And in Scotland outside the Central Belt (where Labour won a sweeping victory) the election was a very different four-way race: bsky.app/profile/malv...

MAmalvarezrivera.bsky.socialAug 8, 2024 4:36pm

Labour also made significant gains in the rest of Scotland, where it went from no seats in 2019 to a plurality of one (albeit not of votes) in a four-way contest with SNP, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats: /END

Labour also made significant gains in the rest of Scotland, where it went from no seats in 2019 to a plurality of one (albeit not of votes) in a four-way contest with SNP, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats: /END

To be certain, most of the constituencies where Labour's overall majority was decided last July 4 are located in England, but I should note they're spread across the different English regions, with the largest figures in the South East (15) and the West Midlands (14). bsky.app/profile/malv...

MAmalvarezrivera.bsky.socialAug 8, 2024 12:26pm

In the U.K. general election held last month, Labour's massive parliamentary majority was decided in 87 constituencies won by the party with majorities ranging from 15 to 3,713 votes. 77 of these constituencies were located in England, six in Scotland and four in Wales. 1/

However, although a switch of 82,771 votes in the cited constituencies to the second-placed candidates would have left Labour short of an overall majority, it would have been able to form a government due to the refusal of Sinn Féin MPs to take their seats in Westminster. /END

As I noted in my earlier replies, none of the 57 Scottish constituencies had both Labour and Conservative candidates in the top two places, and in Wales there were just eight (out of 32 Welsh constituencies). That said, in England there were 298 (of 543).

In the remaining eight constituencies in Wales Labour and the Conservatives had the two spots, with just over two-thirds of the vote between themselves:

Now, among the 24 Welsh constituencies with a third party in first or second place, 13 had Reform UK as the runner-up, eight had PC either winning or in second place, the Lib Dems won one and came second in another, and the Greens came second in one. Labour and the Tories won together just over 50%.

In all of Scotland SNP finished either first or second in every constituency, while Labour and the Conservatives won between themselves 48% of the vote:

Thus in half of Great Britain Labour and the Conservatives polled together just over two-thirds of the vote last July 4, but in the other half their combined share fell to just below 51% - and the Tories finished third seat-wise, well behind the Liberal Democrats. /END

Meanwhile, in 326 constituencies - including all 57 in Scotland and 24 of 32 in Wales - a third-party or independent candidate either won or came in second (in eight constituencies both Labour and the Conservatives were out of the top two): 2/