The United Kingdom general election of 2005 was held on Thursday, 5 May 2005, just over three weeks after the dissolution of Parliament on 11 April by Queen Elizabeth II, at the request of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair. Union Flag / Union Jack: Flag of the United Kingdom For more information, see Court of the Lord Lyon, Flags. ... The Politics of the United Kingdom are based upon a unitary state and a democratic constitutional monarchy. ... The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ... The British monarch or Sovereign is the monarch and head of state of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories, and is the source of all executive, judicial and (as the Queen-in-Parliament) legislative power. ... This article is about the British House of Lords. ... The Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, or Lord Chancellor and in former times Chancellor of England, is one of the most senior and important functionaries in the government of the United Kingdom. ... 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 the British House of Commons the Speaker of the House of Commons controls the day to day running of the house. ... 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. ... In British politics, the Cabinet is comprised of the most senior government ministers, most of them heads of government departments with the title Secretary of State. In the British system of government, the Cabinet is the key formal decision making body of the executive. ... The Government of the United Kingdom contains a number of Ministries, known in the United Kingdom as Government Departments. ... The Scottish Parliament (Pàrlamaid na h-Alba in Gaelic, Scots Pairlament in Scots) is the national legislature of Scotland. ... The Scottish Executive (Riaghaltas na h-Alba in Gaelic) is the executive arm of the Scottish Parliament. ... The National Assembly for Wales (or NAW) (Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru) was established in 1998, following a 1997 referendum in which a small majority of voters (but not the electorate) voted in favour of the Labour Governments plans for devolution. ... The Welsh Assembly Government (or WAG) is the executive body of the National Assembly for Wales — it is comprised of the First Minister and his Cabinet. ... The Northern Ireland Assembly is a 108-member legislative body for Northern Ireland that sits at Stormont with powers devolved to it from the Westminster parliament. ... The Northern Ireland Executive is the (currently suspended) executive body for Northern Ireland, answerable to the Northern Ireland Assembly. ... The United Kingdom is divided into four parts, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. ... The Greater London Authority (GLA) administers the 1579 sq. ... Elections in the United Kingdom gives information on election and election results in the United Kingdom. ... The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997. ... The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed the quiet landslide by the media. ... Political parties in the United Kingdom lists political parties in the United Kingdom. ... The United Kingdom has an uncodified constitution, which means it is not all contained in a single document. ... May 5 is the 125th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (126th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... In parliamentary systems, a dissolution of parliament is the dispersal of a legislature at the call of an election. ... The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ... April 11 is the 101st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (102nd in leap years). ... Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary) (born 21 April 1926), styled HM The Queen, is the Queen regnant and Head of State of the United Kingdom, as well as the Queen of Antigua and Barbuda, Australia, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Canada, Grenada, Jamaica, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea... 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 Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Tony Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British MP. He is currently Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, having served as Leader of the Labour Party since John Smiths death in 1994. ...

The general election takes place in 646 constituencies in the United Kingdom, for seats in the House of Commons. 645 constituencies polled on 5 May; polling in the seat of Staffordshire South has been postponed due to the death of a candidate. The election was a first-past-the-post election. Local elections in parts of England and in Northern Ireland were held on the same day. The polls were open for 15 hours, from 0700 to 2200 BST (0600 to 2100 UTC). 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. ... The United Kingdom House of Commons elected on 7 June 2001 contains 659 Members of Parliament (MPs). ... The House of Commons is a component of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also includes the Sovereign and the House of Lords. ... May 5 is the 125th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (126th in leap years). ... Staffordshire South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... The first-past-the-post electoral system is a voting system for single-member districts, variously called first-past-the-post (FPTP or FPP), winner-take-all, plurality voting, or relative majority. ... Elections for local government are being held in the United Kingdom on May 5, 2005 along with the 2005 general election. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion... Northern Ireland is an administrative region and one of four parts of the United Kingdom. ... British Summer Time (BST), known in Ireland as Irish Summer Time (IST), is the daylight saving time in effect in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October each year. ... UTC also stands for the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Coordinated Universal Time or UTC, also sometimes referred to as Zulu time, the basis for civil time, differs by an integral number of seconds from atomic time and a fractional number of seconds from UT1. ...

The predicted result, according to the BBC and ITV, was a Labour majority of 66. For details by constituency see 2005 general election results. ... This article is about the British television network. ... Results of the United Kingdom general election, 2005. ...

Overview

Graph showing the averaged results of polls leading up to the election

The governing Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, was looking to secure a third consecutive term in office and to retain its huge majority. The Conservative Party was seeking to regain seats captured by both Labour and the Liberal Democrats in the 1997 election, and to replace Labour as the majority party. The Liberal Democrats themselves hoped to make further gains from both sides and to become the Official Opposition, replacing the Conservatives. Made it myself. ... Made it myself. ... 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 Right Honourable Anthony Charles Lynton Tony Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British MP. He is currently Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, having served as Leader of the Labour Party since John Smiths death in 1994. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right in the United Kingdom. ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party based in the United Kingdom. ... The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997. ... The Official Opposition (more formally, Her Majestys Loyal Opposition) in the United Kingdom is usually the largest political party or coalition which is not a member of the government. ...

Many seats were contested by other parties. Parties with existing representation at Westminster included the Democratic Unionist Party, Health Concern, Plaid Cymru, the Scottish National Party, Sinn Féin (who do not take their seats as they will not swear the oath of allegiance), the Social Democratic and Labour Party, and the Ulster Unionist Party. Parties that were not represented at Westminster, but had seats in the devolved assemblies and European Parliament included the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, the United Kingdom Independence Party, the various national Green parties, and the Scottish Socialist Party. A full list of parties which declared their intention to run can be found on the list of parties contesting the UK general election, 2005. The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern (often known by the shorter name Health Concern) is a political party based in Kidderminster, England. ... Plaid Cymru (literally meaning, Party of Wales) is a left-of-centre (describing itself as socialist and proud of it) Welsh nationalist party. ... In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is a centre-left political party which favours Scottish independence. ... -1... 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. ... 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. ... Devolution or Home rule is the pooling of powers from central government to government at regional or local level. ... The European Parliament is the parliamentary body of the European Union (EU), directly elected by EU citizens once every five years. ... The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, or APNI, is a political party operating in Northern Ireland. ... The United Kingdom Independence Party (commonly known as UKIP, pronounced you-kip) is a right-wing political party that aims at British withdrawal from the European Union. ... The Green Party was formed in 1973 as the Ecology Party. ... This article deals with the Scottish Socialist Party that was formed in 1998. ... The United Kingdom general election of 2005 will see significant numbers of minor or single issue candidates standing for election. ...

Campaign trail

For events leading up to the date of the election, see article: Pre-election day events of the United Kingdom general election, 2005

During the period between the announcement of the election and the actual election itself, all of the parties embarked on intensive campaigns to win voters over. They did this by releasing manifestos, party political broadcasts and touring the country in buses (commonly referred to as "Battle Buses"). The Pre-election day events of the United Kingdom general election, 2005 are the activities that were undertaken by the candidates and their political parties in the lead up to the United Kingdom general election, 2005. ... A manifesto is a public declaration of principles and intentions, often political in nature. ... A party political broadcast is a short television or radio broadcast made by a political party. ...

Seats in Scotland

When the Scottish Parliament was established by the Scotland Act 1998, the target size of Westminster Parliamentary seats in Scotland was changed to the same as that for England. This removed the deliberate over-representation intended to compensate Scotland for its historic status as a nation and its distance from the seat of Parliament in Westminster. The Scottish Parliament (Pàrlamaid na h-Alba in Gaelic, Scots Pairlament in Scots) is the national legislature of Scotland. ... The Scotland Act 1998 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom at Westminster. ... Scotland (Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a country or nation and former independent kingdom of northwest Europe, and one of the four constituent parts of the United Kingdom. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion...

The Boundary Commission for Scotland therefore started work on redrawing the boundaries, and in 2003 produced a scheme in which there were 59 constituencies, reduced from 72. In 2004, the Government passed the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 which instituted these changes and broke the link between British- and Scottish-Parliamentary constituencies. In the United Kingdom, the four Boundary Commissions are responsible for determining the boundaries of House of Commons constituencies. ... 2003 is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Events January January 1 - Luíz Inácio Lula Da Silva becomes the 37th President of Brazil. ... 2004 is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004 is a British Act of Parliament that amends the Scotland Act 1998 which established the Scottish Parliament. ...

Although it is not possible to make a wholly accurate measurement of the strength of the parties within the 59 new constituencies, as this will be the first election in which they are used, estimates have been made on the basis of a ward-by-ward breakdown of local council election results. These projections indicate that, had the new boundaries been used in the 2001 election, Labour would have won 46 seats, with the Liberal Democrats on nine seats, the Scottish National Party on four, and the Conservatives on zero. This represents a loss of 10 seats to Labour and one each for the Liberal Democrats, Scottish National Party and the Conservatives. The arithmetic is however complicated by the fact that the boundary revision has produced some seats that are notionally highly marginal.

See also the list of parties standing in Scotland. The United Kingdom general election of 2005 will see significant numbers of minor or single issue candidates standing for election. ...

The election in Northern Ireland

In Northern Ireland, the election looks likely to be dominated in the Unionist community by a battle between the Ulster Unionist Party and the Democratic Unionist Party to be the province's largest Unionist party in Parliament. Although the former won more MPs at the last General Election, defections have since reversed the position. Other elections in the province have shown both a shift in votes towards the DUP but also a collapse of support for the Alliance Party of Northern Ireland which is likely to be more marked in a first past the post election and thus which may work in the UUP's favour. Northern Ireland is an administrative region and one of four 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 Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... The Alliance Party of Northern Ireland, or APNI, is a political party operating in Northern Ireland. ... The first-past-the-post electoral system is a voting system for single-member districts, variously called first-past-the-post (FPTP or FPP), winner-take-all, plurality voting, or relative majority. ...

In the Nationalist community, the election battle between Sinn Féin and the Social Democratic and Labour Party will dominate. Recent elections have shown a clear shift in support from the SDLP to Sinn Féin but events such as the Northern Bank robbery and the murder of Robert McCartney have been used by Sinn Féin's opponents, including the British and Irish governments, to criticise their alleged links to the Provisional IRA, in the hope of reversing this trend.-1... 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. ... Notes such as this Northern Bank £20 note were stolen. ... Robert McCartney (1971 – 31 January 2005) was the victim of a murder in Belfast, in Northern Ireland, carried out by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. ... The Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) is a paramilitary group which aimed, through the use of violence, to achieve three goals: (i) British withdrawal from Ireland, (ii) the political unification of Ireland through the merger of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland , and (iii) the creation of an all...

Two of the three SDLP MPs elected in 2001 have retired while all four of Sinn Féin MPs are standing again. If Sinn Féin does make further gains, this will reduce the number of Northern Ireland MPs who vote in Westminster because Members of Parliament cannot formally take their seats until they swear allegiance to the Queen (which Sinn Féin members refuse to do).

Overall, if the Democratic Unionist Party emerges as the largest Unionist party and Sinn Féin as the largest Nationalist party, as expected, it will be interesting to see which of the two wins the most seats and most votes. However the electoral arithmetic, unless there is a catastrophic fall in Unionist turnout, would seem to favour the Democratic Unionist Party. The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... -1... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ...

See also the list of parties standing in Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom general election of 2005 will see significant numbers of minor or single issue candidates standing for election. ...

Composition of the House of Commons before the election

The House of Commons will contain 646 MPs (down from the current 659 due to the boundary changes mentioned above) following the 2005 general election and a subsequent by-election in Staffordshire South, where the vote has been postponed due to the death of one of the candidates. This means that the results of the last election must be adjusted before they can be used as a guide to the parties' performance. Calculations taking into account the disappearance of 13 Scottish seats, but ignoring defections and by-elections, give the following notional composition for the old House of Commons: This is a list of MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005 to the House of Commons for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament of the United Kingdom at the United Kingdom general election, 2005, arranged by constituency. ...

Thus, the Labour Party's overall majority was 160. In most parliamentary votes, the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) tends to side with the Labour Party (thus boosting their majority by 6). When the absence of the Sinn Féin members (who do not take up their seats in Westminster for ideological reasons) is factored in, Labour's majority was effectively as high as 170. 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 Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right in the United Kingdom. ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party based in 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 Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... Plaid Cymru (literally meaning, Party of Wales) is a left-of-centre (describing itself as socialist and proud of it) Welsh nationalist party. ... In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is a centre-left political party which favours Scottish independence. ... -1... 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. ... Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern (often known by the shorter name Health Concern) is a political party based in Kidderminster, England. ...

The ballot

At the close of voting (2200 BST) the ballot boxes are sealed and returned to the counting centre where counting proceeds under the supervision of the returning officer who is obliged to declare the result as soon as it is known. There has been stiff competition amongst constituencies to be first to declare. Sunderland South has repeated its performance in the last three elections and declared Labour incumbent Chris Mullin re-elected as MP with a majority of 11,059 at approximately 2245 BST (failing by two minutes to beat its previous best, but entering the Guinness Book of World Records as longest consecutive delivery of first results). The vote itself represents a swing (in a safe Labour seat, in a safe Labour region) of approximately 4% to the Conservatives and 4.5% to the Liberal Democrats. This is somewhat below the prediction of BBC exit polls published shortly after 2200 BST. British Summer Time (BST), known in Ireland as Irish Summer Time (IST), is the daylight saving time in effect in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland between the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October each year. ... This is about the city of Sunderland in England. ... Chris Mullin could be Chris Mullin the basketball player Chris Mullin the politician in England This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... The Guinness Book of Records (or in recent editions Guinness World Records, and in previous US editions Guinness Book of World Records) is a book published annually, containing an internationally recognized collection of superlatives: both in terms of human achievement and the extrema of the natural world. ...

Sunderland North were the next to declare, followed by Houghton & Washington East, both Labour holds but with reductions in the incumbent majorities of up to 9%. The first Scottish seat to declare was Rutherglen and Hamilton West — another safe Labour seat, it too was a hold, but with a reduced majority by 4%. The first seat to change hands was Putney, where Labour's majority of around 2500 fell to a strong Conservative challenge, with a total swing of about 5000 (or 6.2%). This was also the first seat to be declared for the Conservatives. The first Liberal Democrat seat to be declared was North East Fife, the constituency of LibDem party deputy leader Sir Menzies Campbell and a hold from 2001. Sir is an honorary title. ... The Right Honourable Sir Walter Menzies Campbell (born May 22, 1941) is a Scottish barrister and the Liberal Democrat member of Parliament for North East Fife. ...

Exit polls

Following problems with exit polls in previous British and US elections, the BBC and ITV agreed for the first time to pool their respective data, using results from Mori and NOP. More than 20,000 people were interviewed for the poll at 120 polling stations across the country. The predictions were excellent - initial projections saw the Labour party returned to power with a substantially reduced majority (66, down from 165), and with less than 25 constituencies left to declare, Labour is expected to gain a majority of between 64 and 66.[1]  (http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1478206,00.html) An exit poll is an opinion poll taken after voters have exited the polling stations and is designed to give an early indication as to how an election has turned out as the actual result may take hours to count (such as in UK General Elections) and are usually done...

The projected shares of the vote were Labour 37% (down 5% on 2001), Conservatives 33% (unchanged), Liberal Democrats 22% (up 3%) and other parties 8% (up 2%). [2]  (http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1478206,00.html) The Conservatives were expected to make the biggest gains, however — forty-four seats according to the exit numbers — with the Liberal Democrats expected to take as few as two. Whilst the exit-poll-predicted vote share for the Lib Dems was accurate (22% vs an actual 22.6%), the Liberals have actually done better in some Liberal-Labour marginals than predicted on the basis of the national share of the vote, producing a net gain of 11 seats.

The result

For details by constituency, see Results of the United Kingdom general election, 2005 Results of the United Kingdom general election, 2005. ...

At 0428 BST, it was announced that Labour had won Corby, giving them 324 of the 646 seats in the House of Commons, and as a result an overall majority. This was despite polling only 36% of the popular vote, equating to approximately 22% of the electorate based on the estimated turnout of 65%. Wikinews logo. ... Wikinews is a free content news source and a project of the Wikimedia Foundation. ... Corby is an industrial town and a local government district located in Northamptonshire, England. ...

Total seats for each party

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 Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right in the United Kingdom. ... The Liberal Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party based in the United Kingdom. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is a centre-left political party which favours Scottish independence. ... -1... 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. ... 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. ... RESPECT The Unity Coalition is a British political party founded on 25 January 2004 in London. ... Peter Law is a former Labour, now independent MP and AM for Blaenau Gwent. ... Independent Kidderminster Hospital and Health Concern (often known by the shorter name Health Concern) is a political party based in Kidderminster, England. ... The United Kingdom Independence Party (commonly known as UKIP, pronounced you-kip) is a right-wing political party that aims at British withdrawal from the European Union. ... The Green Party of England and Wales was formed in 1973 as the Ecology Party. ... The British National Party (BNP) is the largest political party of the far-right in the United Kingdom. ... This article deals with the Scottish Socialist Party that was formed in 1998. ... The Scottish Green Party was a constituent part of the UK Green Party (as it was then called) until 1990, when the Scottish Green Party became a separate party from the party in England and Wales (Northern Ireland also took this route later). ... The Liberal Party is a minor United Kingdom political party. ...

Undeclared seats

• Harlow (Labour held a narrow lead on early counts but with significant discrepancies in the number of ballot papers; the count has been postponed to Saturday)
• Staffordshire South (polling postponed due to the death of a candidate)

See BBC running scoreboard (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/vote2005/html/scoreboard.stm). Staffordshire South is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

References

• 'The Media Guide to the New Scottish Westminster Parliamentary Constituencies' by David Denver, Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Local Government Chronicle Elections Centre, Plymouth, 2004)
• "State of the Parties (http://www.parliament.uk/directories/hcio/stateparties.cfm)" at the Parliament of the United Kingdom website. Accessed 7 April 2005.
• "The 2001 British General Election (http://www.mori.com/pubinfo/rmw/wapor01.pdf)", MORI. Accessed 7 April 2005.

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative institution in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories (it alone has parliamentary sovereignty). ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Mori (森) is a Japanese family name. ... April 7 is the 97th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (98th in leap years). ... 2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian 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. ... Union Flag / Union Jack: Flag of the United Kingdom For more information, see Court of the Lord Lyon, Flags. ... The 1832 UK general election, the first after the Reform Act, saw the Whigs win a large majority, with the Tories winning less than 30% of the vote. ... The 1835 UK general election saw Robert Peels Conservatives make large gains from their low of the 1832 election, but the Whigs maintained a large majority. ... The 1837 UK general election saw Robert Peels Conservatives close further on the position of the Whigs, who won their third election of the decade. ... The 1841 UK general election saw a big swing as Robert Peels Conservatives took control of the House of Commons. ... The 1847 UK general election saw candidates calling themselves Conservatives win the most seats, in part because they won a number of uncontested seats. ... The 1852 UK general election was very close, Lord John Russells Whigs again winning the popular vote, but once again Conservative candidates won a very slight majority. ... The 1857 UK general election saw the Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, finally win a majority in the House of Commons as the Conservative vote fell significantly. ... The 1859 UK general election saw the Whigs, led by Lord Palmerston, hold their majority in a much enlarged House of Commons over the Earl of Derbys Conservatives. ... The 1865 UK general election saw the Liberals, led by Lord Palmerston, increase their large majority over the Earl of Derbys Conservatives. ... The 1868 UK general election saw the Liberals, led by William Gladstone, again increase their large majority over the Earl of Derbys Conservatives. ... The 1874 UK general election ended with the Liberals, led by William Gladstone, winning a majority of the votes cast, but Benjamin Disraelis Conservatives winning the majority of seats in the House of Commons, largely because they won a number of uncontested seats. ... In the UK general election of 1880, also known as the Midlothian Campaign, the Liberals, led by the fierce oratory of retired former Liberal leader William Gladstone in attacking the supposedly immoral foreign policy of the Beaconsfield government, secured one of their largest ever majorities, leaving the Conservatives a distant... The 1885 UK general election was from the 24th November - 18th December 1885. ... The 1886 UK general election was took place from July 1-27, 1886. ... The 1892 UK general election was held from 4th - 26th July 1892. ... The UK general election of 1895 was held from 13th July - 7th August 1895. ... The UK general election of 1900 was from 25th September - 24th October 1900. ... The UK general election of 1906 was from 12th January – 8th February 1906. ... The UK general election of January 1910 was held from 15th January – 10th February 1910. ... The UK general election of December 1910 was the last held over several days, from 3rd – 19th December 1910. ... The United Kingdom general election of 1918 held on 14th December 1918 was the first election at which women could vote. ... The UK general election of 1922 was held on 15th November 1922. ... The UK general election of 1923 was held on 5th December 1923. ... The 1924 UK general election was held on 29th October 1924. ... The 1929 UK general election was held on 30th May 1929, and resulted in a hung parliament. ... The UK general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. ... The UK general election held on 14th November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Stanley Baldwin. ... The British general election of 1945 held on July 5th 1945 but not counted and declared until July 26, 1945 (due to the time it took to transport the votes of those serving overseas) was one of the most significant general elections of the 20th century. ... The United Kingdom general election in 1950 was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. ... The 1951 election was held soon after the UK general election, 1950, which Labour won, but got an unusable majority. ... The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on May 26, 1955, four years after the previous general election. ... This United Kingdom general election was held on October 8, 1959, and marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative party, led by Harold MacMillan. ... The United Kingdom general election of 1964 result was a very slim majority for the Labour Party, of 4, and led to their first government since 1951. ... The UK general election in 1966 was called by Harold Wilson because his government, elected in the 1964 election, had an unworkably small majority. ... 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 February 1974 was held on February 28, 1974. ... The UK general election of October 1974 took place on October 10, 1974. ... The UK general election, 1979 was held on May 3, 1979 and is regarded as a pivotal point in 20th century British politics. ... The UK general election, 1983 was held on June 9, 1983 and gave the Conservatives and Margaret Thatcher the second most decisive election victory since that of Labour in 1945. ... The UK general election, 1987 was held on June 11, 1987 and was the third victory in a row for Margaret Thatcher and the Conservatives. ... The UK general election, 1992 was held on April 9, 1992, and was the fourth victory in a row for the Conservatives. ... The UK general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997. ... The UK general election, 2001 was held on 7 June 2001 and was dubbed the quiet landslide by the media. ...

External links

Media coverage

• BBC Election 2005 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/election2005/)
• Channel 4 - Election 2005 (http://www.channel4.com/news/microsites/E/election2005/)
• The Guardian Election 2005 weblog (http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/election2005/index.html)
• The Guardian Politics - Special Report: Election 2005 (http://politics.guardian.co.uk/election2005)
• The Times Election 2005 Log (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/section/0,,20809,00.html)
• Yahoo! News - Election 2005 (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/promo/election05_index.html)
• How the British election works (http://uk.news.yahoo.com/promo/election05_explained.html)

Electoral information

• Electoral Calculus: If there were a General Election tomorrow, what would happen? (http://www.electoralcalculus.co.uk/)
• UK Polling Report (http://pollingreport.co.uk/blog/index.php) - analysis of polls on a day-by-day basis.
• Candidates by Party (http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge05/candidates.htm) - All 3405 candidates listed by their 124 distinct party labels.
• SourceWatch's article on the 2005 UK general election (http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=British_General_Election_2005) - with a focus on the strategists and public relations experts involved in the campaigns of the various parties.
• Strategic Voter 2005 (http://www.strategicvoter.org.uk) - Information for each constituency to strategically vote against the invasion of Iraq

Manifestos

• British National Party: Rebuilding British Democracy (http://www.bnp.org.uk/candidates2005/man_menu.htm) ( Abbreviated (http://www.bnp.org.uk/candidates2005/manifesto/manifesto_abbrev.pdf)) (PDF  (http://www.bnp.org.uk/candidates2005/manifesto/manifesto2005.pdf))
• Conservatives: It's Time For Action/The British Dream (http://www.conservatives.com/tile.do?def=manifesto.index.page)
• DUP: Leadership That's Working (http://www.dup.org.uk/pdf/DUPManifesto05.pdf) (PDF File)
• Green Party of England and Wales: People, Planet, Peace (http://manifesto.greenparty.org.uk/)
• Labour: Britain: forward not back (http://www.labour.org.uk/manifesto.html)
• Liberal Democrats: The REAL Alternative (http://www.libdems.org.uk/party/policy/manifesto.html)
• Scottish National Party: Make Scotland Matter (http://www.snp.org/snpnews/2005/snp_press_release.2005-04-15.0793735679/2005-04-15.2518366405/download) (PDF file)
• Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales: We can build a better Wales (http://www.plaidcymru.org/ManifestoPlaidCymru2005.pdf) (PDF file)
• Respect – The Unity Coalition: Policy  (http://www.respectcoalition.org/index.php?sec=39)
• Scottish Socialist Party: Make Capitalism History (http://www.scottishsocialistparty.org/man2005/Manifesto.html)
• SDLP: A Better Way to a Better Ireland (http://www.sdlp.ie/elections05/SDLP-Manifesto-2005.pdf) (PDF File)
• Sinn Fein: Manifesto  (http://www.sfwestminsterelection.com/constituencies)
• Third Way: Radical Centre (http://www.thirdway.org/files/manifesto05.html)
• UUP: Simply British (http://www.uup.org/manifesto/manifesto_page1.htm)
• United Kingdom Independence Party: We want our country back (http://www.ukip.org/index.php?menu=manifesto2005&page=manifesto2005top)

The British National Party (BNP) is the largest political party of the far-right in the United Kingdom. ... The Conservative Party is the largest political party on the right in the United Kingdom. ... The Democratic Unionist Party is a hardline Unionist party in Northern Ireland led by Ian Paisley. ... The Green Party of England and Wales was formed in 1973 as the Ecology Party. ... 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 Democrats, often shortened to Lib Dems, are a liberal political party based in the United Kingdom. ... In Scotland, the Scottish National Party (SNP) is a centre-left political party which favours Scottish independence. ... Plaid Cymru (literally meaning, Party of Wales) is a left-of-centre (describing itself as socialist and proud of it) Welsh nationalist party. ... RESPECT The Unity Coalition is a British political party founded on 25 January 2004 in London. ... This article deals with the Scottish Socialist Party that was formed in 1998. ... 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. ... Sinn Féin (in the Irish language ourselves or we ourselves; not as sometimes incorrectly translated, ourselves alone) is an Irish political party. ... The Third Way is a British political party which broke away from the National Front in 1989, taking around fifty members of the partys Political Soldier wing. ... Predicted properties Name, Symbol, Number ununpentium, Uup, 115 Chemical series presumably poor metals Group, Period, Block 15, 7 , p Appearance unknown Atomic weight [288] amu (a guess) Electron configuration [Rn] 5f14 6d10 7s27p3 (a guess based upon bismuth) e-s per energy level 2, 8, 18, 32, 32, 18, 5... The United Kingdom Independence Party (commonly known as UKIP, pronounced you-kip) is a right-wing political party that aims at British withdrawal from the European Union. ...

Web directories

• Democracies Online - UK Election 2005 Links Wiki (http://dowire.org/wiki/UK_elections)
• LookSmart - UK 2005 General Election (http://search.looksmart.com/p/browse/us1/us317836/us552286/us526499/us526505/us10234373/us703545/us675000/us10240196/) directory category

• Open Directory Project - UK Election 2005 (http://dmoz.org/Regional/Europe/United_Kingdom/Society_and_Culture/Politics/Elections/2005/) directory category
• Political Science Resources: UK General Election (http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge05.htm) Links to manifestos, polls and other sites

Discussions

• ElectionsInfo.com - Discussions on Elections in United Kingdom (http://www.electionsinfo.com/election-information/viewforum.php?f=38)

Betting

• bestbetting.com (http://sports.bestbetting.com/specials/politics/uk/general-election/winning-party) - compilation of latest betting companies odds

Miscellaneous

• Who should you vote for? (http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/) - A tool to show which party's policies most closely match your priorities
• Who Do I Vote For? (http://www.whodoivotefor.co.uk/) - An alternative tool to show which party's policies most closely match your opinions on 20 key policy areas
• The Christian Institute (http://www.christian.org.uk/) - Includes an election briefing that analyses party manifestos in the light of their perception of Christian beliefs