counting ballot papers at polling station during election

Reform UK – the new name of the Brexit Party – won five seats, had 609 candidates and received 14.3% of the vote in the 2024 general election.

The Green Party of England and Wales, Scottish Green Party and Green Party in Northern Ireland are separate entities. Considered together, they had 629 candidates and 6.7% of the vote share, with the Green Party of England and Wales winning four seats.

For both Reform and the Greens, this was the highest number of seats they had ever won.

What was the vote share for Reform and the Greens?

Both Reform and the Greens had a considerably larger share of votes than seats won in Parliament. Reform ranked third in vote share with half a million more votes than the Liberal Democrats, who had the third highest seat share. This is shown in the diagram below.

There are two bar charts. The first shows the vote share and the second shows the seat share. For vote share, Labour had 33.7%, Conservative 23.7%, Reform UK 14.3%, Liberal Democrats 12.2% Green Parties 6.7%, SNP 2.5%, DUP 0.6%, Plaid Cymru 0.7%, Sinn Féin 0.7% and others 4.9%. For seat share, Labour had 63.2%, Conservative 18.6%, Reform UK 0.8%, Liberal Democrats 11.1% Green Parties 0.6%, SNP 1.4%, DUP 0.8%, Plaid Cymru 0.6%, Sinn Féin 1.1% and others 1.8%.

This gap between vote share and seat share in 2024 was the most disproportionate on record. General elections in the UK use a “first past the post” voting system, with the candidate receiving the greatest number of votes in each of 650 constituencies winning that seat. This means there is no guarantee that the number of seats that a party wins will reflect the percentage share of votes cast for that party.

How does Reform and Green performance compare with previous elections?

The Reform vote share (14.3%) in 2024 is similar to the UK Independence Party (UKIP) vote share (12.6%) in the 2015 general election when it was led by Nigel Farage, when it won one seat.

In 2019, the Brexit Party won 2% of the vote share and won no seats. However, it only put forward 275 candidates as it did not stand in the 317 seats previously won by the Conservatives. The party won an average of 5.1% of the vote in seats where they stood candidates.

The Green Party won a seat for the first time at the 2010 general election with 1.0% of the national vote share. This seat (Brighton Pavilion) remained the only Green seat until 2024, which is the first time they have won more than one MP. Before 2024, the Greens’ highest vote share was 3.8% in 2015, decreasing to 1.6% in 2017, before increasing to 2.7% in 2019.

Where did Reform and the Greens win seats?

Reform won two seats in the East Midlands (Ashfield, and Boston and Skegness) and three seats in the East of England (Clacton, Great Yarmouth, and South Basildon and East Thurrock). All Reform gains were from Conservative seats. All Reform gains were from seats the Conservative would have won in 2019 on the current boundaries. Lee Anderson won Ashfield for Reform, he was elected for the Conservatives in Ashfield in 2019, but defected to Reform UK in March 2024.

The Greens held Brighton Pavilion (South East), gained Bristol Central (South West) from Labour and gained North Herefordshire (West Midlands) and Waveney Valley (East of England) from the Conservatives.

The majorities and vote shares for these seats are shown in the table below.

 
Seats won by Reform and the Greens
Party Constituency Winning candidate Vote share Majority Second place Results
Reform Ashfield Lee Anderson 42.8% 5,508 Labour Gain from Con
Boston and Skegness Richard Tice 38.4% 2,010 Conservative Gain from Con
Clacton Nigel Farage 46.2% 8,405 Conservative Gain from Con
Great Yarmouth Rupert Lowe 35.3% 1,426 Labour Gain from Con
South Basildon and East Thurrock James McMurdock 30.8% 98 Labour Gain from Con
Greens Brighton Pavilion Siân Berry 55.0% 14,290 Labour Green hold
Bristol Central Carla Denyer 56.6% 10,407 Labour Gain from Lab
North Herefordshire Ellie Chowns 43.2% 5,894 Conservative Gain from Con
Waveney Valley Adrian Ramsay 41.7% 5,594 Conservative Gain from Con

How did the Reform and Green seats vote in 2019 compared with 2024?

The charts below show the changes in vote share for seats won by Reform and the Greens in 2024. Because of constituency boundary changes, this chart uses notional 2019 results that estimate the results of the 2019 election if it had used 2024 boundaries.

For the five Reform seats, there were sharp declines in Conservative vote share (larger than at the national level) and small increases in Labour vote share.

Excluding Brighton Pavilion, the Green Party significantly increased its vote share in the seats it won in 2024, while the Conservative and Labour vote shares decreased. In North Herefordshire, the Liberal Democrat vote share also declined, and Reform won 16% of the vote share.

There are 9 line charts showing the vote share for Reform and Green seats in 2024, compared to their 2019 results. The Reform seats are: Ashfield, Boston and Skegness, Clacton, Great Yarmouth and South Basildon and East Thurrock. The Green seats are: Brighton Pavilion, Bristol Central, North Herefordshire and Waveney Valley For the five Reform seats, there were sharp declines in Conservative vote share (larger than at the national level) and small increases in Labour vote share. In Ashfield, the Ashfield Independents vote share decreased from 27% in 2019 to 16% in 2024. Excluding Brighton Pavilion, the Green Party significantly increased its vote share in the seats it won in 2024, while the Conservative and Labour vote shares decreased. In Brighton Pavilion, the Green vote share decreased slightly from 57% in 2019 to 55% in 2024. In North Herefordshire, the Liberal Democrat vote share also declined, and Reform won 16% of the vote share.
Notes: Due to constituency boundary changes, this chart uses notional 2019 results which estimate the result of the 2019 election if it had taken place on 2024 boundaries. The Brexit Party won 5% vote share in Ashfield in 2019; this is presented as Reform in the chart.

How many times were Reform and the Greens in second place?

Reform came second place in 98 constituencies. In 89 of these cases, it was second to Labour. 60 of these were in the north of England and 13 were in Wales.

In comparison, the Brexit Party came in second place in three constituencies in 2019, while UKIP came second in 120 constituencies in 2015.

The Green Parties came in second place in 40 constituencies, 18 of which were in London. In all but one of these seats it was second to Labour. The Greens came second in three seats in 2019, none in 2017 and five in 2015.

The map below shows which party came second in each constituency in the UK in 2024.

The map shows which party came second in each constituency in the UK in 2024. Reform came second place in 98 constituencies. 60 of these were in the north of England and 13 were in Wales. The Green Parties came in second place in 40 constituencies, 18 of which were in London. The Conservatives came second place in 293 seats, Labour in 105, SNP in 48 Liberal Democrats in 27, other in 18, DUP in 6, Alliance in 5, Plaid Cymru in 4, Sinn Féin in 3, Social Democratic and Labour Party in 2 and Ulster Unionist Party in 1.

Further reading

For more summaries of the 2024 general election results, see our collection of research on general election and voting in the UK.

For full sets of elections data going back to 2010, see our election results website.

About the author: Iona Stewart is a statistician at the House of Commons Library

Photo By: (© By richjem – stock.adobe.com).

Corrections and clarifications

This Insight was corrected on 19 August 2024. It previously said that UKIP won no seats in the 2015 general election, when in fact UKIP won one seat (Clacton).

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