General Election 2015: full results and analysis

This briefing paper analyses the results of the 2015 General Election. It includes the election results by country, region and party, as well as the full result and turnout for every UK constituency.

This is the second edition of the briefing paper, which provides additional analysis and statistics. New chapters in this edition cover seats changing hands, the characteristics of voters for each party, the characteristics of candidates and MPs, the electorate and turnout, safe and marginal seats, by-elections during the last Parliament, polling day, and the marginality of constituencies.

The full results are available for download in two data files.  The election results shown in this Briefing Paper were provided by Returning Officers following the 2015 General Election.

Summary of results

The Conservatives won an overall majority of 11 seats in the House of Commons, not including the Speaker.

The Conservatives won 330 seats, Labour won 232, and the SNP won 56.

The Conservatives polled 11.3 million votes, 36.8% of the vote. This compares with 36.1% in the 2010 General Election.

Labour polled 9.3 million votes, 30.4% of the vote. This compares with 29.0% in the 2010 General Election.

Compared with the results of the 2010 election:

• The Conservatives gained 35 seats and lost 11 (a net change of +24).
• Labour gained 22 seats and lost 48 (a net change of -26).
• The Liberal Democrats lost 49 seats.
• The Scottish National Party gained 50 seats.

The SNP won 56 of Scotland’s 59 seats and 50.0% of the vote in Scotland, the Party’s highest ever share of Scottish seats and votes at a General Election.

24.9% of the vote went to parties other than the Conservatives, Labour or Liberal Democrats – a record high.

UKIP won 12.4% of the vote, compared to 3.1% in 2010. Douglas Carswell (Clacton) became the Party’s first MP to be elected at a general election. The Green Party won 3.8% of the UK vote, compared to 1.0% in 2010.

Plaid Cymru won 12.1% of the vote across Wales compared to 11.3% in 2010 and retained three MPs.

In Northern Ireland, the DUP have eight MPs, Sinn Féin four, the SDLP three and the UUP two. The independent MP Sylvia Hermon retained her seat.

Following the May 2015 General Election 29% of MPs are women, compared to 23% in 2010 191 women, the highest ever number, were elected.

Turnout across the UK was 66.2%, a slight rise compared to 65.1% in 2010.

Updates

This page was updated in December 2023 to add revised data files with a consistent structure to those found in our 2017 and 2019 General Election analysis.