This election greatly reshaped the British electoral landscape. Nearly half of the seats in Parliament changed hands, causing the Conservative Party to suffer the most disastrous defeat in its nearly 200-year history.
Labor won seats across the country. This is most evident in the post-industrial areas of central and northern England known as the “red wall”, where many long-term Labor seats flipped to the Tories at the last election in support of their hardline stance on Brexit.
The Scottish National Party, which has dominated Scottish politics for more than a decade, lost more than 30 seats. The centrist Lib Dems won dozens of seats at the expense of the Conservatives, mostly across southern England.
Conservatives lose more than half of seats
After 14 years in power, voters delivered a devastating result for the Conservatives, who lost nearly two-thirds of their seats. The majority voted for the centre-left Labor Party, but 60 voted for the centrist Lib Dems.
This shift could provide an opportunity for a Labor government to steer the country in a decidedly different direction.
The Conservatives won their lowest share of the vote in recent history
Not since Britain took its modern form in 1922 has the Conservative Party performed so poorly at an election.
But the election is also historic in another way: The country’s smaller parties have also never done as well as they did Thursday. This continues a decades-long shift towards a two-party system and means Labour’s position may be more fragile than it appears.
Support for far right surges
Labor won some voters who deserted the Conservatives, and its share of the national vote increased by about two percentage points from 2019.
But Reform UK, the far-right anti-immigration party led by Nigel Farage, saw the biggest increase in votes on the night. His party won more than 14% of the national vote, up 12 percentage points from 2019, when its predecessor party withdrew its candidates from more than 300 seats held by the Conservatives.
Labor won landslide victory with just one-third of the vote
Labor won one of the most seats in British electoral history with the lowest vote share of any election winner.
The vote showed broad support for smaller ideological parties across the country, but that did not translate into significant seat gains.
On the right, the reformists won more than 14% of the vote but only 4 seats in the 650-seat British Parliament. The Green Party also won 4 seats with about 7% of the vote. Labor lost four seats in seats with large Muslim populations to pro-Palestinian independent candidates.
Conservative vote share dropped the most, reformists performed best
During the campaign, the Conservatives repeatedly warned voters that abandoning the party and voting for reform would deliver more victories for Labour. It turns out this is true.
The Conservatives lost the most support in seats where reformists surged. The reformists came in second in a number of seats won by Labor, delivering on Mr Farage’s promise to put the party in a strong position for the next general election, expected in 2029.
Conservative support falls across the board – Labor slips back among young people
The Conservatives have beaten Labor among older voters at every election since Labour’s landslide victory in 1997. Decline across the board.
But Labour’s performance in the country’s youngest areas has also exposed its weaknesses among core voters.
Its share of the vote in the youngest seats, including many educated urban areas with large student populations, increased from the last election as many voters flocked to smaller parties, the Greens on the left and Reform UK on the right. 51% dropped to 44%, or independent candidates.