The election
Number of seats (constituencies) contested: 650
Number of candidates: 4,515. Considerable higher than 3,327 in 2019.
Average number of candidates per constituency: 6.9. In Northern Ireland 7.6; Scotland 7.4; Wales, 7.3; England 6.9.
Number of constituencies with 10 or more candidates: 27.
Number of MPs standing down: 132 (75 Cons; 34 Lab; 9 SNP; 9 Ind; 3 Sinn Fein; 1 each from Greens and Plaid Cymru).
Constituencies
Number of constituencies in England: 543
Number of constituencies in Scotland: 57
Number of constituencies in Wales: 32
Number of constituencies in Northern Ireland: 18
Number of constituencies which have been subject to boundary changes since 2019: 585
Number of constituencies which have not been subject to boundary changes: 65. Although 4 of these have a new name.
Electoral quota (average number of voters) in each constituency: 73,393. Except for 5 protected island seats.
Number of constituencies with single word names: 152. Down from 206 in the previous parliament.
Number of constituencies with “and” in their title: 250. Up from 161 in the previous parliament.
The results
| Votes | Vote Share % | Seats | Net Gain | |
| Labour | 9,706,125 | 33.7 | 411 | +209 |
| Conservative | 6,827,112 | 23.7 | 121 | -244 |
| Liberal Democrat | 3,519,163 | 12.2 | 72 | +61 |
| Scottish National Party | 724,758 | 2.5 | 9 | -39 |
| Sinn Fein | 210,981 | 0.7 | 7 | 0 |
| Democratic Unionist Party | 172,058 | 0.6 | 5 | -3 |
| Reform UK | 4,106,661 | 14.3 | 5 | +5 |
| Green Party | 1,943,258 | 6.7 | 4 | +3 |
| Plaid Cymru | 194,811 | 0.7 | 4 | 0 |
| Social Democratic and Labour Party | 86,861 | 0.3 | 2 | – |
| Traditional Unionist Voice | 48,685 | 0.2 | 1 | – |
| Alliance | 117,191 | 0.4 | 1 | – |
| Ulster Unionist Party | 0.3 | 1 | ||
| Workers’ Party of Britain | 210,194 | 0.7 | 0 | -1 |
| Others/Independent | 805,112 | 2.8 | 6 | +6 |
Turnout
Turnout: 60%. Down from 67.3% in 2019. Turnout in 2024 was the second lowest this century, only slightly higher than 59.4% in 2001.
Seat with the highest turnout: Somerset North (76.3%). Where Labour’s Sadik Al-Hassan defeated Cabinet Minister, Liam Fox.
Seat with the lowest turnout: Manchester Rusholme 40%.
Number of seats with a turnout of over 70%: 32
The parties
Candidates fielded by party: Conservatives, 635; Labour, 631; Liberal Democrats, 630; Green, 629; Reform, 609; SNP, 57; Plaid Cymru, 32; Independent, 459; other parties, 518.
Number of parties with candidates standing in more than 600 seats: 5 (Lab, Cons, LD, Green Party, Reform).
Number of parties winning seats: 13. Three more than in 2019, but the same number as immediately prior to the dissolution.
Number of seats Labour won from the Conservatives: 182
Number of seats the Conservatives won from Labour: 1, Leicester East.
Number of seats the Green Party wone from Labour: 1, Bristol Central.
Number of seats Reform UK won from the Conservatives: 5.
Number of seats Labour won from the Scottish National Party: 36
Number of seats the Liberal Democrats won from the Scottish National Party: 3
Third largest party in terms of votes: Reform UK, 4,106,661 votes.
Third largest party in terms of seats: Liberal Democrats, 72 seats.
Number of parties representing constituencies in Scotland: 4 (Labour, 37; SNP, 9; Liberal Democrat, 6; Conservative, 5).
Number of parties representing constituencies in Wales: 3 (Labour, 27; Plaid Cymru, 4; Liberal Democrat 1).
Number of parties representing constituencies in Northern Ireland: 6. Up from 4 in 2019.
Number of seats lost by the Conservatives in Wales: 12
Number of independent candidates winning seats: 6. Up from 0 in 2019 but down from 17 prior to the dissolution of Parliament.
Seat share and vote share
Lowest number of seats ever won by the Conservatives: 121 in 2024. Previous lowest 157 in 1906, and 165 in 1997.
Largest number of seats won by Labour: 419 in 1997, followed by 412 in 2001 and 411 in 2024.
Number of times a party has won more than 400 seats: 6 (1832, 1895, 1900, 1924, 1931, 1997, 2001, 2024)
Share of the vote for parties other than Labour: 66.3%
Share of seats by parties other than Labour: 36.8% (239 seats).
Share of the vote for parties other than Labour and the Conservatives: 42.6%
Share of seats won by parties other than Labour and Conservatives: 18.2% (118 seats)
Number of votes per seat won by Labour: 23,616
Number of votes per seat won by the Conservatives: 56,422
Number of votes per seat won by the Liberal Democrats: 48,877
Number of votes per seat won for Reform UK: 821,332
Largest party share of the vote which did not win any seats: 0.7% (210,194 votes) for the Workers’ Party of Britain.
Majorities, marginals and safe seats
Labour majority: 172. Labour’s second largest majority after 179 in 1997. Largest ever majority was 209 for the Conservatives in 1924.
Seats won by fewer than 100 votes: 7
Smallest majority: 15, Hendon, Labour, David Pinto-Duschinsky.
Largest majority: 21,983, Bootle, Labour, Peter Dowd.
Seats won with more than 50% of the vote: 96
Largest winning share of the vote: 74.3%, Chorley, the seat of The Speaker. Among contested seats 70.6%, Liverpool Walton, Dan Carden, Labour.
Smallest winning share of the vote: 26.7%, Norfolk South West, Labour’s Terry Jermy’s victory over Liz Truss who won 25.3% of the vote.
Members
Number of MPs re-elected: 300
Number of MPs elected for the first time: 335
Number of retreads, MPs returning to Parliament after a gap in service: 15 (including Douglas Alexander, Heidi Alexander, Nick Dakin, Melanie Onn).
Age of oldest MP elected: 80, Sir Roger Gale, Con, Herne Bay and Sandwich.
Age of youngest MP elected: 22, Sam Carling, Lab, North West Cambridgeshire.
Number of women MPs elected: 263, 40% of the House of Commons. Up from 220 (34%) in 2019.
Number of women MPs by Party: Labour 190; Conservatives, 29; Liberal Democrats, 22.
Proportion of candidates who were women: 31%
Number of MPs from an ethnic minority: 90, 14% of the House of Commons. Up from 66 (10%) in 2019.
Proportion of MPs who were privately educated: 23% compared to 7% of the UK population.
Proportion of MPs who never attended university: 10%
Proportion of MPs who attended Oxford or Cambridge Universities: 20%
Number of University of Lincoln graduates elected: 2. Leigh Ingham (Politics, 2007), Lab, Stafford; Martin Vickers (Politics 2004), Con, Brigg and Immingham.
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This post draws on a number of sources, most notably the BBC general election results, the House of Commons library on boundary changes, candidates, results, the Electoral Reform Society, the Institute for Government on MPs standing down, and Philip Cowley and Matthew Bailey on constituency names.
Any mistakes are mine and happy to correct.