Chamber:
	House of Commons
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	1 May 1997
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for all the seats in the House of Commons on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.
Background and outcome of elections:
	On 17 March 1997, Prime Minister John Major (Conservative Party) announced that general elections would take place on 1 May. Parliament was dissolved by the Queen on 8 April. Prior to the month-long campaign, Mr. Major said that his party had overseen a "revolution in choice, opportunity, and living standards" and deserved the chance to continue in power. He moreover focused on the country's economic recovery under his administration since 1992, especially the plunging unemployment rate which had dropped to 6.5%. For its part, the main opposition Labour Party, led by Mr. Tony Blair, called for a "national renewal" marked by a new Government with different values and priorities. Since being chosen as Labour head in July 1994, Mr. Blair had realigned his party nearer to the political centre, largely ridding it of its socialist past and reducing its dependency on trade union financing. He characterised the Conservatives as "tired" after 18 years of uninterrupted (Thatcher-Major) rule. Foreign policy and defence, Europe, education, tax. health, law and order, and constitutional reform were all debated by the main opponents, which included the Liberal Democrats. Of these issues, the country's relationship with the European Union (especially on monetary union), emerged as a key one, with the Conservatives somewhat divided on the question. Over the whole spectrum of issues, the Conservative and Labour platforms differed less than in the past given the latter's shift to the mainstream. Mr. Blair, waging a careful campaign, emphasised in particular the improvement of education and public health services while his party, referred to as "New Labour", endorsed low taxes and limited Government spending, similar to conservative policies. Altogether, 3,723 candidates were in the running for the expanded House's 659 seats (up from 651). Despite the outgoing Government's positive economic record, the Conservatives' popularity had progressively declined and pre-election polls put them some 15 points behind Labour. This was borne out on election day, as the latter swept to a historic landslide victory, capturing a total of 418 Commons seats (a gain of 147) as the Conservatives lost over half their total, retaining only 165. For their part, the Liberal Democrats, led by Mr. Paddy Ashdown, strengthened their third-place standing by more than doubling their score to 46. The new House, with its most newcomers (247) in years, comprised a generally younger, more feminine, and religiously diverse membership. On 2 May, Mr. Blair became, at 43, the youngest Prime Minister since the early 19th century; formation of his new Cabinet was completed by 7 May. Mr. Major resigned as leader of the Conservatives in the wake of the polling outcome.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (1 May 1997): Elections results
Number of registered electors	43,784,559
Voters	31,349,744 (71.60 %)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	62,647
Valid votes	31,287,097

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%
Labour Party	639	13,517,132	43.2
Conservative Party	648	9,602,857	30.7
Liberal Democrats	639	5,242,894	16.8
Ulster Unionist Party	16	258,349	0.8
Scottish National Party	72	621,540	2.0
Plaid Cymru	40	161,030	0.5
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)	18	190,814	0.6
Sinn Fein	17	126,921	0.4
Democratic Unionist Party	9	107,348	0.3
United Kingdom Unionist Party	1	12,817	-
Others	1077	633,568	1.9

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total
Labour Party	418
Conservative Party	165
Liberal Democrats	46
Ulster Unionist Party	10
Scottish National Party	6
Plaid Cymru	4
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)	3
Sinn Fein	2
Democratic Unionist Party	2
United Kingdom Unionist Party	1
Others	2

Comments:
	Eight seats added since last elections

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	539
Women:	120

Distribution of seats according to age:
25-29 years	11
30-34 years	26
35-39 years	65
40-44 years	114
45-49 years	140
50-54 years	132
55-59 years	94
60-64 years	50
65-69 years	19
70-74 years	7
75-79 years	0
80-84 years	1
Distribution of seats according to profession:
Business	158
Education	123
Law	70
Political party employees	64
Journalists/publishers	51
Manual workers	39
Trade union officials	38
Civil service/local Government	16
Farmers/landowners	9
Medicine	9
Others	80
No information	2