2017 UK general election, as everyone thought it would go

United Kingdom General Election 2017
(all 650 constituencies)

Conservative & Unionist Party, 364
Labour Party, 210
Scottish National Party, 31
Liberal Democrats, 21
Democratic Unionist Party [Ulster], 9
Sinn Fein [Ulster], 6
Plaid Cymru, 4
Alliance Party [Ulster], 1
Green Party of England & Wales, 1
Social Democratic & Labour Party [Ulster], 1
Speaker Seeking Re-election, 1
Ulster Unionist Party [Ulster], 1


The 2017 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 8 June 2017, two years after the previous general election in 2015. The governing Conservative Party remained the largest single party in the House of Commons and increased its overall majority.

The Conservative Party, which had governed as a senior coalition partner from 2010 and as a single-party majority government from 2015, was defending a working majority of 17 seats against the Labour Party, the official opposition led by Jeremy Corbyn. Under the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 an election had not been due until May 2020, but a call by Prime Minister Theresa May for a snap election was ratified by the necessary two-thirds vote in the House of Commons on 19 April 2017. May said that she hoped to secure a larger majority to "strengthen [her] hand" in the forthcoming Brexit negotiations.

Opinion polls had consistently shown strong leads for the Conservatives over Labour. From a 21-point lead, the Conservatives' lead began to diminish in the weeks as the campaign came to a close before rebounding suddenly in the last few days. In an ultimately expected result, the Conservative Party made a net increase of 34 seats while winning 44.5% of the vote (its highest share of the vote since 1983), whereas Labour suffered a net loss of 22 seats with 30.5% (almost equal to 2015). This was the widest result between the two major parties since June 1983. The Scottish National Party (SNP) and the Liberal Democrats, the third- and fourth-largest parties, both lost vote share; media coverage characterised the result as a return to two-party politics. The SNP, which had won 56 of the 59 Scottish seats at the previous general election in 2015, lost 25: many of those only held with thin majorities. The Liberal Democrats made a net gain of thirteen seats, generally at the expense of Labour, exceeding expectations. UKIP, the third-largest party in 2015 by number of votes, saw its share of the vote reduced from 12.6% to 1.8% and lost its only seat.

In Wales, Plaid Cymru gained one seat, giving it a total of four seats. The Green Party retained its sole seat, but saw its share of the vote reduced. In Northern Ireland, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) won 9 seats, Sinn Féin won six, the Alliance Party & the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) & the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) each won a single seat. In an upset, the Independent Unionist Sylvia Hermon failed to retain her seat.

Negotiation positions following the UK's invocation of Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union in March 2017 to leave the EU were expected to feature significantly in the campaign, but did not. The campaign was interrupted by two major terrorist attacks: Manchester and London Bridge; thus national security became a prominent issue in its final weeks.

In light of the Conservative victory, May significantly reshuffled her Cabinet including the sacking of Philip Hammond as Chancellor of the Exchequer to be replaced by former Home Secretary Amber Rudd. Stunning success in Scotland for the Conservatives, led by Ruth Davidson, would change the political dynamics north of the border. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn resigned in light of the result though after a protracted ‘period of reflection’.

{much of the write-up here comes from, with changes, this: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_United_Kingdom_general_election }