Evans Ioan Evans may refer to: * Ioan Evans (politician) * Ioan Evans (footballer) * Ioan Evans (rugby union) See also * Ian Evans (disambiguation) {{hndis, Evans, Ioan ...

( Birmingham Yardley),

Comptroller of the Household The Comptroller of the Household is an ancient position in the British royal household, nominally the second-ranking member of the Lord Steward's department after the Treasurer of the Household. The Comptroller was an ''ex officio'' member of ...

* Robert Howarth ( Bolton East) *

Gordon Oakes Gordon James Oakes (22 June 1931 – 15 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician. Early life Oakes was born in Widnes, Cheshire, and was educated at Wade Deacon Grammar School, in Widnes and at Liverpool University. A solicitor by p ...

( Bolton West) * Woodrow Wyatt ( Bosworth) * Norman Haseldine (

Bradford West Bradford West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Naz Shah of the Labour Party. Constituency profile Bradford West covers the city centre, Manningham, Allerton and Clayton. It has a sig ...

) * Colin Jackson (

Brighouse and Spenborough Brighouse and Spenborough was a parliamentary constituency in the West Riding of Yorkshire, comprising the two municipal boroughs of Brighouse and Spenborough and neighbouring areas. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Com ...

) *

Dennis Hobden Dennis Harry Hobden (21 January 1920 – 20 April 1995) was a British Labour Party politician. Hobden was a postal and telegraph worker who became an officer in the Union of Post Office Workers. Before being selected to contest the Brighton Kem ...

(

Brighton Kemptown Brighton Kemptown, often referred to as Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven by local political parties, is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, a Labour Co-op MP. The consti ...

) * Raymond Dobson ( Bristol North East), Assistant Whip * John Ellis ( Bristol North West) *

Robert Maxwell Ian Robert Maxwell (born Ján Ludvík Hyman Binyamin Hoch; 10 June 1923 – 5 November 1991) was a Czechoslovak-born British media proprietor, Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of parliament (MP), suspected spy, and fraudster. Early i ...

( Buckingham) * Jennie Lee (

), Minister for the Arts *

Ted Rowlands Edward Rowlands, Baron Rowlands (born 23 January 1940) is a Welsh politician, who served as a Labour Party Member of Parliament for over thirty years, including a period as a junior minister in the 1960s and 1970s. Education He attended Rhon ...

( Cardiff North) * Alistair Macdonald (

Chislehurst Chislehurst () is a suburban district of south-east London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies east of Bromley, south-west of Sidcup and north-west of Orpington, south-east of Charing Cross. Before the creation of Greater L ...

) *

Ednyfed Hudson Davies Gwilym Ednyfed Hudson-Davies (4 December 1929 – 11 January 2018), known as Ednyfed Hudson Davies, was a Welsh politician and Member of Parliament (MP). He was born in Llanelli, the son of Ebenezer Curig Davies and his wife Enid (née Hughes). T ...

( Conway) * David Winnick ( Croydon South) *

Sydney Irving Sydney Irving, Baron Irving of Dartford PC (1 July 1918 – 18 December 1989) was a British Labour Co-operative politician. Irving was educated at Pendower School, Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the London School of Economics. He was a school teache ...

(

Dartford Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock in ...

), Chairman of Ways and Means * David Ennals (

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maids ...

), Minister of State for Social Services *

Stan Newens Arthur Stanley Newens (4 February 1930 – 2 March 2021) was a British Labour Co-operative politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1964 to 1970 and 1974 to 1983, and a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from 1984 to 1999. Bor ...

( Epping) * Gwyneth Dunwoody (

Exeter Exeter () is a city in Devon, South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter was established as the base of Legio II Augusta under the personal comm ...

), Parliamentary Secretary at the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

John Dunwoody John Elliot Orr Dunwoody CBE (3 June 1929 – 26 January 2006) was a British Labour politician. Dunwoody was educated at St Paul's School, then trained as a doctor at King's College London, and Westminster Hospital Medical School. A surgeon, ...

( Falmouth and Camborne) * Terence Boston (

Faversham Faversham is a market town in Kent, England, from London and from Canterbury, next to the Swale, a strip of sea separating mainland Kent from the Isle of Sheppey in the Thames Estuary. It is close to the A2, which follows an ancient Briti ...

) * John Diamond (

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east o ...

Chief Secretary to the Treasury The chief secretary to the Treasury is a ministerial office in the government of the United Kingdom. The office is the second most senior in the Treasury, after the chancellor of the Exchequer. The office was created in 1961, to share the burde ...

* Albert Murray (

Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the south bank of the River Thames and opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Rochester, it is ...

), Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport * Benjamin Whitaker (

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough o ...

), Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Overseas Development *

Roy Roebuck Roy Delville Roebuck (born 25 September 1929) is a British Labour Party politician and journalist. He was the Member of Parliament for Harrow East from 1966 to 1970. Early life Roebuck was born in Manchester in September 1929. He served in ...

( Harrow East) *

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

( High Peak) *

Alan Lee Williams Alan Lee Williams OBE (born 29 November 1930) is a former president of the Atlantic Treaty Association, a British Labour Party politician, writer and visiting professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. Early life Williams was ...

( Hornchurch) * Arnold Shaw (

Ilford South Ilford South is a constituency created in 1945 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Sam Tarry of the Labour Party. Constituency profile The seat covers Ilford town centre and the surrounding suburbs, and the ...

) * Sir Dingle Foot (

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...

), Solicitor General for England and Wales * John Binns (

Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west o ...

) * John Page (

Kings Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, nor ...

) * Stanley Henig ( Lancaster) * Harold Davies (

Leek The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of '' Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus '' Al ...

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the ...

to the Prime Minister *

James Dickens James McCulloch York Dickens (4 April 1931 – 5 April 2013) was a British Labour politician. Dickens was born in a Glasgow tenement. He attended Shawlands Academy and left aged 14, completing his education later at Newbattle Abbey Colleg ...

( Lewisham West) * William Howie (

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

Jeremy Bray Jeremy William Bray (29 June 193031 May 2002) was a British Labour politician and a Member of Parliament for 31 years. Early life and education Bray was born in British Hong Kong, the son of Reverend Arthur Bray, a Methodist missionary. He ...

( Middlesbrough West) * Dennis Coe ( Middleton and Prestwich) * Donald Anderson, Baron Anderson of Swansea (

Monmouth Monmouth ( , ; cy, Trefynwy meaning "town on the Monnow") is a town and community in Wales. It is situated where the River Monnow joins the River Wye, from the Wales–England border. Monmouth is northeast of Cardiff, and west of London. ...

) * Bert Hazell ( Norfolk North) * George Perry ( Nottingham South) * John Horner ( Oldbury and Halesowen) *

Evan Luard David Evan Trant Luard (31 October 1926 – 8 February 1991), most commonly known as Evan Luard, was a British Labour Party and Social Democratic Party (SDP) politician, and a renowned international relations scholar. Education and early care ...

(

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

) * Ronald Atkins ( Preston North) * Peter Mahon ( Preston South) * John Lee (

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

) * Anne Kerr ( Rochester and Chatham) *

Antony Gardner Antony (Tony) John Gardner (27 December 192716 October 2011) was a British Labour Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1966 to 1970. A son of a gardener who worked in Dorset, Gardner was educated at an elementary school and ...

( Rushcliffe) *

Frank Hooley Frank Oswald Hooley (30 November 1923 – 21 January 2015) was an English Labour Party politician. Political career Hooley contested Skipton at the 1959 General Election, finishing second. He first stood for the Sheffield Heeley seat in 1964, ...

( Sheffield Heeley) * Bob Mitchell ( Southampton Test) * Arnold Gregory ( Stockport North) * Ernest Davies (

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manchester city centre, south of Salford and north-east of Altrincham. S ...

) * Gerald Fowler ( The Wrekin) * John Ryan (

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxb ...

) * Malcolm Macmillan ( Western Isles) * Hugh Gray ( Yarmouth)

Conservative

* Kenneth Baker ( Acton), by-election win * Donald Williams ( Dudley), by-election win * Esmond Wright ( Glasgow Pollok), by-election win *

Bruce Campbell Bruce Lorne Campbell (born June 22, 1958) is an American actor and director. He is known for portraying Ash Williams in Sam Raimi's ''Evil Dead'' franchise, beginning with the 1978 short film ''Within the Woods''. He has starred in many low-b ...

( Oldham West), by-election win * Christopher Ward (

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon unitary authority area had a population ...

), by-election win *

Fred Silvester Frederick John Silvester (born 20 September 1933) is a retired British Conservative Party politician. Silvester contested the Walthamstow West parliamentary constituency in 1966; he was elected a Member of Parliament (MP) at the Walthamsto ...

( Walthamstow West), by-election win

Liberal

* Wallace Lawler ( Birmingham Ladywood), by-election win *

Michael Winstanley Michael Platt Winstanley, Baron Winstanley (27 August 1918 – 18 July 1993) was the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Cheadle from 1966 to 1970 and, after boundary changes, for Hazel Grove, a newly created seat comprising half his former s ...

( Cheadle) * Richard Wainwright (

Colne Valley The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward towards Huddersfield. ...

) *

Eric Lubbock Eric Reginald Lubbock, 4th Baron Avebury (29 September 1928 – 14 February 2016), was an English politician and human rights campaigner. He served as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Orpington from 1962 to 1970. He then served in the House ...

(

Orpington Orpington is a town and area in south east London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is 13.4 miles (21.6 km) south east of Charing Cross. On the south-eastern edge of the Greater London Built-up Area, it is south of St ...

), Liberal Chief Whip *

Alasdair Mackenzie Alasdair Roderick Mackenzie (3 August 1903 – 8 November 1970) was a Scottish farmer and politician who became a Liberal Party Member of Parliament. A Gaelic speaker, he went to Broadford Junior Secondary School on the Isle of Skye. He became ...

(

Ross and Cromarty Ross and Cromarty ( gd, Ros agus Cromba), sometimes referred to as Ross-shire and Cromartyshire, is a variously defined area in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. There is a registration county and a lieutenancy area in current use, the lat ...

)

Ulster Unionist Party

* Henry Clark ( Antrim North) * James Hamilton, Marquess of Hamilton ( Fermanagh and South Tyrone)

Scottish National Party

Winnie Ewing Winifred Margaret Ewing (' Woodburn; born 10 July 1929) is a Scottish politician, lawyer and figure within the independence movement who served as President of the Scottish National Party from 1987 to 2005. Ewing was a Member of the Scottish ...

(

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: People * Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname ** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland ** Lord Hamilto ...

), by-election win

Plaid Cymru

Gwynfor Evans Gwynfor Richard Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first Member of Parliament to represent it at Westm ...

( Carmarthen), by-election win

Democratic Party

* Desmond Donnelly (

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a county in the south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The county is home to Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. The Park oc ...

), former Labour MP

Notes

References

External links

United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979

Manifestos

''A Better Tomorrow''
1970 Conservative Party manifesto

1970 Labour Party manifesto

1970 Liberal Party manifesto {{Edward Heath 1970

General election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

Harold Wilson Edward Heath