The UK general election of February 1974 was held on February 28, 1974. It was the first of two United Kingdom general elections held that year, and the only election since the Second World War not to produce an overall majority in the House of Commons for the winning party, instead producing a hung parliament. The incumbent Conservative government of Edward Heath polled the most votes by a tiny margin, but the Tories were overtaken in terms of Commons seats by Harold Wilson's Labour Party due to the decision by Ulster Unionist MPs not to take the Conservative whip. After failed negotiations between Heath and Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe, Heath resigned and Wilson returned for his second spell as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He would call another election in October of the same year. The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on June 18, 1970, and resulted in a surprise loss of power for Labour under Harold Wilson, who was replaced as Prime Minister by the Conservative leader, Edward Heath. ... The UK general election of October 1974 took place on October 10, 1974. ... February 28 is the 59th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1974 is a common year starting on Tuesday (click on link for calendar). ... General elections of the United Kingdom are the elections held when the Members of Parliament (MPs) forming the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom are elected. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... The House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the House of Lords. ... In Parliamentary systems, a hung parliament is one in which no one political party has an outright majority. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the centre-right in the United Kingdom. ... The Right Honourable Sir Edward Richard George Stilton Heath, KG, MBE (born July 9, 1916) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. ... James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, KG, OBE, PC (March 11, 1916 – May 24, 1995) was one of the more successful Labour Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom and a 1960s icon. ... The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in Britain (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ... The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP) is a political party in Northern Ireland representing the unionist community, and was the party of government in Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. ... In politics, a whip is a member of a political party in a legislature whose task is to ensure that members of the party attend and vote as the party leadership desires. ... The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become known as... The Right Honourable John Jeremy Thorpe (born April 29, 1929) is a British politician, former leader of the Liberal Party. ... In the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister is the head of government, exercising many of the executive functions nominally vested in the Sovereign, who is head of state. ... The UK general election of October 1974 took place on October 10, 1974. ...

This election saw Northern Ireland diverging heavily from the rest of the UK, with all twelve MPs elected being from local parties, following the decision of the Ulster Unionists to withdraw support from the Conservative Party in protest over the Sunningdale Agreement. Northern Ireland is an administrative region and one of four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ... The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP) is a political party in Northern Ireland representing the unionist community, and was the party of government in Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the centre-right in the United Kingdom. ... The Sunningdale Agreement on December 9, 1973, was an attempt to solve the Northern Ireland troubles by sharing power between unionists and nationalists. ...

Total votes: 31,321,982. All parties with more than 1,500 votes shown. The seats won by the Ulster Unionists are compared with those won by Unionist MPs in the 1970 election, and the seat won by the Democratic Unionist candidate is compared with the result of the Protestant Unionist in 1970. The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the centre-right in the United Kingdom. ... The Labour Party is a centre-left or social democratic political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics), and one of the United Kingdoms three main political parties. ... The Liberal Party was one of the two major British political parties from the early 19th century until the 1920s, and a third party of varying strength and importance up to 1988, when it merged with the Social Democratic Party to form a new party which would become known as... In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is a centre-left political party which favours Scottish independence. ... The Ulster Unionist Party (UUP, sometimes referred to as the Official Unionist Party or OUP) is a political party in Northern Ireland representing the unionist community, and was the party of government in Northern Ireland between 1921 and 1972. ... Plaid Cymru (literally meaning, Party of Wales) is a left-of-centre (describing itself as socialist and proud of it) Welsh nationalist party. ... The Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP — Irish: Páirtí Sóisialta Daonlathach an Lucht Oibre) is the smaller of the two major nationalist parties in Northern Ireland. ... In the United Kingdom, the British National Front (most commonly called the National Front or NF) is a far right-wing political party that had its heyday during the 1970s and 80s. ... The Vanguard Progressive Unionist Party, also known as the Vanguard Ulster Progressive Party (and several variations of word order), was a unionist political party which existed in Northern Ireland between 1973 and 1978. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was a political party in the United Kingdom, which existed from 1920 to 1991. ... The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, or APNI, is a political party operating in Northern Ireland. ... The Northern Ireland Labour Party was a political party which operated from 1924 until the 1980s. ... ... Democratic Labour was a minor political party operating in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. ... The Workers Revolutionary Party was a Trotskyist political party in the United Kingdom. ... The Campaign for Social Democracy was a minor political party operating in the United Kingdom in the 1970s. ...

See also MPs elected in the UK general election, 1974 (February). This is a list of members of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in February 1974, for the 46th Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...