BRIEFING PAPER Number 02383, 15 August 2019 UK parliamentary by- Compiled by elections since 1945 Sarah Priddy This list notes the number of UK by-elections by session since 1945-46 (Table 1) and gives the results for by-elections since 2005 (Table 2). Note: This chart is available in the Excel spreadsheet which can be downloaded from the landing page for this briefing. When do by-elections happen? A by-election occurs when a seat in the House of Commons becomes vacant during the lifetime of a Parliament (ie between general elections), because the sitting MP dies, resigns, is elevated to the peerage, or becomes ineligible to sit for some other reason. There have been four by-elections in the current 2017 Parliament. Further information on by-elections The by-elections page of the Parliament website provides detailed information on results, including the number of votes cast and percentage share. See the Commons briefing on UK Election Statistics: 1918-2010 for a list of all by- elections in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. www.parliament.uk/commons-library | intranet.parliament.uk/commons-library | [email protected] | @commonslibrary Table 1. Number of by-elections by session since 1945 No. of by- Parliament Session from to elections General Election 5 July 19451 1945-50 1945-46 01-Aug-45 06-Aug-46 21 1946-47 12-Nov-46 20-Oct-47 10 1947-48 21-Oct-47 13-Sep-48 11 1948 14-Sep-48 25-Sep-48 2 1948-49 26-Oct-48 16-Dec-49 8 Total 52 General Election 23 February 1950 1950-51 1950 01-Mar-50 26-Oct-50 5 1950-51 31-Oct-50 04-Oct-51 10 Total 15 General Election 25 October 1951 1951-55 1951-52 31-Oct-51 30-Oct-52 6 1952-53 04-Nov-52 29-Oct-53 13 1953-54 03-Nov-53 25-Nov-54 21 1954-55 30-Nov-54 06-May-55 7 Total 47 General Election 26 May 1955 1955-59 1955-56 07-Jun-55 05-Nov-56 14 1956-57 06-Nov-56 01-Nov-57 15 1957-58 05-Nov-57 23-Oct-58 11 1958-59 28-Oct-58 18-Sep-59 11 Total 51 General Election 8 October 1959 1959-64 1959-60 20-Oct-59 27-Oct-60 3 1960-61 01-Nov-60 24-Oct-60 16 1961-62 31-Oct-61 25-Oct-62 16 1962-63 30-Oct-62 24-Oct-63 13 1963-64 12-Nov-63 31-Jul-64 13 Total 61 General Election 15 October 1964 1964-66 1964-65 27-Oct-64 08-Nov-65 11 1965-66 09-Nov-65 10-Mar-66 2 Total 13 General Election 31 March 1966 1966-70 1966-67 18-Apr-66 27-Oct-67 8 1967-68 31-Oct-67 25-Oct-68 13 1968-69 30-Oct-68 22-Oct-69 7 1969-70 28-Oct-69 29-May-70 9 Total 37 General Election 18 June 1970 1970-74 1970-71 29-Jun-70 28-Oct-71 12 1971-72 02-Nov-71 26-Oct-72 4 1972-73 31-Oct-72 25-Oct-73 10 1973-74 30-Oct-73 08-Feb-73 4 Total 30 General Election 28 February 1974 1974 1974 06-Mar-74 31-Jul-74 1 Total 1 General Election 10 October 1974 1974-79 1974-75 22-Oct-74 12-Nov-75 1 1975-76 19-Nov-75 22-Nov-76 8 1976-77 24-Nov-76 26-Oct-77 7 1977-78 03-Nov-77 24-Oct-78 9 1978-79 01-Nov-78 04-Apr-79 5 Total 30 General Election 3 May 1979 1979-93 1979-80 09-May-79 13-Nov-80 4 1980-81 20-Nov-80 30-Oct-81 4 1981-82 04-Nov-81 28-Oct-82 9 1982-83 03-Nov-82 12-May-83 3 Total 20 General Election 9 June 1983 1983-87 1983-84 15-Jun-83 31-Oct-84 6 1984-85 06-Nov-84 30-Oct-85 2 1985-862 06-Nov-85 07-Nov-86 20 1986-87 12-Nov-86 15-May-87 3 Total 31 General Election 11 June 1987 1987-92 1987-88 17-Jun-87 15-Nov-88 2 1988-89 22-Nov-88 16-Nov-89 6 1989-90 21-Nov-89 01-Nov-90 5 1990-91 07-Nov-90 22-Oct-91 8 1991-92 31-Oct-91 16-Mar-92 3 Total 24 General Election 9 April 1992 1992-97 1992-93 27-Apr-92 05-Nov-93 2 1993-94 18-Nov-93 03-Nov-94 7 1994-95 16-Nov-94 08-Nov-95 5 1995-96 15-Nov-95 17-Oct-96 2 1996-97 23-Oct-96 21-Mar-97 2 Total 18 General Election 1 May 1997 1997-2001 1997-98 07-May-97 19-Nov-98 4 1998-99 24-Nov-98 11-Nov-99 4 1999-2000 17-Nov-99 30-Nov-00 8 2000-01 06-Dec-00 11-May-01 1 Total 17 General Election 7 June 2001 2001-05 2001-02 13-Jun-01 07-Nov-02 2 2002-03 13-Nov-02 20-Nov-03 1 2003-04 26-Nov-03 18-Nov-04 3 2004-05 23-Nov-04 07-Apr-05 0 Total 6 General Election 5 May 2005 2005-10 2005-06 17-May-05 08-Nov-06 5 2006-07 15-Nov-06 30-Oct-07 2 2007-08 06-Nov-07 26-Nov-08 5 2008-09 03-Dec-08 12-Nov-09 2 2009-10 18-Nov-09 08-Apr-10 0 Total 14 General Election 6 May 2010 2010 - 15 2010-12 25-May-10 01-May-12 7 3 2012-13 09-May-12 25-Apr-13 8 2013-14 08-May-13 14-May-14 2 4 2014-15 04-Jun-14 26-Mar-15 4 Total 21 General Election 7 May 2015 2015-16 2015-16 27-May-15 12-May-16 4 2016-17 2016-17 18-May-16 27-Apr-17 7 5 Total 11 General Election 8 June 2017 2017 - 19 2017-19 19-Jun-17 - 5 Total 5 6 Total number of by-elections since 1945 504 Notes 1. Results declared 26 July 1945. 2. The high number of by-elections in 85-86 were due to the resignation, on the same day, of 15 Unionist MPs in Northern Ireland as a protest against the Anglo-Irish agreement. 3. Includes the re-run of the Oldham East and Saddleworth election (see Table 2). 4. South Shield by-election took place in recess on 2 May 2013 5. Does not include Manchester Gorton - seat contested at 2017 GE 6. As at 26 June 2019 Sources Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections 1833-1987 , F.W.S. Craig, 1987, Table 2, p.317 Britain Votes 5 - British Parliamentary Election Results 1988-1992 , Rallings & Thrasher, 1993, p.164 By-elections since the 1992 General Election , Commons Library RP 97/32, Mar 1997 UK Election Statistics: 1918-2012, Commons Library RP12/43, Dec 2012 By-election results 2001-05 , Commons Library RP 05/34, May 2005 By-elections in the 2005-10 Parliament, Parliament website By-elections in the 2010-15 Parliament, Parliament website By-elections in the 2015-17 Parliament, Parliament website By-elections since the 2017 General Election, Parliament website Table 2. By-election results since 2005 Date of by- Constituency Reason for by-election Result New Member election 14/07/2005 Cheadle Death of Patsy Calton (LD) Lib Dem hold Mark Hunter 29/09/2005 Livingston Death of Rt Hon Robin Cook (Lab) Labour hold Jim Devine 09/02/2006 Dunfermline and West Death of Rachel Squire (Lab) Lib Dem gain Willie Rennie Fife 29/06/2006 Blaenau Gwent Death of Peter Law (Ind) Independent hold Dai Davies 29/06/2006 Bromley & Chislehurst Death of Rt Hon Eric Forth (Con) Conservative hold Bob Neill 19/07/2007 Ealing Southall Death of Piara Khabra (Lab) Labour hold Virendra Sharma 19/07/2007 Sedgefield Resignation of Rt Hon Tony Blair Labour hold Phil Wilson (Lab) 22/05/2008 Crewe and Nantwich Death of Gwyneth Dunwoody (Lab) Conservative gain Edward Timpson 26/06/2008 Henley Resignation of Boris Johnson (Con) Conservative hold John Howell 10/07/2008 Haltemprice and Resignation of Rt Hon David Davis Conservative hold Rt Hon David Howden (Con) Davis 24/07/2008 Glasgow East Resignation of David Marshall (Lab) SNP gain John Mason 06/11/2008 Glenrothes Death of John MacDougall (Lab) Labour hold Lindsay Roy 24/07/2009 Norwich North Resignation of Ian Gibson (Lab) Conservative gain Chloe Smith 12/11/2009 Glasgow North East Resignation of Michael Martin Labour win Willie Bain (Speaker) 1 13/01/2011 Oldham East and An election court found Phil Labour hold Debbie Abrahams Saddleworth Woolas (Lab) guilty of the illegal practice of making a false statement about a candidate and declared the election void 2 03/03/2011 Barnsley Central Resignation of Eric Illsley (Lab) Labour hold Dan Jarvis 05/05/2011 Leicester South Resignation of Sir Peter Soulsby Labour hold Jon Ashworth (Lab) 09/06/2011 Belfast West Resignation of Gerry Adams (Sinn Sinn Fein hold Paul Maskey Fein) 30/06/2011 Inverclyde Death of David Cairns (Lab) Labour hold Iain McKenzie 15/12/2011 Feltham and Heston Death of Alan Keen (Lab) Labour hold Seema Malhotra 29/03/2012 Bradford West Resignation of Marsha Singh (Lab) Respect gain George Galloway 15.11.2012 Corby Resignation of Louise Mensch (Con) Labour/Co-op gain Andy Sawford 15.11.2012 Cardiff South and Resignation of Rt Hon Alun Michael Labour/Co-op Stephen Doughty Penarth (Lab/Co-op) hold Date of by- Constituency Reason for by-election Result New Member election 15.11.2012 Manchester Central Resignation of Tony Lloyd (Lab) Labour hold Lucy Powell 29.11.2012 Croydon North Death of Malcolm Wicks (Lab) Labour hold Steve Reed 29.11.2012 Middlesbrough Death of Sir Stuart Bell (Lab) Labour hold Andy McDonald 29.11.2012 Rotherham Resignation of Rt Hon Denis Labour hold Sarah Champion MacShane (Lab) 07.03.2013 Mid-Ulster Resignation of Martin McGuiness Sinn Fein hold Francie Molloy (Sinn Fein) 28.02.2013 Eastleigh Resignation of Chris Huhne (Lib Lib Dem hold Mike Thornton Dem) 02.05.2013 South Shields Resignation of David Miliband (Lab) Labour hold Emma Lewell- Buck 13.02.2014 Wythenshaw and Sale Death of Paul Goggins (Lab) Labour hold Michael Kane East 05/06/2014 Newark Resignation of Patrick Mercer (Ind) Conservative win Robert Jenrick 3 09/10/2014 Clacton Resignation of Douglas Carswell UKIP gain Douglas Carswell (Con)4 09/10/2014 Heywood and Death of Jim Dobbin (Lab) Labour hold Liz McInnes Middleton 20/11/2014 Rochester and Strood Resignation of Mark Reckless UK Independence Mark Reckless (Con)4 Party gain 03/12/2015 Oldham West and Death of Michael Meacher (Lab) Labour hold Jim McMahon Royton 05/05/2016 Sheffield Brightside Death Of Harry Harpham (Lab) Labour hold Gill Furniss and Hillsborough 05/05/2016 Ogmore Resignation of Huw Irranca-Davies Labour hold Chris Elmore (Lab) 16/06/2016 Tooting Resignation of Sadiq Khan (Lab) Labour hold Rosena Allin-Khan 20/10/2016 Batley and Spen Death of Jo Cox (Lab) Labour hold Tracy Brabin 20/10/2016 Witney Resignation of David Cameron Conservative hold Robert Courts (Con) 01/12/2016 Richmond Park Resignation of Zac Goldsmith (Con) Lib Dem gain Sarah Olney 08/12/2016