1984 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

The 1984 European Parliament election was the second European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 14 June. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single transferable vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe. In England, Scotland and Wales, the Liberal Party and Social Democratic Party were in alliance, collecting 2,591,635 votes but not a single seat.

1984 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

← 1979 14 June 1984 1989 →
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81 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	32.6% (0.2%)
First party Second party   Leader Henry Plumb Barbara Castle Party Conservative Labour Alliance EPP PES Leader's seat Cotswolds Greater Manchester West Last election 60 seats, 48.4% 17 seats, 31.6% Seats won 45 32 Seat change 15 15 Popular vote 5,426,866 4,865,224 Percentage 38.8% 34.8% Swing 9.6% 3.1%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

The election represented a small recovery for Labour, under Michael Foot's replacement Neil Kinnock, taking 15 seats from the Conservatives. In the general election of 1983, they had only had a vote share of 2% more than the SDP–Liberal Alliance (although they had nearly 10 times more MP's elected) and 15% less than the Conservatives. This was the last European election in the UK in which the governing party won a majority of seats.

A by-election to the British Parliament also took place on the same day in the Portsmouth South constituency – the Alliance gained the seat from the Conservatives.

Results

United Kingdom

Source: UK Parliament briefing

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain
	Conservative	5,426,866	38.8	9.6	45	55.6	15
	Labour	4,865,224	34.8	3.1	32	39.5	15
	Alliance	2,591,659	18.5	5.9	0
	SNP	230,594	1.6	0.2	1	1.2
	DUP	230,251	1.6	0.4	1	1.2
	SDLP	151,399	1.1		1	1.2
	UUP	147,169	1.1	0.1	1	1.2
	Plaid Cymru	103,031	0.8	0.1	0
	Sinn Féin	91,476	0.7	New	0
	Ecology	73,025	0.5	0.4	0
	Alliance	34,046	0.2		0
	UPUP	20,092	0.1	New	0
	Independent	11,073	0.1	0.1	0
	Workers' Party	8,712	0.1		0
	Independent Ecology	3,330	0.0	New	0
	Ind. Conservative	3,249	0.0		0
	Ind. Liberal	2,981	0.0	New	0
	Wessex Regionalist	2,365	0.0	New	0
	Cornish Nationalist	1,892	0.0	New	0
	Federal Republican Party	1,494	0.0	New	0

• Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 32.6% (EC average: 61%)
• Overall votes cast: 13,998,190

Great Britain

Source: UK Parliament briefing

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain
	Conservative	5,426,866	40.8	9.8	45	57.7	15
	Labour	4,865,224	36.5	3.5	32	41.0	15
	Alliance	2,591,659	19.5	6.3	0
	SNP	230,594	1.7	0.2	1	1.3
	Plaid Cymru	103,031	0.8	0.1	0
	Ecology	70,853	0.5	0.4	0
	Independent	11,073	0.1	0.1	0
	Independent Ecology	3,330	0.0	New	0
	Ind. Conservative	3,249	0.0		0
	Ind. Liberal	2,981	0.0	New	0
	Wessex Regionalist	2,365	0.0	New	0
	Cornish Nationalist	1,892	0.0	New	0
	Federal Republican Party	1,494	0.0	New	0

Total votes cast – 13,312,898. All parties listed.

Northern Ireland

Source: Northern Ireland Social and Political Archive

1984 European Parliament election: Northern Ireland^[1]

Party		Candidate	FPv%	Count
				1	2	3	4
	DUP	Ian Paisley	33.6	230,251
	UUP	John Taylor	21.5	147,169	185,714
	SDLP	John Hume	22.1	151,399	151,664	156,310	183,256
	Sinn Féin	Danny Morrison	13.3	91,476	91,525	92,644	93,079
	Alliance	David Cook	5.0	34,046	34,892	37,401
	UPUP	James Kilfedder	2.9	20,092	38,293	38,854
	Workers' Party	Seamus Lynch	1.3	8,712	8,813
	Ecology	Colin McGuigan	0.3	2,172	2,236
Electorate: 1,065,363   Valid: 685,317   Spoilt: 11,654   Quota: 171,330   Turnout: 696,994

Constituency results

Source:

Constituency	Constituency result by party							Winning party 1984
	Conservative	Labour	Alliance	PC	SNP	Ecology	Others
Bedfordshire South	72,088	57,106	36,444						Conservative
Birmingham East	54,994	76,377	21,927				1,440		Labour
Birmingham West	55,702	61,946	19,422						Labour
Bristol	94,652	77,008	33,698						Conservative
Cambridge and Bedfordshire North	86,117	38,901	36,341						Conservative
Cheshire East	71,182	52,806	31,374						Conservative
Cheshire West	74,579	64,887	30,470						Conservative
Cleveland and Yorkshire North	73,217	52,887	31,374						Conservative
Cornwall and Plymouth	81,627	35,952	63,876				10,518		Conservative
Cotswolds	94,740	36,738	45,798						Conservative
Cumbria and Lancashire North	86,127	62,332	39,622						Conservative
Derbyshire	72,613	79,466	30,824						Labour
Devon	110,129	30,017	53,519				7,278		Conservative
Dorset East and Hampshire West	109,072	31,223	49,181						Conservative
Durham	44,846	106,073	32,307						Labour
Essex North East	97,138	42,836	34,769						Conservative
Essex South West	72,190	56,169	29,385						Conservative
Glasgow	25,282	91,015	20,867		16,456				Labour
Greater Manchester Central	48,753	76,830	24,192				1,430		Labour
Greater Manchester East	56,415	65,101	27,801			3,158			Labour
Greater Manchester West	56,042	93,740	17,894						Labour
Hampshire Central	84,086	39,228	39,265						Conservative
Hereford and Worcester	84,077	44,143	37,854			8,179			Conservative
Hertfordshire	87,603	41,671	40,877						Conservative
Highlands and Islands	18,847	16,644	33,133		49,410				SNP
Humberside	61,952	53,937	27,318						Conservative
Kent East	92,340	43,473	34,601			5,405			Conservative
Kent West	85,414	50,784	33,306			4,991			Conservative
Lancashire Central	82,370	56,175	24,936						Conservative
Lancashire East	67,806	75,711	26,320						Labour
Leeds	60,178	70,535	36,097						Labour
Leicester	72,508	69,616	29,656				3,249		Conservative
Lincolnshire	92,606	47,161	37,244						Conservative
London Central	64,545	77,842	30,269				7,514		Labour
London East	61,711	73,870	26,379						Labour
London North	74,846	69,993	31,344				4,682		Conservative
London North East	27,242	79,907	17,344				4,797		Labour
London North West	69,803	62,381	29,609						Conservative
London South and Surrey East	82,122	37,465	34,522						Conservative
London South East	81,508	61,493	38,614				989		Conservative
London South Inner	46,180	77,661	25,391				3,281		Labour
London South West	41,096	32,632	23,842				2,135		Conservative
London West	74,325	79,554	36,687				4,361		Labour
Lothians	49,065	74,989	36,636		22,331		2,560		Labour
Merseyside East	38,047	87,086	17,259						Labour
Merseyside West	52,718	65,915	37,303						Labour
Mid and West Wales	52,910	89,362	35,168	32,880			4,266		Labour
Mid Scotland and Fife	52,872	80,038	24,220		30,511				Labour
Midlands East	67,884	55,155	27,912				1,494		Conservative
Midlands West	54,406	74,091	17,709						Labour
Norfolk	95,459	58,602	37,703						Conservative
North East Scotland	53,809	44,648	25,490		33,448				Conservative
North Wales	69,139	54,768	56,861	38,117					Conservative
Northamptonshire	88,668	48,809	37,421				3,330		Conservative
Northumbria	62,717	78,412	42,946						Labour
Nottingham	82,500	66,374	33,169						Conservative
Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire	94,136	39,164	45,055						Conservative
Sheffield	47,247	93,530	23,935						Labour
Shropshire and Stafford	82,291	57,359	37,209						Conservative
Somerset and Dorset West	98,928	36,863	58,677						Conservative
South of Scotland	60,843	57,706	23,598		22,242				Conservative
South Wales	55,678	99,936	26,588	13,201					Labour
South Wales East	36,359	131,916	28,330	18,833					Labour
Staffordshire East	68,886	76,753	26,093						Labour
Strathclyde East	24,857	90,792	11,883		27,330				Labour
Strathclyde West	47,196	70,234	25,955		28,866				Labour
Suffolk	88,243	41,145	34,084						Conservative
Surrey West	96,675	22,531	44,087						Conservative
Sussex East	102,287	32,213	36,666			5,401			Conservative
Sussex West	104,257	22,857	46,755			3,842			Conservative
Thames Valley	74,928	36,123	32,704						Conservative
Tyne and Wear	39,610	89,024	19,081						Labour
Wight and Hampshire East	96,666	36,445	53,738						Conservative
Wiltshire	86,873	35,457	60,404						Conservative
York	80,636	44,234	33,356						Conservative
Yorkshire South	30,271	98,020	19,306						Labour
Yorkshire South West	44,291	88,464	26,964						Labour
Yorkshire West	65,405	86,259	28,709						Labour

See also

• Elections in the United Kingdom: European elections
• List of members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom (1984–1989)