General Election 1992 (July)

The UK General Election 1992 (July), was a re-run of the 1992 Election of April. This was because the Liberal Democrats refused to support a Conservative government and did not have enough MPs for a majority with Labour.

Debates
Two debates were broadcast for the July 1992 election, up one from the April election. The first debate was held in Dover and Edinburgh West (the first national debate to be held in Scotland). Both of these seats had changed hands in the April election. Instant polling suggested that Neil Kinnock won the Dover debate, whilst Paddy Ashdown won the Edinburgh debate.

Polling
National polling for the election showed the Tories leading Labour by roughly 3%. Polls were weighted to account for the difference between polls and results at the April election. The beginning of the campaign saw polling at 37% (Labour), 40% (Conservatives) and 18% (Liberal Democrats). This would create a near re-run of results from last time round.

Final polling
Final polling of the campaign saw the Labour party at around 41%, the Tories at 40% and the Liberal Democrats at 14%. This was a massive shock to Liberal Democrats, who would see their vote share fall by over 20% of the results achieved in April. This shocked the wheels of Liberal Democrat ground support into action.

Exit Poll
The BBC released this exit poll. It suggested that the night would be incredibly close, with Labour ahead of the Tories by 26 seats. The result would give the Liberal Democrats the opportunity, to support a Labour government, despite an apparent fall in vote share. The change in seats was versus the 1987 election.

Final results
Final results gave Labour the largest number of seats. The Liberal Democrats were put in a near government position. Labour formed a coalition government with the Liberal Democrats, holding a government with 336 seats to the Tories 291.