The Labour Party is a centre-left political party in the United Kingdom. Formed in 1900, it is one of the two main political parties along with the Conservative Party. In all general elections since 1918, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. Since the 2010 general election, Labour has been the second largest party in the UK behind the Conservatives having lost the four last general elections. Since 1918, Labour have formed 11 governments.

This article encompasses detailed results of previous UK general elections, devolved national elections in Scotland and Wales, devolved London elections and European Parliament elections which the Labour Party have participated in.

Background

The Labour Party was founded at a conference in February 1900 in London as the Labour Representation Committee (LRC). The party was formed as an alliance between trade unions, ethical socialists and state socialists. Following the 1906 general election, the LRC became the current Labour Party.

Labour are one of the two main political parties in the United Kingdom, along with the Conservative Party. The Labour Party sits on the centre-left of the political spectrum. In all general elections since 1918, Labour has been either the governing party or the Official Opposition. There have been six Labour prime ministers. Since 1918, Labour have formed 11 governments, compared to 13 for the Conservatives within this period. Since the 2010 general election, it has been the second-largest UK political party by the number of votes cast, behind the Conservative Party.

National results

UK general elections

The first general election the party faced, then the Labour Representation Committee, was only six months after the inauguration of the party. Fifteen LRC candidates were put forward for the election, two of which were elected in 1900. In 1903, the Secretary of the LRC Ramsay MacDonald and the Liberal Party's Chief Whip Herbert Gladstone formed a secret electoral pact between the two parties. The party continued to grow over the following decade and by the December 1910 general election, Labour had 42 MPs.

Following the 1918 general election, Labour became the Official Opposition after the Conservatives went into coalition with the Liberal Party. Labour's first minority governments came following the 1923 and 1929 general elections, the latter being the first time Labour were the largest party in parliament by seats won. They formed their first majority government following the 1945 general election. However, after winning the 1950 general election, Labour would lose the following election in 1951 to the Conservatives despite gaining their highest share of votes to date at 48.8%. During the 1983 election, Labour posted their worst vote share in the post-war period at 27.6%. In 1997, a party record of 418 Labour MPs were elected. At the 2019 general election, 202 Labour MPs were elected, the lowest for the party since 1935. Since the 2010 general election, Labour have lost four consecutive general elections.

The next general election is due to be held on 4 July 2024. The voting system for general elections in the UK is the first past the post system.

Parliament of the United Kingdom

Election	Leader	Votes		Seats			Position	Result	Ref
		No.	Share	No.	±	Share
1900	Keir Hardie	62,698	1.8	2 / 670	2	0.3	4th	Conservative–Liberal Unionist
1906		321,663	5.7	29 / 670	27	4.3	4th	Liberal
January 1910	Arthur Henderson	505,657	7.6	40 / 670	11	6.0	4th	Liberal minority
December 1910	George Nicoll Barnes	371,802	7.1	42 / 670	2	6.3	4th	Liberal minority
1918	William Adamson	2,245,777	20.8	57 / 707	15	8.1	4th	Coalition Liberal–Conservative
1922	J. R. Clynes	4,237,349	29.7	142 / 615	85	23.1	2nd	Conservative
1923	Ramsay MacDonald	4,439,780	30.7	191 / 615	49	30.1	2nd	Labour minority
1924		5,489,087	33.3	151 / 615	40	24.6	2nd	Conservative
1929		8,370,417	37.1	287 / 615	136	47.0	1st	Labour minority
1931	Arthur Henderson	6,649,630	30.9	52 / 615	235	8.5	2nd	Conservative–Liberal–National Labour
1935	Clement Attlee	8,325,491	38.0	154 / 615	102	25.0	2nd	Conservative–Liberal National–National Labour
1945		11,967,746	48.0	393 / 640	239	61.0	1st	Labour
1950		13,266,176	46.1	315 / 625	78	50.4	1st	Labour
1951		13,948,883	48.8	295 / 625	20	47.2	2nd	Conservative
1955		12,405,254	46.4	277 / 630	18	44.0	2nd	Conservative
1959	Hugh Gaitskell	12,216,172	43.8	258 / 630	19	40.1	2nd	Conservative
1964	Harold Wilson	12,205,808	44.1	317 / 630	59	50.3	1st	Labour
1966		13,096,629	48.0	364 / 630	47	57.8	1st	Labour
1970		12,208,758	43.1	288 / 630	76	45.7	2nd	Conservative
February 1974		11,645,616	37.2	301 / 635	13	47.4	1st	Labour minority
October 1974		11,457,079	39.3	319 / 635	18	50.2	1st	Labour
1979	James Callaghan	11,532,218	36.9	269 / 635	50	42.4	2nd	Conservative
1983	Michael Foot	8,456,934	27.6	209 / 650	60	32.2	2nd	Conservative
1987	Neil Kinnock	10,029,807	30.8	229 / 650	20	35.2	2nd	Conservative
1992		11,560,484	34.4	271 / 651	42	41.6	2nd	Conservative
1997	Tony Blair	13,518,167	43.2	418 / 659	145	63.6	1st	Labour
2001		10,724,953	40.7	412 / 659	6	62.7	1st	Labour
2005		9,552,436	35.2	355 / 646	47	55.0	1st	Labour
2010	Gordon Brown	8,606,517	29.0	258 / 650	90	40.0	2nd	Conservative–Liberal Democrats
2015	Ed Miliband	9,347,324	30.4	232 / 650	26	35.7	2nd	Conservative
2017	Jeremy Corbyn	12,877,918	40.0	262 / 650	30	40.3	2nd	Conservative minority (with DUP confidence and supply)
2019		10,269,051	32.1	202 / 650	60	31.1	2nd	Conservative

Note

Devolved national elections

Scottish Parliament elections

Following a referendum on devolution in September 1997, the Scottish people voted 'Yes' leading to the Scotland Act 1998. This act led to the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999. After Scotland voted 'No' in the 2014 Scottish independence referendum, additional powers were devolved to the Scottish Parliament after the Scotland Act 2016 reached royal assent. Elections to determine the composition of the Parliament take place once every five years under the additional member system. Overall, there are 73 constituency members (MSPs) and 56 regional members elected. Before 2016, elections were held every four years.

In the inaugural two elections, Labour were the largest party and formed a coalition with the Scottish Liberal Democrats on both occasions. However, Labour narrowly lost the 2007 election to the Scottish National Party (SNP). By seats won, Labour have been the third largest party in the Scottish Parliament behind the SNP and Conservatives since 2016. In the most recent election in 2021, Labour suffered their worst defeat in Holyrood after returning 22 MSPs.

Year	Leader	Votes	% share of votes (constituency)	% share of votes (list)	Seats	Change	Position	Resulting government	Ref
1999	Donald Dewar	908,346	38.8	33.6	56 / 129	—	1st	Labour–Liberal Democrats
2003	Jack McConnell	663,585	34.6	29.3	50 / 129	6	1st	Labour–Liberal Democrats
2007		648,374	32.1	29.2	46 / 129	4	2nd	SNP minority
2011	Iain Gray	630,461	31.7	26.3	37 / 129	9	2nd	SNP majority
2016	Kezia Dugdale	514,261	22.6	19.1	24 / 129	13	3rd	SNP minority
2021	Anas Sarwar	584,392	21.7	18.9	22 / 129	2	3rd	SNP minority

Senedd elections

As part of Labour's 1997 winning UK general election manifesto, Labour committed to devolving power to Wales and Scotland subject to public consent from referendums. In July 1997, Labour released its white paper for devolution in Wales. This devolution deal would include 60 elected members who would take responsibility for £7 billion of funding. Furthermore, this new Assembly would have the right to pass secondary legislation in order to modify already existing laws. The devolution plans were endorsed by the public in the 1997 Welsh devolution referendum by 50.3% of the vote. The Government of Wales Act 1998 would receive royal assent with the Assembly to be formed following the first election in May 1999.

In 1999, the Welsh Assembly or Senedd Cymru was founded. From 1999 until 2011, Welsh Assembly elections were held once every four years, they are now held every five years. 40 Constituency Assembly Members (AMs) and 20 regional Assembly Members are elected at each election. The current voting system is the additional member system.

At every Senedd election, Labour has received the most votes and seats at each election, but has never formed a clear majority of seats. Labour formed a coalition with the Welsh Liberal Democrats from 2000 to 2003. From 2003 to 2007, Labour governed alone as a minority administration before serving in coalition with Plaid Cymru from 2007 to 2011. Labour have governed alone as a minority administration since 2011. Since 2021, Labour have had a formal cooperation agreement with Plaid Cymru to help pass budgets and to work together on several policy areas.

Year	Leader	% share of votes (constituency)	% share of votes (list)	Seats won	Change	Position	Resulting government	Ref
1999	Alun Michael	37.6	35.4	28 / 60	—	1st	Labour–Liberal Democrats
2003	Rhodri Morgan	40.0	36.6	30 / 60	2	1st	Labour minority
2007		32.2	29.6	26 / 60	4	1st	Labour–Plaid Cymru
2011	Carwyn Jones	42.3	36.9	30 / 60	4	1st	Labour minority
2016		34.7	31.5	29 / 60	1	1st	Labour minority
2021	Mark Drakeford	39.9	36.2	30 / 60	1	1st	Labour minority

Devolved regional elections

London Assembly elections

London Assembly elections are held every four years. Overall, there are 14 constituency members and 11 London-wide members who are elected by a party-list system. The voting system is the additional member system. The assembly holds the mayor of London to account through London Assembly committees and also votes on the mayor's budget. The first London Assembly election was held in 2000. Labour gained the most seats out of all of the parties in 2012 (12), 2016 (12), 2021 (11) and 2024 (11).

Year	Assembly leader	% share of votes (constituency)	% share of votes (list)	Seats	Change	Position	Ref
2000	Toby Harris	31.6	30.3	9 / 25	—	1st
2004		24.7	25.0	7 / 25	2	2nd
2008	Len Duvall	28.0	27.6	8 / 25	1	2nd
2012		42.3	41.1	12 / 25	4	1st
2016		42.3	41.1	12 / 25		1st
2021		41.7	38.1	11 / 25	1	1st
2024		39.8	38.4	11 / 25		1st

London mayoral elections

Elections to decide the Mayor of London have taken place since 2000. Ken Livingstone won the inaugural mayoral election as an independent candidate, ahead of the Conservative Party in second place and the Labour Party in third. He would later become the candidate for Labour in 2004, 2008 and 2012. Livingstone won for Labour in 2004 before losing to the Conservative candidate, Boris Johnson in both 2008 and 2012. These elections take place every four years with the incumbent mayor being Sadiq Khan of the Labour Party since 2016. The voting system for the mayoral elections from 2000 until 2021 was the supplementary vote system. However, for the election in 2024, the first past the post system was used instead. In 2024, Khan won a third successive term.

Year	Mayoral candidate	Vote total	Vote share (%)	Mayoralty	Ref
2000	Frank Dobson	–	–
2004	Ken Livingstone	828,390	55.4
2008		1,029,406	46.8
2012		992,273	48.5
2016	Sadiq Khan	1,310,143	56.8
2021		1,206,034	55.2
2024		1,088,225	43.8

Combined authority elections

The first 'combined authority elections' took place in 2017 to determine six elected mayors (Metro-mayors) of different combined authorities in England. These elections stemmed from the 'devolution deals' policy announced by George Osborne in 2014. Combined authorities are local government institutions formed by two or more local councils.

The system of voting for these elections was originally the supplementary vote system. Ahead of the 2023 local elections, the first past the post system replaced the supplementary vote system for future combined authority elections. As of August 2023, there are seven Labour Party Metro Mayors in: Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City region, West of England, South Yorkshire, North of Tyne, and West Yorkshire. The other two combined authorities (Tees Valley and West Midlands) are under the control of the Conservative Party.

Year	Mayoralties won	Change	Ref
2017	2 / 6	2
2018	1 / 1	1
2019	1 / 1	1
2021	5 / 7	2
2022	1 / 1	1
2024	8 / 9	1

European

European Parliament elections

During the UK's membership of the European Union (1973–2020), the UK participated in European Parliament elections, held every five years from 1979 until 2019. Elections to the European Parliament began in 1979, and were held under the first past the post system until the 1994 election. From 1999 onwards, a regional list system of proportional representation system was used.

Labour's best result was the 1994 election in terms of numbers of MEPs elected (62/87) and vote share (44%). The party earned more votes in 2004 than in 1999 but their vote share fell due to a higher turnout. In 2009, Labour finished behind the Conservatives and UKIP.

Year	Leader	Votes	% share of votes	Seats	Change	Position	Ref
1979	James Callaghan	4,253,207	33	17 / 81	—	2nd
1984	Neil Kinnock	4,865,261	37	32 / 81	15	2nd
1989		6,153,661	40	45 / 81	13	1st
1994	Margaret Beckett	6,753,881	44	62 / 87	17	1st
1999	Tony Blair	2,803,820	28.0	29 / 87	33	2nd
2004		3,718,683	22.6	19 / 78	10	2nd
2009	Gordon Brown	2,381,760	15.7	13 / 72	6	3rd
2014	Ed Miliband	4,020,646	25.4	20 / 73	7	2nd
2019	Jeremy Corbyn	2,347,255	14.1	10 / 73	10	3rd

See also

• Electoral history of the Conservative Party (UK)
• List of Labour Party (UK) MPs
• Opinion polling for the 2024 United Kingdom general election
• Politics of the United Kingdom