by Daniel Barge
Landslide elections in the UK are typically characterized by a party securing a significant majority of seats in the House of Commons, often with a relatively high share of the popular vote.
It seems however that the recent "landslide" won by Labour in the UK General Election is the crappiest landslide in British political history, with the winning party gaining a pathetic 33% of the vote (or 20% of the electorate) and relying on the blatantly dysfunctional UK electoral system to gain overwhelming power for the next 5 years.
Don't believe me? Well look at the stats. Here are all the landslide elections over the last 100 years, with the number of seats, ranked according to vote percentage:
1931 General Election
National Government (primarily Conservative) led by Stanley Baldwin
Vote Share: 55.0%
Seats Won: 554 out of 615
1959 General Election
Conservative Party led by Harold Macmillan
Vote Share: 49.4%
Seats Won: 365 out of 630
1945 General Election
Labour Party led by Clement Attlee
Vote Share: 47.8%
Seats Won: 393 out of 640
1924 General Election
Conservative Party led by Stanley Baldwin
Vote Share: 47.2%
Seats Won: 412 out of 615
2019 General Election
Conservative Party led by Boris Johnson
Vote Share: 43.6%
Seats Won: 365 out of 650
1997 General Election
Labour Party led by Tony Blair
Vote Share: 43.2%
Seats Won: 418 out of 659
1983 General Election
Conservative Party led by Margaret Thatcher
Vote Share: 42.4%
Seats Won: 397 out of 650
2001 General Election
Labour Party led by Tony Blair
Vote Share: 40.7%
Seats Won: 413 out of 659
2024 General Election
Labour Party led by Keir Starmer
Vote Share: 33.7%
Seats Won: 412 out of 650
As you can see Labour's "landslide" is something of a freak result caused by electoral anomalies and the fact that Reform UK played a successful "spoiler" role without winning much themselves. Combined, the Conservative and Reform UK vote would have been 39%, and would have created a landslide that would have destroyed Labour under the present electoral system.
Even worse, almost nobody who voted Labour voted for Labour. A recent YouGov poll revealed the entirely vacuous reasons for the Labour vote.
Top 5 reasons why people voted Labour:
Even worse, almost nobody who voted Labour voted for Labour. A recent YouGov poll revealed the entirely vacuous reasons for the Labour vote.
Top 5 reasons why people voted Labour:
(1) Get the Tories out: 48%
(2) Country needs a change: 13%
(3) Agree with their policies: 5%
(3) To improve NHS4%
(4) Best-liked party with a change of winning: 4%
Only 5% of Labour voters actually voted Labour because of Labours' policies. Yes, that's 5% of 33.7%, which means that 1.6% of the voters or about 1% of the electorate actually voted for Labour and not against the Tories, etc., and with that Labour got around 60% of the seats. You couldn't make this up.
Only 5% of Labour voters actually voted Labour because of Labours' policies. Yes, that's 5% of 33.7%, which means that 1.6% of the voters or about 1% of the electorate actually voted for Labour and not against the Tories, etc., and with that Labour got around 60% of the seats. You couldn't make this up.
Unsurprising honestly, this whole election seemed mostly like just a giant middle finger to the Tories. You reap what you sow I suppose.
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