December 1910 United Kingdom general election

December 1910 United Kingdom general election

3–19 December 1910 (1910-12-03 – 1910-12-19)
All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   160x160px 160x160px 160x160px Leader H. H. Asquith Arthur Balfour John Redmond Party Liberal Conservative and Liberal Unionist Irish Parliamentary Leader since 30 April 1908 11 June 1902 6 February 1900 Leader's seat East Fife City of London Waterford City Last election 274 seats, 43.5% 272 seats, 46.8% 71 seats, 1.2% Seats won 272 271 74 Seat change 2 1 3 Popular vote 2,157,256 2,270,753 90,416 Percentage 44.2% 46.6% 1.9% Swing 0.7% 0.3% 0.7%   Fourth party Fifth party   160x160px Leader George Barnes William O'Brien Party Labour All-for-Ireland Leader since 14 February 1910 23 March 1909 Leader's seat Glasgow Blackfriars & Hutchesontown Cork City Last election 40 seats, 7.0% 8 seats, 0.4% Seats won 42 8 Seat change 2 Popular vote 309,963 30,322 Percentage 6.4% 0.6% Swing 0.6% 0.2%
330px Colours denote the winning party
Prime Minister before election H. H. Asquith Liberal Appointed Prime Minister H. H. Asquith Liberal

The December 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 3 to 19 December. It was the last general election to be held over several days and the last to be held prior to the First World War (1914–18).

The political context was the effort of the new Liberal government to pass its budget, with higher taxes on the wealthy. It was blocked by the House of Lords. The Government called an election to get a mandate for the Parliament Act 1911, which would prevent the House of Lords from permanently blocking legislation. After the Liberals, together with the Irish Nationalists and Labour, retained their Commons majority, the House of Lords gave way and the budget was passed.

The Conservatives, led by Arthur Balfour with their Liberal Unionist allies, and the Liberals, led by H. H. Asquith, could not break the deadlock produced in the January general election, with the Conservatives again winning the largest number of votes. The Liberal Party under Asquith formed a government with the support of the Irish Nationalists. This was the last election in which the Liberals won the highest number of seats in the House of Commons. It was also the last United Kingdom national election in which a party other than Labour or the Conservatives won the most seats until the 2014 European Parliament elections.

Results

England and Wales seat winners

↓ 

272	271	74	42	8	3
Liberal	Conservative	IPP	Lab	AFI	O

UK General Election December 1910
			Candidates						Votes
Party		Leader	Standing	Elected	Gained	Unseated	Net	% of total	%	No.	Net %
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist	Arthur Balfour	548	271			−1	40.4	46.6	2,270,753	−0.3
	Liberal	H. H. Asquith	467	272			−2	40.6	44.2	2,157,256	+0.7
	Labour	George Barnes	56	42	5	3	+2	6.3	6.4	309,963	−0.6
	Irish Parliamentary	John Redmond	81	74	5	2	+3	11.0	1.9	90,416	+0.7
	All-for-Ireland	William O'Brien	21	8	2	2	0	1.2	0.6	30,322	+0.2
	Social Democratic Federation	H. M. Hyndman	2	0	0	0	0		0.1	5,733	−0.1
	Independent Conservative	N/A	4	1	1	1	0	0.1	0.1	4,647
	Independent Labour	N/A	4	0	0	0	0		0.1	3,492
	Independent Liberal	N/A	1	0	0	1	−1		0.0	1,946
	Scottish Prohibition	Edwin Scrymgeour	1	0	0	0	0		0.0	913
	Independent Nationalist	N/A	4	2	0	1	−1	0.3	0.0	911
	Independent	N/A	2	0	0	0	0		0.0	57

Total votes cast: 4,876,409.

Voting summary

Popular vote
Conservative and Liberal Unionist			46.57%
Liberal			44.23%
Labour			6.36%
Irish Parliamentary			1.85%
Independent			0.23%
Others			0.78%

Seats summary

Parliamentary seats
Liberal			40.6%
Conservative and Liberal Unionist			40.5%
Labour			6.3%
Irish Parliamentary			11.0%
All-for-Ireland			1.2%
Independent			0.5%

See also

• List of MPs elected in the December 1910 United Kingdom general election
• Parliamentary franchise in the United Kingdom 1885–1918

External links

• United Kingdom election results—summary results 1885–1979

Manifestos

• December 1910 Conservative manifesto
• December 1910 Labour manifesto
• December 1910 Liberal manifesto