January 1910 United Kingdom general election
British general election 1910
The January 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910 to elect all 670 members of the House of Commons. Called amid a constitutional crisis after the Conservative-dominated House of Lords rejected the People's Budget, the Liberal government, seeking a mandate, lost their majority.
The result was a hung parliament: Arthur Balfour’s Conservatives and their Liberal Unionist allies won the most votes, but Asquith’s Liberals secured the most seats, edging out the Conservatives by two. With Irish Parliamentary Party support, Asquith remained in power. Another election followed in December.
The Labour Party, led by Arthur Henderson, returned 40 MPs. Much of this apparent increase (from the 29 Labour MPs elected in 1906) came from the defection, a few years earlier, of Lib Lab MPs from the Liberal Party to Labour.
Results
Voting summary
Seats summary
Aftermath
Liberals had to rely on the Irish Parliamentary Party and Labour for their parliamentary majority. As the price for their continued support, the Irish nationalists demanded measures to remove the Lords' veto so that they could no longer block Irish Home Rule. The Lords accepted the electoral mandate and approved the People's Budget on 28 April 1910, but contention between the government and the Lords continued throughout the year.
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