January 1910 United Kingdom general election

January 1910 United Kingdom general election

← 1906 15 January – 10 February 1910 (1910-01-15 – 1910-02-10) Dec 1910 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 670 seats in the House of Commons 336 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	86.8% (3.6 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader H. H. Asquith Arthur Balfour John Redmond Party Liberal Conservative and Liberal Unionist Irish Parliamentary Leader since 30 April 1908 11 June 1902 6 February 1900 Leader's seat East Fife City of London Waterford City Last election 397 seats, 48.9% 156 seats, 43.4% 82 seats, 0.6% Seats won 274 272 71 Seat change 123 116 11 Popular vote 2,712,511 2,919,236 74,047 Percentage 43.5% 46.8% 1.2% Swing 5.4% 3.4% 0.6%   Fourth party Fifth party   Leader Arthur Henderson William O'Brien Party Labour All-for-Ireland Leader since 22 January 1908 March 1909 Leader's seat Barnard Castle North East Cork Last election 29 seats, 4.8% Did not contest Seats won 40 8 Seat change 11 8 Popular vote 435,770 23,605 Percentage 7.0% 0.4% Swing 2.2% 0.4%
Colours denote the winning party
Composition of the House of Commons following the election.
Prime Minister before election H. H. Asquith Liberal Prime Minister after election H. H. Asquith Liberal

The January 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. The government called the election in the midst of a constitutional crisis caused by the rejection of the People's Budget by the Conservative-dominated House of Lords, in order to get a mandate to pass the budget.

The general election resulted in a hung parliament, with the Conservative Party led by Arthur Balfour and their Liberal Unionist allies receiving the most votes, but the Liberals, who were now led by H. H. Asquith following the death of Henry Campbell-Bannerman in 1908, winning the most seats, returning two more MPs than the Conservatives. Asquith's government remained in power with the support of the Irish Parliamentary Party, led by John Redmond. Another general election was soon held 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.