All 630 seats in the House of Commons 316 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout
75.8%, 1.3%
First party
Second party
Third party
Leader
Harold Wilson
Edward Heath
Jo Grimond
Party
Labour
Conservative
Liberal
Leader since
14 February 1963
28 July 1965
5 November 1956
Leader's seat
Huyton
Bexley
Orkney and Shetland
Last election
317 seats, 44.1%
304 seats, 43.4%
9 seats, 11.2%
Seats won
364[note 1]
253
12
Seat change
47
51
3
Popular vote
13,096,951
11,418,433
2,327,533
Percentage
48.0%
41.9%
8.5%
Swing
3.9%
1.5%
2.7%
Colours denote the winning party—as shown in § Results
Composition of the House of Commons after the election
Prime Minister before election
Harold Wilson
Labour
Prime Minister after election
Harold Wilson
Labour
The 1966 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 31 March 1966. The result was a landslide victory for the Labour Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Harold Wilson.
Wilson decided to call a snap election since his government, elected a mere 17 months previously, in 1964, had an unworkably small majority of only four MPs. The Labour government was returned following this snap election with a much larger majority of 98 seats. This was the last British general election in which the voting age was 21; Wilson's government passed an amendment to the Representation of the People Act in 1969 to include eligibility to vote at age 18, which was in place for the next general election in 1970.
1959 election
MPs
1964 election
MPs
1966 election
MPs
1970 election
MPs
Feb 1974 election
MPs
Cite error: There are <ref group=note> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=note}} template (see the help page).
and 29 Related for: 1966 United Kingdom general election information
This is a list of UnitedKingdomgeneralelections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament...
The 1922 UnitedKingdomgeneralelection was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was won by the Conservative Party, led by Prime Minister Andrew Bonar...
The 1983 UnitedKingdomgeneralelection was held on Thursday 9 June 1983. It gave the Conservative Party under the leadership of Margaret Thatcher the...
The 1918 UnitedKingdomgeneralelection was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday...
The 1966UnitedKingdomgeneralelection in Northern Ireland was held on 31 March with 12 MPs elected in single-seat constituencies using first-past-the-post...
The 2015 UnitedKingdomgeneralelection was held on Thursday 7 May 2015 to elect 650 Members of Parliament (or MPs) to the House of Commons. It was the...
constituencies at the UnitedKingdomgeneralelection on 12 December 2019. The number of seats rose from 646 to 650 at the 2010 generalelection after proposals...
In the UnitedKingdom, generalelections occur at least every five years. About 650 constituencies return a member of Parliament. Prior to 1945, electoral...
Events from the year 1966 in the UnitedKingdom. Monarch – Elizabeth II Prime Minister – Harold Wilson (Labour) 3 January British Rail begins full electric...
run-up to the 1966generalelection, various polling organisations conducted opinion polling to gauge voting intention amongst the general public. Such...
five types of elections in the UnitedKingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the UnitedKingdom (commonly called 'generalelections' when all seats...
the 1966UnitedKingdomgeneralelection until May 1970. The chart below depicts opinion polls conducted for the 1970 UnitedKingdomgeneralelection using...
members of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the UnitedKingdom at the 1959 generalelection, held on 8 October 1959. Notable newcomers to the House...
members of Parliament elected to the Parliament of the UnitedKingdom in the 1970 generalelection held on 18 June. Notable newcomers to the House of Commons...
1966UnitedKingdomgeneralelection List of MPs elected in the 1970 UnitedKingdomgeneralelection List of MPs elected in the February 1974 United Kingdom...
Wilson wins the 1966UnitedKingdomgeneralelection, gaining a 96-seat majority (compared with a single seat majority when the election was called on February...
Global Information
1.3%
