1979 vs 1983 general election: what changed

How vote shares and seats changed between the 1979 and 1983 UK general elections, nationally and in every nation and region. Conservative–Labour swing: 4.0 points to the Conservatives.

Con–Lab swing: 4.0 ptsto the Conservatives
1979: Con 339largest party
1983: Con 397largest party

United Kingdom
Party	Share 1979	Share 1983	Change	Seats 1979	Seats 1983	Change
Conservative	43.9%	42.4%	−1.5	339	397	+58
Labour	37.0%	27.6%	−9.4	269	209	−60
SDP–Liberal Alliance	—	25.4%	—	—	23	+23
Ulster Unionist Party	0.8%	0.9%	0	5	11	+6
Democratic Unionist Party	0.2%	0.5%	+0.3	3	3	0
Scottish National Party	1.6%	1.1%	−0.5	2	2	0
Plaid Cymru	0.4%	0.4%	0	2	2	0
Others	1.6%	0.8%	−0.8	3	1	−2
Social Democratic and Labour Party	0.4%	0.5%	0	1	1	0
Sinn Féin	—	0.3%	—	—	1	+1
Liberal	13.8%	—	—	11	—	−11

Nations and regions

Region	Top party 1979	Top party 1983	Con–Lab swing	Seats
England	Con 306	Con 362	4.3 pts to Con	516 → 523
Scotland	Lab 44	Lab 41	1.7 pts to Con	71 → 72
Wales	Lab 22	Lab 20	5.0 pts to Con	36 → 38
Northern Ireland	UUP 5	UUP 11	0.0 pts to Lab	12 → 17
North East	Lab 26	Lab 23	3.9 pts to Con	31 → 30
North West	Lab 48	Con 39	1.7 pts to Con	82 → 79
Yorkshire and the Humber	Lab 34	Lab 28	4.5 pts to Con	54 → 54
East Midlands	Con 24	Con 34	5.4 pts to Con	40 → 42
West Midlands	Con 31	Con 36	3.4 pts to Con	56 → 58
East of England	Con 39	Con 48	6.0 pts to Con	45 → 51
London	Con 50	Con 56	3.8 pts to Con	92 → 84
South East	Con 69	Con 76	5.1 pts to Con	72 → 77
South West	Con 38	Con 44	4.9 pts to Con	44 → 48

Constituency boundaries changed between 1979 and 1983, so seats cannot be compared one by one. The national and regional figures above are comparable.

Official results House of Commons Library and UK Parliament election results data. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. How we use this data