The European Parliament Election, 1994 was the fourth European election to be held in the United Kingdom. It was held on 5 June. The electoral system was First Past the Post in England, Scotland and Wales and Single Transferable Vote in Northern Ireland. This was the first election with 87 MEPs, the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1993 had increased the number of seats for the UK from 81. For the time, the UK did not get the lowest turnout in Europe. This was the first European election the UK Independence Party competed in and the first European election the Liberal Democrats won seats. The Conservatives performance in the election was very poor, losing a further 14 seats, taking their number of seats down to 18, which was 42 less seats than in the 1979 election, the year they defeated the Labour Government in the 1979 General Election. The Green Party was unable to build on its highly successful performance of the previous election, losing more than 3/4 of its votes.
- Overall (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) turnout: 36.8% (EU average: 57%)
- Overall votes cast: 15,852,589
England, Scotland and Wales
| Party
| Votes
| Seats
| Loss/Gain
| Share of Vote (%)
|
| Labour
| 6,753,881
| 62
| +17
| 44
|
| Conservative
| 4,268,539
| 18
| -13
| 28
|
| Liberal Democrat
| 2,557,887
| 2
| +2
| 17
|
| Green Party
| 494,561
| 0
| 0
| 3
|
| Scottish National Party
| 487,237
| 2
| +1
| 3
|
| Plaid Cymru
| 162,472
| 0
| 0
| 1
|
| UK Independence Party
| 150,251
| 0
| 0
| 1
|
| Liberal Party
| 100,500
| 0
| 0
| 1
|
| Natural Law Party
| 96,554
| 0
| 0
| 1
|
| Others
| 220,834
| 0
| 0
| 1
|
Total votes cast - 15,292,722
Northern Ireland
| Party
| Seats
| Loss/Gain
| First Preference Votes
|
| Number
| % of vote
|
| Democratic Unionist Party (DUP)
| 1
| 0
| 163,246
| 29
|
| Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP)
| 1
| 0
| 161,992
| 29
|
| Ulster Unionist Party (UUP)
| 1
| 0
| 133,459
| 24
|
| Sinn Fein (SF)
| 0
| 0
| 55,215
| 10
|
| Alliance Party of Northern Ireland (APNI)
| 0
| 0
| 23,157
| 4
|
| Ulster Independence Movement
| 0
| 0
| 7,858
| 1
|
| Conservative
| 0
| 0
| 5,583
| 1
|
| Workers Party
| 0
| 0
| 2,543
| <1
|
| Natural Law Party
| 0
| 0
| 2,291
| <1
|
| Others
| 0
| 0
| 4,523
| 1
|
Total votes cast - 559,867
Party Leaders on 5 June 1994
See Also
