1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

1989 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

15 June 1989
81 seats to the European Parliament
Turnout	36.4% (3.8%)
First party Second party   Lab Con Leader Barry Seal Christopher Prout Party Labour Conservative Alliance PES EPP Leader's seat Yorkshire West Shropshire and Stafford Last election 32 seats, 34.8% 45 seats, 38.8% Seats won 45 32 Seat change 13 13 Popular vote 6,153,640 5,331,077 Percentage 38.7% 33.7% Swing 3.9% 5.1%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results.

The 1989 European Parliament election, was the third European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 15 June. The electoral system was First-past-the-post voting in England, Scotland and Wales and Single transferable vote in Northern Ireland. The turnout was again the lowest in Europe.

This election saw the best performance ever by the Green Party (UK) (formerly the Ecology Party), collecting over 2 million votes and 15% of the vote share. It had only received 70,853 as the Ecology Party in the previous election. However, because of the first past the post system, the Green Party did not gain a single MEP, while the Scottish National Party received 1 seat with only 3% of the vote share. The Green Party's vote total of 2,299,287 remains its best performance in a national election, as does its percentage result of 14.5%.

The election also saw Labour overtake the Conservatives for the first time in any election since October 1974 and the first time ever in a European election, winning 13 more seats.

Two by-elections to the British Parliament also took place on the same day in the Vauxhall and Glasgow Central constituencies - Labour held both seats.

Results

United Kingdom

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain
	Labour	6,153,661	38.7	3.9	45	55.6	13
	Conservative	5,356,887	33.7	5.1	32	39.5	13
	Green	2,299,287	14.5	14.0	0
	SLD	944,861	5.9	12.6	0
	SNP	406,686	2.6	1.0	1	1.2
	DUP	160,110	1.0	0.6	1	1.2
	SDLP	136,335	0.9	0.2	1	1.2
	UUP	118,785	0.7	0.4	1	1.2
	Plaid Cymru	115,062	0.7	0.1	0
	SDP	75,886	0.5	New	0
	Sinn Féin	48,914	0.3	0.4	0
	Alliance	27,905	0.2		0
	Independent	12,724	0.1		0
	Ind. Conservative	6,996	0.0		0
	Workers' Party	5,590	0.0	0.1	0
	Labour Representation Group	3,540	0.0	New	0
	Communist	4,420	0.0	New	0
	Monster Raving Loony	4,263	0.0	New	0
	Mebyon Kernow	4,224	0.0	New	0
	Wessex Regionalist	2,332	0.0		0
	International Communist	1,567	0.0	New	0
	National Front	1,471	0.0	New	0
	Humanist	1,349	0.0	New	0
	Labour Party NI	1,274	0.0	New	0
	Socialist (GB)	919	0.0	New	0
	Corrective	707	0.0	New	0
	Communist League	323	0.0	New	0

• Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 36% (EU average: 59%)
• Overall votes cast: 15,896,078

Great Britain

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain
	Labour	6,153,661	40.1	3.6	45	57.7	13
	Conservative	5,331,098	34.7	6.1	32	41.0	13
	Green	2,292,718	14.9	14.4	0
	SLD	944,861	6.2	13.3	0
	SNP	406,686	2.6	0.9	1	1.3
	Plaid Cymru	115,062	0.7	0.1	0
	SDP	75,886	0.5	New	0
	Independent	12,724	0.1		0
	Ind. Conservative	6,996	0.0		0
	Communist	4,420	0.0	New	0
	Monster Raving Loony	4,263	0.0	New	0
	Mebyon Kernow	4,224	0.0	New	0
	Wessex Regionalist	2,332	0.0		0
	International Communist	1,567	0.0	New	0
	National Front	1,471	0.0	New	0
	Humanist	1,349	0.0	New	0
	Socialist (GB)	919	0.0	New	0
	Corrective	707	0.0	New	0
	Communist League	323	0.0	New	0

Total votes cast: 15,361,267

Northern Ireland

Party		Candidate(s)	Seats	Loss/Gain	First Preference Votes
					Number	% of vote
	DUP	Ian Paisley	1	0	160,110	29.9
	SDLP	John Hume	1	0	136,335	25.5
	UUP	Jim Nicholson	1	0	118,785	22.2
	Sinn Féin	Danny Morrison	0	0	48,914	9.1
	Alliance	John Alderdice	0	0	27,905	5.2
	NI Conservatives	Myrtle Boal	0	0	25,789	4.8
	Green	Malcolm Samuel	0	0	6,569	1.2
	Workers' Party	Seamus Lynch	0	0	5,590	1.0
	Labour Representation	Mark Langhammer	0	0	3,540	0.7
	Labour '87	Brian Caul	0	0	1,274	0.2

Total votes cast – 534,811.

Party Leaders in 1989

• Labour – Neil Kinnock
• Conservative – Margaret Thatcher
• Green – N/A (the Green Party did not have a leader)
• Social and Liberal Democrats – Paddy Ashdown
• Scottish National Party – Gordon Wilson
• Plaid Cymru – Dafydd Elis Thomas
• Democratic Unionist Party – Ian Paisley
• Social Democratic and Labour Party – John Hume
• Ulster Unionist Party – James Molyneaux

See also

• Elections in the United Kingdom: European elections
• List of members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom (1989–1994)