From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on June 18, 1970, and resulted in a surprise loss of power for Labour under Harold Wilson, who was replaced as Prime Minister by the Conservative leader, Edward Heath. The election was also a setback for the Liberal Party under its new leader Jeremy Thorpe, which lost half its seats. The Conservatives, when combined with the Ulster Unionists, held a majority of 31 over all other parties.
Most opinion polls prior to the election had predicted a comfortable Labour victory, and had put Labour 12.4% ahead of the Conservatives. However on the day, a late swing put the Conservatives 3.4% ahead.
| Party | Votes | Seats | Loss/Gain | Share of Vote (%) |
| Conservative | 13,145,123 | 330 | + 77 | 46.4 |
| Labour | 12,080,977 | 288 | - 76 | 43.1 |
| Liberal | 2,117,035 | 6 | - 6 | 7.5 |
| SNP | 306,802 | 1 | + 1 | 1.1 |
| Plaid Cymru | 175,016 | 0 | 0.6 | |
| Unity | 113,924 | 2 | + 2 | 0.4 |
| Labour (NI) | 98,914 | 0 | 0.3 | |
| National Unity | 70,378 | 0 | 0.2 | |
| Communist | 37,970 | 0 | 0.1 | |
| Protestant Unionist | 35,303 | 1 | + 1 | 0.1 |
| Republican Labour | 30,649 | 1 | 0.1 | |
| Nationalist (NI) | 27,006 | 0 | 0.1 | |
| National Democrat | 24,625 | 0 | 0.1 | |
| Indepdent Labour | 17,120 | 0 | 0.1 | |
| Democratic | 15,292 | 0 | 0.0 | |
| National Front | 11,449 | 0 | 0.0 |
The Conservative figure includes 8 Ulster Unionists.
