UK General Election 2015 Facts

Figures given are for 2015 with 2010 figures, where found, in brackets for comparison.

• Overall turnout:  66.1% (65.1%). Around 30% of MPs are now women.
• Percentages of votes cast nationally: Conservative 36.9% (36.1%); Labour 30.4% (29%); Liberal Democrat 7.9% (12.9%); UKIP 12.9% (3.1%); SNP 4.7% (1.7%). [Could not find figures for all parties.]

• First past post voting: Con 331; Lab 232; SNP 56; Lib Dem 8; Plaid Cymru 3; UKIP 1; Green 1.
• If a form of Proportional Representation (alternative voting) was in place it is estimated this would have resulted in: Con 256; unspecified number for Lab; UKIP 83; Lib Dem 50; SNP 25; Green 20.

If votes cast for each party are divided by the number of seats won, then it takes c. 300,000 to elect an SNP member, 1.2 million to elect a Green member, 3.9 million to elect a UKIP member. Numbers not found for Con, Lab and Lib Dem seats but thought to be less than 300,000.

Key factors in the Conservative victory were (a) incumbent governments usually have an advantage, (b) the economy is ok even if not brilliant, (c) their strategy relied on the fears of a formal or informal Labour/SNP alliance and (d) that a Labour government would threaten continued economic recovery.

In a study of 599 of the 650 newly elected MPs:

• 32% went to private schools (48% of Conservatives, 17% of Labour, 14% of Lib Dems and just 5% of SNP); of these almost one in ten went to Eton. By contrast, only 7% of the general population went to private schools.
• Female MPs were less likely to have attended private schools at 24% (men 35%).
• 49% of MPs were educated at comprehensive schools (up 43% in 2010). The study shows that almost 66% of Labour MPs and 33% of Conservatives, 57% of Liberal Democrats and 90% of Scottish Nationalist MPs went to comprehensives.
• Some 19% of the new House of Commons went to state grammar schools (from 24% in 2010).
• 9 out of 10 MPs are graduates; 26% hold degrees from Oxford or Cambridge; a further 28% hold degrees from the highly ranked Russell Group of universities.

BBC News website (1 June 2015): The 2015 general election was the "most disproportionate in British history", the Electoral Reform Society has said. In a new analysis the society - which campaigns to change the voting system - has assessed how the make up of Parliament would have differed had other voting systems been used. Read article.

More on the 2015 election.

• Before the 2015 election, 27 of the 59 richest hedge fund managers sponsored the Conservatives. Once in power, they then gave special exemption on stamp duty on stock market transactions by hedge funds resulting in lost tax income of £145 million.
• Government plans to build 200,000 new homes for first time buyers resulted in no new homes being built. Announced in 2014, the legislation was never passed. While £175 million was spent on acquiring sites, all are now being used for housing more generally.

Various sources