1999 European Parliament Election In The United Kingdom

It was held on 10 June 1999. Following the European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999, it was the first European election to be held in the United Kingdom where the whole country used a system of proportional representation. In total, 87 Members of the European Parliament were elected from the United Kingdom across twelve new regional constituencies.

1999 European Parliament election in the United Kingdom

← 1994 10 June 1999 2004 →
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All 87 seats of the United Kingdom's seats in the European Parliament
Turnout	24.0% (12.4%)
First party Second party Third party   Lab Leader Edward McMillan-Scott Alan Donnelly Robert Teverson Party Conservative Labour Liberal Democrats Alliance EPP PES ALDE Leader since 16 September 1997 1997 1994 Leader's seat Yorkshire and the Humber North East England South West England (defeated) Last election 18 seats, 26.8% 62 seats, 42.6% 2 seats, 17% Seats before 18 62 2 Seats won 36 29 10 Seat change 18 33 8 Popular vote 3,578,218 2,803,821 1,266,549 Percentage 33.5% 26.3% 11.9% Swing 6.5% 16.4% 4.3%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   UKIP Green Leader Michael Holmes N/A Alex Salmond Party UKIP Green SNP Alliance N/A European Green Party European Free Alliance Leader since September 1997 N/A 22 September 1990 Leader's seat N/A N/A N/A Last election 0 seats, 1.0% 0 seats, 3.0% 2 seats, 3.1% Seats before 0 0 2 Seats won 3 2 2 Seat change 3 2 Popular vote 696,057 568,236 268,528 Percentage 6.5 5.3 2.5 Swing 5.5 2.3% 0.6%
Colours denote the winning party, as shown in the main table of results
Leader of Largest Party before election Tony Blair Labour Subsequent Leader of Largest Party William Hague Conservative

The change in voting system resulted in significant changes in seats. The Conservatives won double the number of seats they had won in the previous European election, in 1994, while the Labour Party saw its seats reduced from 62 to 29. The Liberal Democrats saw their number of seats increase to 10 from just 2 in the previous election. The UK Independence Party (UKIP), Green Party and Plaid Cymru gained their first seats in the European Parliament.

A by-election to the British Parliament also took place on the same day in the Leeds Central constituency - Labour held the seat but with significantly reduced turnout.

The House of Commons Library calculated notional seat changes based on what the result would have been if the 1994 European elections had been held under proportional representation. The notional results and seat changes are shown in the results box for this article.

It was the first European Parliament election to be held since the 1997 general election which resulted in a change of government from Conservative to Labour.

Turnout was 24%, the lowest of any member state in the 1999 election where the EU average was 49.51%. It was also the lowest of any European election in the United Kingdom, and the lowest of any member state until the 2009 election and to date is the lowest turnout for any national election in the history of the United Kingdom.

Electoral system

The European Parliamentary Elections Act 1999 introduced a closed-list party list system method of proportional representation, calculated using the D'Hondt method into Great Britain. In Northern Ireland, the Single Transferable Vote, which is also a form of proportional representation, which had been used since the first European election in 1979 was retained. The Act also created twelve new electoral regions, which were based on the British government's nine administrative Regions of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The effect of the introduction of proportional representation was that many small parties won seats to the European Parliament for the first time.

United Kingdom

 

The Conservatives doubled the number of seats from the last European election. Labour saw their 62 seats reduced to just 29. It was the first European Parliament election to be held since the change of United Kingdom government from Conservative to Labour two years earlier. The Liberal Democrats saw their number of seats increase to 10 from just 2 in the previous election. The UK Independence Party, Green Party and Plaid Cymru won their first seats in the European Parliament.

These changes were largely due to the move to proportional representation from first-past-the-post. The House of Commons Library calculated that if the 1994 European elections had been held under proportional representation, Labour would have won 43 MEPs, the Conservatives 26, the Lib Dems 11, the SNP 3 and Plaid Cymru 1.

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Change	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain vs actual '94 result	Loss/Gain vs notional '94 result
	Conservative	3,578,218	33.5	6.5	36	41.4	18	10
	Labour	2,803,821	26.3	16.4	29	33.3	33	14
	Liberal Democrats	1,266,549	11.9	4.3	10	11.9	8	1
	UKIP	696,057	6.5	5.6	3	3.4	3	3
	Green	568,236	5.3	2.3	2	2.4	2	2
	SNP	268,528	2.5	0.6	2	2.3		1
	DUP	192,762	1.8	0.8	1	1.1
	SDLP	190,731	1.8	0.8	1	1.1
	Plaid Cymru	185,235	1.7	0.7	2	2.3	2	1
	Pro-Euro Conservative	138,097	1.3	New	0
	Ulster Unionist	119,507	1.1	0.3	1	1.1
	Sinn Féin	117,643	1.1	0.8	0
	BNP	102,647	1.0	New	0
	Liberal	93,051	0.9	0.3	0
	Socialist Labour	86,749	0.8	New	0
	Scottish Green	57,142	0.5	0.4	0
	Scottish Socialist	39,720	0.4	New	0
	PUP	22,494	0.2	New	0
	Natural Law	21,327	0.2	0.4	0
	UK Unionist	20,283	0.2	New	0
	Alliance	14,391	0.1		0
	Socialist Alliance	7,203	0.1	New	0
	Humanist	2,586	0.0	New	0
	Weekly Worker	1,724	0.0	New	0
	Socialist (GB)	1,510	0.0	New	0
	Others	84,872	0.8		0
Total		10,681,083			87	100
Source: BBC News, UK Parliament Briefing

Great Britain

Summary of the election results for Great Britain

Party		Votes won	% of vote	Loss/Gain	Seats	% of seats	Loss/Gain vs actual '94 result	Loss/Gain vs notional '94 result
	Conservative	3,578,218	35.8	7.9	36	42.9	18
	Labour	2,803,821	28.0	16.1	29	34.5	33
	Liberal Democrats	1,266,549	12.7	4.1	10	11.9	8
	UKIP	696,057	7.0	6.0	3	3.6	3	3
	Green	568,236	6.3	2.6	2	2.4	2	2
	SNP	268,528	2.7	0.5	2	2.4		1
	Plaid Cymru	185,235	1.9	0.8	2	2.4	2	1
	Pro-Euro Conservative	138,097	1.4	New	0
	BNP	102,647	1.0	New	0
	Liberal	93,051	0.9	0.3	0
	Socialist Labour	86,749	0.9	New	0
	Scottish Green	57,142	0.6	0.4	0
	Scottish Socialist	39,720	0.4	New	0
	Natural Law	20,329	0.4	0.2	0
	Socialist Alliance	7,203	0.1	New	0
	Humanist	2,586	0.0	New	0
	Weekly Worker	1,724	0.0	New	0
	Socialist (GB)	1,510	0.1	New	0
	Others	84,872	0.8		0
Total		10,002,273			84	100
Source: BBC News, UK Parliament Briefing

Northern Ireland

Summary of the election results for Northern Ireland

MEPs defeated

Labour

• Angela Billingham (East Midlands)
• Sue Waddington (East Midlands)
• Veronica Hardstaff (East Midlands)
• Clive Needle (East of England)
• Peter Truscott (East of England)
• David Thomas (East of England)
• Carole Tongue (London)
• Shaun Spiers (London)
• Mary Honeyball (London)
• Michael Elliot (London)
• Dr Gordon Adam (North East)
• Tony Cunningham (North West)
• Mark Hendrick (North West)
• Hugh McMahon (Scotland)
• Anita Pollack (South East England)
• Ian White (South West England)
• Joe Wilson (Wales)
• David Morris (Wales)
• Michael Tappin (West Midlands)
• David Hallam (West Midlands)
• Roger Barton (Yorkshire and the Humber)
• Barry Seal (Yorkshire and the Humber)

Liberal Democrat

• Robin Teverson (South West England)

Conservative

• Edward Kellett-Bowman (South East England)
• Bryan Cassidy (South West England)

Pro-Euro Conservative Party

• John Stevens, former Conservative MEP (South East England)
• Brendan Donnelly, former Conservative MEP (West Midlands)

Independent Labour

• Christine Oddy, former Labour MEP (West Midlands)

Scottish Socialist Party

• Hugh Kerr, former Labour MEP (Essex West and Hertfordshire East)

Leeds Left Alliance

• Ken Coates, former Labour MEP (East Midlands)

Labour's results brought about a debate within the party about the introduction of proportional representation. In September 1998, a poll of 150 MPs had found that 58% backed the introduction of proportional representation. A follow-up poll ran on the Sunday after the election found that this had decreased to 43%, with the majority wanting a return to the first-past-the-post system. It has also been argued, however, that the introduction of proportional representation actually reduced Labour's losses, as first-past-the-post is more sensitive to swings in public opinion.

• Elections in the United Kingdom: European elections
• List of members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom (1999–2004)
• Members of the European Parliament for the United Kingdom 1999–2004 by region