1986 Northern Ireland by-elections
Main article: Northern Ireland by-elections, 1986
In Northern Ireland there were fifteen by-elections held on 23 January 1986, to fill vacancies in the Parliament of the United Kingdom caused by the resignation in December 1985 of all sitting Unionist Members of Parliament (MPs). The MPs, from the Ulster Unionist Party, Democratic Unionist Party and Ulster Popular Unionist Party, did this to highlight their opposition to the Anglo-Irish Agreement. Each of their parties agreed not to contest seats previously held by the others, and each outgoing MP stood for re-election. All but one of the Unionists were re-elected, many with extremely large majorities, against pro-Agreement or in some cases Irish Republican opponents. The largest of all majorities went to Ian Paisley in North Antrim. He won 97.4% of the vote, the highest percentage polled by any candidate in a UK by-election since the 1940 Middleton and Prestwich by-election.
The sole exception to this pattern was the Newry and Armagh by-election, where Seamus Mallon of the Irish nationalist and pro Anglo-Irish Agreement Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) was able to take the seat. The results of the fifteen by-elections were cited by Unionists as a rejection of the Agreement by the Northern Irish electorate, but the action did not succeed in convincing the government of Margaret Thatcher to repeal the accord.
Shares of the vote in general elections since 1832 received by Conservatives[note 1] (blue), Liberals/Liberal Democrats[note 2] (orange), Labour (red) and others (grey).[1][2]
In 1801, at the time of the establishment of the United Kingdom, the right to vote was a severely restricted practice. Universal suffrage, on an equal basis for men and women over the age of 21, was established in 1929. Before 1918, general elections did not occur on a single day and polling was spread over several weeks. The date given in the table for elections prior to 1918 is the date Parliament assembled after the election, which could be in the year after the general election.
The majority figure given is for the difference between the number of MPs elected at the general election from the party (or parties) of the government, as opposed to all other parties (some of which may have been giving some support to the government, but were not participating in a coalition). The Speaker is excluded from the calculation. If the party in office changed the figure is re-calculated, but no allowance is made for changes after the general election. No attempt is made to define a majority before 1832, when the Reform Act disenfranchised the rotten boroughs; before then the Tory party had an undemocratically entrenched dominance. Particularly in the early part of the period the complexity of factional alignments, with both the Whig and Tory traditions tending to have some members in government and others in opposition factions simultaneously, make it impossible to produce an accurate majority figure. The figures between 1832 and about 1859 are approximate due to problems of defining what was a party in government, as the source provides figures for all Liberals rather than just the Whig component in what developed into the Liberal Party. The Whig and Peelite Prime Ministers in the table below are regarded as having the support of all Liberals.
Source for majority calculations up to 1999: British Electoral Facts 1832-1999, compiled and edited by Colin Rallings and Michael Thrasher (Ashgate 2000)
Election |
Date |
Prime Minister(s) |
Winning Party |
Majority |
Notes |
1802 (MPs) |
22 July 1802 |
Henry Addington William Pitt the Younger The Lord Grenville |
Tory Tory (Pittite who called himself a Whig) Whig |
... |
|
1806 (MPs) |
17 November 1806 |
The Lord Grenville The Duke of Portland |
Whig Tory (Pittite who called himself a Whig) |
... |
|
1807 (MPs) |
22 June 1807 |
The Duke of Portland Spencer Perceval The Earl of Liverpool |
Tory (Pittite who called himself a Whig) Tory Tory |
... |
|
1812 (MPs) |
24 November 1812 |
The Earl of Liverpool |
Tory |
... |
|
1818 (MPs) |
4 August 1818 |
The Earl of Liverpool |
Tory |
... |
|
1820 (MPs) |
16 January 1821 |
The Earl of Liverpool |
Tory |
... |
|
1826 (MPs) |
19 June 1826 |
The Earl of Liverpool George Canning The Viscount Goderich The Duke of Wellington |
Tory Tory Tory Tory |
... |
|
1830 (MPs) |
9 August 1830 |
The Duke of Wellington The Earl Grey |
Tory Whig |
... |
|
1831 (MPs) |
25 July 1831 |
The Earl Grey |
Whig |
136 |
|
At this point, the Reform Act 1832 gave suffrage to propertied male adults and disenfranchised almost all of the rotten boroughs. |
|
||||
1832 (MPs) |
29 January 1833 |
The Earl Grey The Viscount Melbourne The Duke of Wellington Sir Robert Peel |
Whig Whig Conservative Conservative |
225 (L) -308 (C) |
|
1835 (MPs) |
19 February 1835 |
Sir Robert Peel The Viscount Melbourne |
Conservative Whig |
-113 (C) 113 (L) |
|
1837 (MPs) |
15 November 1837 |
The Viscount Melbourne |
Whig |
29 |
|
1841 (MPs) |
19 August 1841 |
Sir Robert Peel |
Conservative |
77 |
|
1847 (MPs) |
9 August 1847 |
Lord John Russell |
Whig |
−72 |
|
1852 (MPs) |
4 November 1852 |
The Earl of Derby The Earl of Aberdeen |
Conservative Peelite |
7 |
|
1857 (MPs) |
30 April 1857 |
The Viscount Palmerston |
Liberal |
100 |
|
1859 (MPs) |
31 May 1859 |
The Viscount Palmerston |
Liberal |
59 |
|
1865 (MPs) |
1 February 1866 |
The Earl Russell The Earl of Derby Benjamin Disraeli |
Liberal Conservative Conservative |
81 |
|
At this point, the Reform Act 1867 significantly widened the suffrage and disenfranchised more smaller boroughs. |
|
||||
1868 (MPs) |
10 December 1868 |
William Ewart Gladstone |
Liberal |
115 |
|
1874 (MPs) |
5 March 1874 |
Benjamin Disraeli |
Conservative |
49 |
|
1880 (MPs) |
29 April 1880 |
William Ewart Gladstone |
Liberal |
51 |
|
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1884 extended the borough franchise of 1867 to the counties, increasing the electorate to about 5,500,000 men. |
|
||||
1885 (MPs) |
12 January 1886 |
The Marquess of Salisbury William Ewart Gladstone |
Conservative Liberal |
−172 |
|
1886 (MPs) |
5 August 1886 |
The Marquess of Salisbury |
Conservative |
116 |
|
1892 (MPs) |
4 August 1892 |
William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery |
Liberal |
−126 |
|
1895 (MPs) |
12 August 1895 |
The Marquess of Salisbury |
Conservative |
153 |
|
1900 (MPs) |
3 December 1900 |
The Marquess of Salisbury Arthur Balfour |
Conservative |
135 |
The "khaki" election. |
1906 (MPs) |
13 February 1906 |
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman Herbert Henry Asquith |
Liberal |
129 |
|
January 1910 (MPs) |
15 February 1910 |
Herbert Henry Asquith |
Liberal |
−122 |
|
December 1910 (MPs) |
31 January 1911 |
Herbert Henry Asquith David Lloyd George |
Liberal |
−126 |
|
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1918 gave suffrage to most of the adult population (men over 21, women over 30). |
|
||||
1918 (MPs) |
14 December 1918 |
David Lloyd George |
Liberal (Coalition Government) |
238 |
The "coupon" election |
1922 (MPs) |
15 November 1922 |
Andrew Bonar Law Stanley Baldwin |
Conservative |
74 |
|
1923 (MPs) |
6 December 1923 |
James Ramsay MacDonald |
Labour |
−98 |
|
1924 (MPs) |
29 October 1924 |
Stanley Baldwin |
Conservative |
210 |
|
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1928 gave universal suffrage to the adult population over 21. |
|
||||
1929 (MPs) |
30 May 1929 |
James Ramsay MacDonald |
Labour |
−42 |
The "flapper" election |
1931 (MPs) |
27 October 1931 |
James Ramsay MacDonald |
National Labour (National Government) |
492 |
|
1935 (MPs) |
14 November 1935 |
Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill Winston Churchill |
Conservative (National Government) Conservative (National Government) Conservative (Wartime Coalition) Conservative (National Government) |
242 242 609 242 |
|
1945 (MPs) |
5 July 1945 |
Clement Attlee |
Labour |
146 |
|
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1948 abolished plural voting, university constituencies and the few remaining two member constituencies. |
|
||||
1950 (MPs) |
23 February 1950 |
Clement Attlee |
Labour |
5 |
|
1951 (MPs) |
25 October 1951 |
Sir Winston Churchill Sir Anthony Eden |
Conservative |
17 |
|
1955 (MPs) |
26 May 1955 |
Sir Anthony Eden Harold Macmillan |
Conservative |
54 |
|
1959 (MPs) |
8 October 1959 |
Harold Macmillan Sir Alec Douglas-Home |
Conservative |
100 |
|
1964 (MPs) |
15 October 1964 |
Harold Wilson |
Labour |
4 |
|
1966 (MPs) |
31 March 1966 |
Harold Wilson |
Labour |
96 |
|
At this point, the Representation of the People Act 1969 gave suffrage to the adult population over 18. |
|
||||
1970 (MPs) |
18 June 1970 |
Edward Heath |
Conservative |
31 |
|
February 1974 (MPs) |
28 February 1974 |
Harold Wilson |
Labour |
−33 |
Hung Parliament |
October 1974 (MPs) |
10 October 1974 |
Harold Wilson James Callaghan |
Labour |
3 |
|
1979 (MPs) |
3 May 1979 |
Margaret Thatcher |
Conservative |
43 |
|
1983 (MPs) |
9 June 1983 |
Margaret Thatcher |
Conservative |
144 |
|
1987 (MPs) |
11 June 1987 |
Margaret Thatcher John Major |
Conservative |
102 |
|
1992 (MPs) |
9 April 1992 |
John Major |
Conservative |
21 |
|
1997 (MPs) |
1 May 1997 |
Tony Blair |
Labour |
179 |
|
2001 (MPs) |
7 June 2001 |
Tony Blair |
Labour |
167 |
|
2005 (MPs) |
5 May 2005 |
Tony Blair Gordon Brown |
Labour |
66 |
|
2010 (MPs) |
6 May 2010[3] |
David Cameron |
Conservative (formed coalition with Liberal Democrats) |
79 |
Hung Parliament |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note: A negative majority means that there was a hung parliament (or minority parliament) following that election. For example, in the 1929 election, Labour was 42 seats short of forming a majority, and so its majority is listed as −42. In the case of the 2010 election, the combined majority for the coalition was 79.
|
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Elections
and referendums in the United Kingdom