The Commons chamber during the Queen's Speech debate on 25 May 2010, as Liberal Democrat MP Don Foster seconds the loyal address.
These are graphical representations of the House of Commons showing a comparison of party strengths as it was directly after the 2010 general election and before the 2015 general election:
This table shows the number of MPs in each party:
Notes:
The Scottish National Party and Plaid Cymru sat together as a party group.
Sinn Féin did not take its seats.
This is not the official seating plan of the House of Commons, which has five rows of benches on each side, with the government party to the right of the speaker and opposition parties to the left, but with room for only around two-thirds of MPs to sit at any one time.
In addition to the parties listed in the table above, the Co-operative Party was also represented in the House of Commons by Labour MPs sitting with the Labour Co-operative designation. The number of these MPs was 28 after the general election, and was 31 at dissolution.[2][3]
List of MPs elected in the general election
The following table is a list of MPs elected, ordered by constituency. As the constituency boundaries changed for this election, the "notional incumbent" column lists the party estimated to have won the seat at the 2005 election, had that election been conducted under the new boundaries.
Names of incumbents are listed where they stood for re-election; for details of defeated new candidates and the incumbent who stood down in those cases see individual constituency articles.
Changes and by-elections
After a general election, changes can occur in the composition of the House of Commons. This happens as a result of the election of Deputy Speakers, by-elections, defections, suspensions or removal of whip.
The net outcome of all changes at the dissolution of Parliament resulted in four fewer Conservative MPs, two fewer Labour MPs, one fewer Liberal Democrat MP, four more independent MPs, the addition of one Respect MP and the addition of two UKIP MPs. This resulted in a reduction of the actual government majority from eighty-three to seventy-three. Both Respect and UKIP were previously unrepresented in the fifty-fifth Parliament. This was the first time that candidates standing for UKIP had been elected to the House of Commons.
Deputy Speakers
Although Deputy Speakers do not resign from their parties, they cease to vote (except to break ties) and they do not participate in party-political activity until the next election.
Nigel Evans (Con, Ribble Valley) was elected First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means and held the position until his resignation on 10 September 2013.[6]
Eleanor Laing (Con, Epping Forest) was elected First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means on 16 October 2013.[7]
By-elections
By-elections are held for seats that become vacant, although if a vacancy occurs close to a general election, the seat may remain vacant for the remainder of the Parliament.[8]
Defections, suspensions and resignations
In some situations, the label which MPs sit in the House of Commons under can change. When this happens, MPs often become independents.
Progression of Government majority and party totals
^"Current State of the Parties: Dissolution of Parliament". Parliament of the United Kingdom. Retrieved 7 May 2015.
^"Annual Report 2010". party.coop. Co-operative Party. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
^"Annual Report 2014". party.coop. Co-operative Party. Retrieved 26 July 2024.
^ a b"Labour MP charged over expenses". BBC News. 19 May 2010. Retrieved 19 May 2010.
^"Labour suspends MP Eric Joyce after Commons 'assault'". BBC News. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
^ a b"Nigel Evans to carry on as independent MP despite sex charges". BBC News. 11 September 2013. Retrieved 11 September 2013.
^"Conservative MP Eleanor Laing elected deputy Speaker". BBC News. 16 October 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
^"Tory MP Douglas Carswell defects to UKIP and forces by-election". BBC News. 28 August 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
^Curtis, Polly (5 November 2010). "Phil Woolas immigration leaflets case: high court orders election re-run in Oldham East". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 5 November 2010.
^Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster. "House of Commons Hansard, 8 November 2010: Column 1". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
^"Lib Dems slump to sixth as Labour win Barnsley poll". BBC News. 4 March 2011.
^ a bEaton, George (6 August 2012). "Labour is set for three by-election victories". New Statesman. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
^"MP Bell dies after cancer battle". Bradford Telegraph & Argus. 13 October 2012. Retrieved 13 October 2012.
^Watt, Holly (2 November 2012). "MPs' expenses scandal: Denis MacShane resigns". The Daily Telegraph. London. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
^Siddique, Haroon (14 October 2010). "Labour withdraws whip from former minister facing police inquiry". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
^"Denis MacShane MP Rejoins Labour Group". English Elections. Retrieved 21 May 2013.
^"Labour suspends MP Eric Joyce after Commons 'assault'". BBC News. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
^"Nadine Dorries suspended as Tory MP in I'm a Celebrity row". BBC News. 6 November 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2012.
^"Nadine Dorries reinstated as Conservative MP". BBC News. 8 May 2013. Retrieved 8 May 2013.
^Syal, Rajeev (31 May 2013). "Tory MP Patrick Mercer resigns from party after lobbying sting". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 31 May 2013.
^ a b"Former Tory MP Mercer resigns after Commons suspension". BBC News. 29 April 2014. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
^"MP Mike Hancock suspended by Lib Dems". BBC News. 22 January 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2014.
^"Andy McSmith's Diary: One Lib Dem MP the party can live without". The Independent. London. 18 September 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2014.
^Syal, Rajeev (18 July 2013). "Lib Dems withdraw party whip from MP David Ward over Israel comment". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
^O'Donoghue, Gary (18 July 2013). "MP David Ward has Lib Dem whip withdrawn over Israel comment". BBC News. Retrieved 22 July 2013.
^"Lib Dems get Israel warning". The Jewish Chronicle. 17 September 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2013.
^"MP Nigel Evans rejoins Conservatives". BBC News. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2014.
^"Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw have whip withdrawn over 'sting'". BBC News. 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.