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United Kingdom general election, 2010 facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts

The 2010 United Kingdom General Election was a big event where people across the UK voted to choose who would represent them in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. This is like choosing a team to run the country. The election happened on May 6, 2010, and 650 people were chosen to become Members of Parliament (MPs).

The three main party leaders at the time were:

Davidcameron.jpg Gordon Brown portrait.jpg Nick Clegg by the 2009 budget cropped.jpg
David Cameron
Conservative Party Leader		 Gordon Brown
Labour Party Leader		 Nick Clegg
Liberal Democrat Leader

What Happened After the Election?

The election had an interesting result: a hung parliament. This means that no single political party won enough seats (more than half) to be in charge all by themselves. This hadn't happened in the UK since 1974!

The Conservative Party won the most seats, with 307 out of 650. But this wasn't enough for them to have a majority. So, they decided to team up with another party, the Liberal Democrats. This team-up is called a coalition. Together, the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats had enough seats to form a government. This was the first coalition government in the UK since World War II.

On May 11, 2010, David Cameron, the leader of the Conservative Party, became the new Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, became the Deputy Prime Minister. Before the election, Gordon Brown, the leader of the Labour Party, was the Prime Minister.

TV Debates

This election was special because it was the first time the leaders of the three main parties had live TV debates together. Millions of people watched them!

  • The first debate was about things happening inside the UK. Many people thought Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg did the best. After this, support for the Liberal Democrats grew a lot.
  • The second debate was about how the UK deals with other countries. In this debate, Nick Clegg and David Cameron were seen as doing well.
  • The third and final debate was about money and taxes. Most people thought David Cameron performed the best in this one.

Big Changes in Parliament

The 2010 election brought some big changes:

Election Results by Party

Here are the final results for the main political parties in the election:

One seat was won by an Independent candidate (someone not part of a political party). The seat of Buckingham was won by John Bercow, who was the Speaker of the House of Commons and not linked to any political party.

Images for kids

  • David Cameron official

    David Cameron

  • Gordon Brown official (cropped)

    Gordon Brown

  • Conservative Party posters

    An election sign in a residential property.

  • Nick Griffin, talking to voters

    Nick Griffin, leader of the British National Party, talking to voters in Romford Market.

  • Polling station 6 may 2010

    Polling station in Camberwell

  • Polling station on Aire Road in Wetherby, West Yorkshire (6th May 2010)

    A polling station in Wetherby, West Yorkshire

  • 2010 UK General Election Gallagher Index

    This chart shows how the number of seats won by parties didn't perfectly match the percentage of votes they got. The Liberal Democrats got fewer seats than their votes suggested.

  • Chartinguk20100506electionvotesandseats

    This chart shows the proportion of seats won (outer ring) compared to the proportion of votes received (inner ring) for each party.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Elecciones generales del Reino Unido de 2010 para niños

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