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.

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 either the greatest number of seats or the highest vote share.

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 + UK Parliament briefing Party Votes won % of vote Loss/Gain Seats % of seats Loss/Gain 5,426,866 38.8 9.6 45 55.6 15 4,865,224 34.8 3.1 32 39.5 15 2,591,659 18.5 5.9 0 230,594 1.6 0.2 1 1.2 230,251 1.6 0.4 1 1.2 151,399 1.1 1 1.2 147,169 1.1 0.1 1 1.2 103,031 0.8 0.1 0 91,476 0.7 New 0 73,025 0.5 0.4 0 34,046 0.2 0 20,092 0.1 New 0 11,073 0.1 0.1 0 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 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 + UK Parliament briefing Party Votes won % of vote Loss/Gain Seats % of seats Loss/Gain 5,426,866 40.8 9.8 45 57.7 15 4,865,224 36.5 3.5 32 41.0 15 2,591,659 19.5 6.3 0 230,594 1.7 0.2 1 1.3 103,031 0.8 0.1 0 70,853 0.5 0.4 0 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 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

Constituency results

+ ConstituencyConstituency result by partyWinning party 1984ConservativeLabourAlliancePCSNPEcologyOthersBedfordshire South72,08857,10636,444 Birmingham East54,99476,37721,9271,440 Birmingham West55,70261,94619,422 Bristol94,65277,00833,698 Cambridge and Bedfordshire North86,11738,90136,341 Cheshire East71,18252,80631,374 Cheshire West74,57964,88730,470 Cleveland and Yorkshire North73,21752,88731,374 Cornwall and Plymouth81,62735,95263,87610,518 Cotswolds94,74036,73845,798 Cumbria and Lancashire North86,12762,33239,622 Derbyshire72,61379,46630,824 Devon110,12930,01753,5197,278 Dorset East and Hampshire West109,07231,22349,181 Durham44,846106,07332,307 Essex North East97,13842,83634,769 Essex South West72,19056,16929,385 Glasgow25,28291,01520,86716,456 Greater Manchester Central48,75376,83024,1921,430 Greater Manchester East56,41565,10127,8013,158 Greater Manchester West56,04293,74017,894 Hampshire Central84,08639,22839,265 Hereford and Worcester84,07744,14337,8548,179 Hertfordshire87,60341,67140,877 Highlands and Islands18,84716,64433,13349,410 Humberside61,95253,93727,318 Kent East92,34043,47334,6015,405 Kent West85,414 50,78433,306 4,991 Lancashire Central82,37056,17524,936 Lancashire East67,80675,71126,320 Leeds60,17870,53536,097 Leicester72,50869,61629,6563,249 Lincolnshire92,60647,16137,244 London Central64,54577,84230,2697,514 London East61,71173,87026,379 London North74,84669,99331,3444,682 London North East27,24279,90717,3444,797 London North West69,80362,38129,609 London South and Surrey East82,12237,46534,522 London South East81,50861,49338,614989 London South Inner46,18077,66125,3913,281 London South West41,09632,63223,8422,135 London West74,32579,55436,6874,361 Lothians49,06574,98936,63622,3312,560 Merseyside East38,04787,08617,259 Merseyside West52,71865,91537,303 Mid and West Wales52,91089,36235,16832,8804,266 Mid Scotland and Fife52,87280,03824,22030,511 Midlands East67,88455,15527,9121,494 Midlands West54,40674,09117,709 Norfolk95,45958,60237,703 North East Scotland53,80944,64825,49033,448 North Wales69,13954,76856,86138,117 Northamptonshire88,66848,80937,4213,330 Northumbria62,71778,41242,946 Nottingham82,50066,37433,169 Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire94,13639,16445,055 Sheffield47,24793,53023,935 Shropshire and Stafford82,29157,35937,209 Somerset and Dorset West98,92836,86358,677 South of Scotland60,84357,70623,59822,242 South Wales55,67899,93626,58813,201 South Wales East36,359131,91628,33018,833 Staffordshire East68,88676,75326,093 Strathclyde East24,85790,79211,88327,330 Strathclyde West47,19670,23425,95528,866 Suffolk88,24341,14534,084 Surrey West96,67522,53144,087 Sussex East102,28732,21336,6665,401 Sussex West104,25722,85746,7553,842 Thames Valley74,92836,12332,704 Tyne and Wear39,61089,02419,081 Wight and Hampshire East96,66636,44553,738 Wiltshire86,87335,45760,404 York80,63644,23433,356 Yorkshire South30,27198,02019,306 Yorkshire South West44,29188,46426,964 Yorkshire West65,40586,25928,709

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

References