The election was often referred to as the "
Flapper Election", because it was the first in which women aged 21–29 had the right to vote (owing to the
Representation of the People Act 1928). Women over 30, with some property qualifications, had been able to vote since the
1918 general election, but the 1929 vote was the first general election with
universal suffrage for adults over 21, which was then the
age of majority.
The election was fought against a background of rising
unemployment, with the memory of the
1926 general strike still fresh in voters' minds. By 1929, the
Cabinet was being described by many as "old and exhausted".[2]
The Liberals campaigned on a comprehensive programme of public works under the title "We Can Conquer Unemployment". There was anticipation of a potential revival of the Liberal Party after the reunification of
Independent Liberals and
National Liberals now under Lloyd George's leadership since 1926 and following some victories in a series of recent by-elections after 1926.[3] The incumbent Conservatives campaigned on the theme of "Safety First", with Labour campaigning on the theme of "Labour & the Nation".
This was the first general election to be contested by the newly formed Welsh nationalist party
Plaid Cymru.
It stood as the last time when a third party polled more than one-fifth of the popular vote until
1983. The Liberals performed more successfully than at the previous general election in 1924, but could not regain its pre-
World War I status as a party of government.[3] The next election thus ushered in five decades in which
two-party politics dominated.
In some cases, the change is owing to the MP having defected to the gaining party, and then retaining the seat in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a *.
In other circumstances, the change is owing to the seat having been won by the gaining party in a by-election in the intervening years, and then retained in 1929. Such circumstances are marked with a †.
Doerr, Paul W. (1998), British foreign policy 1919–1939, Manchester: Manchester University Press,
ISBN0719046718
Further reading
Howell, David (2002), MacDonald's Party: Labour Identities and Crisis, 1922–1939, Oxford
Redvaldsen, David (2010), "'Today is the Dawn': The Labour Party and the 1929 General Election", Parliamentary History, 29 (3): 395–415,
doi:
10.1111/j.1750-0206.2010.00213.x