339Conservative seats
43.9%Largest party’s vote share
76.0%Turnout
Election result
DATEPolling day3 May 1979
01Largest party by seatsConservative
02Seats won339
03Vote share43.9%
04Turnout76.0%
Government outcome
Conservative government · majority 44.
About this result
UK general elections are decided constituency by constituency using First Past the Post. Seat totals and national vote shares therefore measure different things.
Historical comparisons also need to allow for changes to constituency boundaries and the number of Commons seats.
Detailed results and source data
Seats won by party
PartySeats
Conservative339
Labour269
Liberal11
SNP / Plaid Cymru4
Other parties12
House of Commons Library summary grouping. For 1918–2019, SNP and Plaid Cymru are combined in the Library series and smaller parties are grouped as “Other parties”.