1945 United Kingdom general election — national election in the United Kingdom
Labour's 1945 landslide gave the party its first outright majority, enabling the creation of the postwar welfare state and the NHS.
Key Facts
- Labour majority
- 146 seats
- Labour popular vote
- 49.7%
- Conservative seats lost
- 189
- Swing to Labour
- 11.7%
- New MPs elected
- 324 (record until 2024)
- Labour seats gained
- 239
By the Numbers
Location
Cause → Event → Consequence
Following six years of wartime coalition government, public concern mounted over unemployment and social conditions remembered from the 1930s. Voters questioned whether Churchill and the Conservatives could manage domestic reconstruction, while Labour's Clement Attlee had demonstrated administrative competence as Deputy Prime Minister. Labour had led voting-intention polls since 1943, despite Churchill's personal popularity as a wartime leader.
On 5 July 1945, the United Kingdom held a general election in which Labour won 393 seats with 49.7% of the vote, defeating the Conservative-led government of Winston Churchill. The 11.7% swing to Labour was the largest since the Acts of Union 1800. The result delivered Labour its first outright parliamentary majority of 146 seats, and Clement Attlee became Prime Minister.
Attlee's government used its majority to implement sweeping postwar reforms, laying the foundations of the welfare state and establishing the National Health Service. The Conservatives, shocked by losing 189 seats despite Churchill's prestige, entered opposition. The Liberal National Party, which lost 22 seats including its leader's, merged with the Conservatives in 1947. Churchill later returned as Prime Minister after the 1951 general election.
Political Outcome
Labour won a landslide majority of 146 seats; Clement Attlee replaced Winston Churchill as Prime Minister.
Conservative-led coalition government under Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Labour majority government under Prime Minister Clement Attlee