United Kingdom general election, 2005 facts for kids

Tony Blair Labour Party Leader	Michael Howard Conservative Party Leader	Charles Kennedy Liberal Democrat Leader

The 2005 United Kingdom General Election was a big vote held on May 5, 2005. People across the UK chose 646 members to join the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. This is a very important part of the UK's Parliament. The three main leaders hoping to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom are shown on the right.

In this election, the Labour Party won the most seats. Their leader, Tony Blair, became Prime Minister for the third time in a row. However, the Labour Party did lose 47 of their seats in Parliament. They also got fewer votes than in the 2001 election. Many people think this happened because of Tony Blair's decision to send soldiers to Iraq in 2003. This decision was not popular with everyone.

Election Results: Who Won?

• Labour Party (355 Members of Parliament, 35.2% of votes)
• Conservative Party (198 Members of Parliament, 32.4% of votes)
• Liberal Democrats (62 Members of Parliament, 22.0% of votes)
• UK Independence Party (0 Members of Parliament, 2.2% of votes)
• Scottish National Party (6 Members of Parliament, 1.5% of votes) - Only in Scotland
• Green Party (0 Members of Parliament, 1.0% of votes) - Only in England and Wales
• Democratic Unionist Party (9 Members of Parliament, 0.9% of votes) - Only in Northern Ireland
• British National Party (0 Members of Parliament, 0.7% of votes)
• Plaid Cymru (3 Members of Parliament, 0.6% of votes) - Only in Wales
• Sinn Fein (5 Members of Parliament, 0.6% of votes) - Only in Northern Ireland
• Ulster Unionist Party (1 Member of Parliament, 0.5% of votes) - Only in Northern Ireland
• Social Democratic and Labour Party (3 Members of Parliament, 0.5% of votes) - Only in Northern Ireland
• Respect Party (1 Member of Parliament, 0.3% of votes)

Some areas, called constituencies, like Blaenau Gwent and Wyre Forest, chose independent candidates. These candidates do not belong to a specific political party. The area of Glasgow East elected Michael Martin, who was the Speaker of the House of Commons. The Speaker does not belong to any political party.

The next general election in the UK was held five years later, on May 6, 2010. You can learn more about it here: United Kingdom general election, 2010.

More Information

MPs elected in the UK general election, 2005

Images for kids

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  Tony Blair, Labour Party Leader

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  Michael Howard, Conservative Party Leader

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  Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrat Leader

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  Unofficial tellers outside a polling station

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  Votes cast by age group: Conservative, Labour, Liberal Democrats, other parties, and those not voting.

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  The percentage of votes each party gained.

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  This chart shows how fair the election results were, based on the Gallagher Index.

See also

In Spanish: Elecciones generales del Reino Unido de 2005 para niños