General election: Who won the popular vote? A breakdown of the main parties

5 July 2024, 05:57 | Updated: 5 July 2024, 10:02

Labour has won a landslide majority - but the popular vote paints a more nuanced picture of support for the parties. 

The first past the post system means people vote for who they want to be their local representative in parliament, with 650 MPs elected across the country.

But a party that only wins a handful of seats may have support in areas where they never had a chance of getting an MP elected.

That means they might have a high share of the national vote despite not gaining much representation in parliament.

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The combined national vote for the Labour and Conservative parties sits at 57.6%.

The two-party average is lower than even 1918, when Labour was in third place behind the Liberals, and demonstrates the rising popularity of smaller parties.

Read more:
Analysis: Was this a 'loveless landslide'?
Why this election has shattered records

Voter turnout was the lowest in more than 20 years.

Here's what the popular vote says compared to the number of seats each party won, with 644 out of 650 seats declared.

Labour

As well as a thumping seat majority, Labour also won the popular vote, taking 33.9% of votes across the country.

In 1997, Tony Blair's Labour Party took 43.2% of the popular vote.

Seats won: 410

Number of overall votes: 9,660,081

Conservatives

The Conservatives took 23.6% of the popular vote - the first time in the modern era it has fallen below 30% and a 20-point drop from 2019.

Seats won: 119

Number of overall votes: 6,755,953

Reform

Despite winning just four seats, Reform took 14.3% of the popular vote - the third party by vote share.

The discrepancy between the two led Nigel Farage - newly elected as an MP on his eighth try - to denounce the first past the post system in his victory speech.

Seats won: 4

Number of overall votes: 4,072,947

Liberal Democrats

The Lib Dems won a record number of seats, with 71 so far - but by the popular vote, they lag behind Reform on 12.1%.

Seats won: 71

Number of overall votes: 3,487,568

Greens

The Green Party has taken 6.8% of the popular vote and won four seats.

This is the first time they will have more than one MP in parliament and it's also by far the largest share of the vote they have secured.

Before this, their best performance in the popular vote was in 2019, with 2.9%.

Seats won: 4

Number of overall votes: 1,931,880

SNP

The election has been a disaster for the Scottish National Party, who have lost 38 seats to leave them with just nine.

They won 2.4% of the popular vote.

Seats won: 9

Number of overall votes: 685,405

Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cyrmu held on to its four seats in Wales with 0.7% of the popular vote - a small increase on the 0.5% it gained in 2019.

Seats won: 4

Number of overall votes: 194,811

(c) Sky News 2024: General election: Who won the popular vote? A breakdown of the main parties