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United Kingdom general election, 2001

Election NameUnited Kingdom general election, 2001
CountryUnited Kingdom
Typeparliamentary
Ongoingno
Previous ElectionUnited Kingdom general election, 1997
Previous Year1997
Previous MpsMPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1997
Next ElectionUnited Kingdom general election, 2005
Next Year2005
Next MpsMPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 2005
Seats For ElectionAll 659 seats to the House of Commons
Majority Seats330
Elected MpsMembers elected
Election Date7 June 2001
Leader1Tony Blair
Leader Since121 July 1994
Party1Labour Party (UK)
Leaders Seat1Sedgefield
Last Election1418 seats, 43.2%
Seats1413
Seat Change1(-)6
Popular Vote110,724,953
Percentage140.7%
Swing1(-) 2.5 points
Leader2William Hague
Leader Since219 June 1997
Party2Conservative Party (UK)
Leaders Seat2Richmond (Yorks)
Last Election2165 seats, 30.7%
Seats2166
Seat Change2(+)1
Popular Vote28,357,615
Percentage231.7%
Swing2(+) 1.0 point
Leader3Charles Kennedy
Leader Since39 August 1999
Party3Liberal Democrats
Leaders Seat3Ross, Skye and Inverness West
Last Election346 seats, 16.8%
Seats352
Seat Change3(+)6
Popular Vote34,814,321
Percentage318.3%
Swing3(+) 1.5 point
Map CaptionThe linked map's colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.
TitlePM
PosttitleSubsequent PM
Before ElectionTony Blair
Before PartyLabour Party (UK)
After ElectionTony Blair
After PartyLabour Party (UK)

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The United Kingdom general election, 2001 was held on Thursday 7 June 2001 to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. It was dubbed "the quiet landslide" by the media, as the Labour Party was re-elected with another landslide result and only suffered a net loss of 6 seats. Tony Blair went on to become the first Labour Prime Minister to serve a full second consecutive term in office.

There was little change at all � outside Northern Ireland � with 620 out of 641 seats remaining unchanged. Labour boasted a strong economy, as well as having delivered on many key election pledges made in 1997. The Conservative Party, under William Hague's leadership, was still deeply divided on the issue of Europe and the party's policy platform was considered to have shifted to a right-wing focus. Hague was also hindered by a series of embarrassing publicity stunts, which overshadowed his talents as a skilled orator.

The election was essentially a repeat of the 1997 election, with Labour losing a mere 6 seats overall and the Conservatives making a net gain of 1 seat (gaining 9 seats, but losing 8). The Conservatives did manage to gain a seat in Scotland, which ended the party's status as an 'England-only' party in the 1997 � 2001 parliament. For the Liberal Democrats, success in the form of 6 new seats was achieved. Conservative leader William Hague resigned immediately, becoming the first Conservative leader since Austen Chamberlain to leave office without becoming Prime Minister.

Change was seen in Northern Ireland, with the moderately unionist Ulster Unionist Party losing 4 seats to the more hardline Democratic Unionist Party. This transition was mirrored in the republican community with the moderate SDLP losing votes to the more staunchly republican and abstentionist Sinn Féin. The election was also marked with exceptionally low voter turnout, falling below 60% for the first time in British history. The election was broadcast live on the BBC, and presented by Jeremy Paxman, Andrew Marr, Peter Snow and David Dimbleby.


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