1984 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

1984 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

← 1979 14 June 1984 1989 →
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81 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	32.6% (0.2%)
First party Second party   Leader Henry Plumb Barbara Castle Party Conservative Labour Alliance EPP PES Leader's seat Cotswolds Greater Manchester West Last election 60 seats, 48.4% 17 seats, 31.6% Seats won 45 32 Seat change 15 15 Popular vote 5,426,866 4,865,224 Percentage 38.8% 34.8% Swing 9.6% 3.1%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

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The 1984 European Parliament election was the second European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 14 June. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single transferable vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe. In England, Scotland and Wales, the Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party were in alliance, collecting 2,591,635 votes but not a single seat.

The election represented a small recovery for Labour, under Michael Foot's replacement Neil Kinnock, taking 15 seats from the Conservatives. In the general election of 1983, they had only had a vote share of 2% more than the SDP–Liberal Alliance (although they had nearly 10 times more MP's elected) and 15% less than the Conservatives. This was the last European election in the UK in which the governing party won a majority of seats.

A by-election to the British Parliament also took place on the same day in the Portsmouth South constituency - the Alliance gained the seat from the Conservatives.

Source: UK Parliament briefing

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain
	Conservative	5,426,866	38.8	9.6	45	55.6	15
	Labour	4,865,224	34.8	3.1	32	39.5	15
	Alliance	2,591,659	18.5	5.9	0
	SNP	230,594	1.6	0.2	1	1.2
	DUP	230,251	1.6	0.4	1	1.2
	SDLP	151,399	1.1		1	1.2
	UUP	147,169	1.1	0.1	1	1.2
	Plaid Cymru	103,031	0.8	0.1	0
	Sinn Féin	91,476	0.7	New	0
	Ecology	73,025	0.5	0.4	0
	Alliance	34,046	0.2		0
	UPUP	20,092	0.1	New	0
	Independent	11,073	0.1	0.1	0
	Workers' Party	8,712	0.1		0
	Independent Ecology	3,330	0.0	New	0
	Ind. Conservative	3,249	0.0		0
	Ind. Liberal	2,981	0.0	New	0
	Wessex Regionalist	2,365	0.0	New	0
	Cornish Nationalist	1,892	0.0	New	0
	Federal Republican Party	1,494	0.0	New	0

• Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 32.6% (EC average: 61%)
• Overall votes cast: 13,998,190

Source: UK Parliament briefing

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain
	Conservative	5,426,866	40.8	9.8	45	57.7	15
	Labour	4,865,224	36.5	3.5	32	41.0	15
	Alliance	2,591,659	19.5	6.3	0
	SNP	230,594	1.7	0.2	1	1.3
	Plaid Cymru	103,031	0.8	0.1	0
	Ecology	70,853	0.5	0.4	0
	Independent	11,073	0.1	0.1	0
	Independent Ecology	3,330	0.0	New	0
	Ind. Conservative	3,249	0.0		0
	Ind. Liberal	2,981	0.0	New	0
	Wessex Regionalist	2,365	0.0	New	0
	Cornish Nationalist	1,892	0.0	New	0
	Federal Republican Party	1,494	0.0	New	0

Total votes cast – 13,312,898. All parties listed.

Source: Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (February 2011)

Source: [1]

• Elections in the United Kingdom: European elections
• List of members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom (1984–1989)