The 2013 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 14 March 2013 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. Although the election had not been due to take place until 2015, it was called after the Cameron–Clegg coalition collapsed at the end of 2012 and the Liberal Democrats sided with other opposition parties to pass a vote of no confidence in the Conservatives. After the 2010 general election, the Liberal Democrats led by Nick Clegg had entered into coalition with the Conservatives. Disagreements over some policies, such as the pace and depth of swingeing spending cuts, were compounded by the failure of the Liberal Democrats' preferred voting system in the 2011 Alternative Vote referendum. Despite Clegg attempting to maintain the Coalition through to 2015, the party's grassroots and some of its MPs were keen for it to leave government, either to serve as an opposition party to a minority Conservative government or to trigger a fresh election. The so-called 'Christmas Coup' led to the party's MPs usurping Clegg, who was forced to stand down as leader on New Years' Eve 2012. Former Business Secretary Vince Cable, who had left the Cabinet after disagreements with the Government in early 2012, was installed as the party's new leader after no alternative came forward. Cable indicated that he supported holding a new election, describing the prospect of the Conservatives remaining in control of the country as a minority government as "untenable".
Shortly after Cable's election as leader the opposition Labour Party, led by David Miliband, tabled a vote of no confidence in the Government, which was passed the next day after most Liberal Democrats opted to support the motion (although some, including former Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, abstained). Prime Minister David Cameron then instructed his MPs to support a dissolution of Parliament under the terms of the Fixed Terms Parliament Act in order to allow an election to take place on 14 March.
Opinion polls throughout the campaign suggested a solid Labour lead of around five to seven points. The polls also indicated a rise in support of the Eurosceptic UK Independence Party, who almost reached ten percent in some polls and threatened to tear away key support from both main parties, although the Conservatives were expected to be hit the hardest by an influx of voters to UKIP. The Liberal Democrats expected to lose a large number of seats but were hoping that their role in bringing down the Government would help them retain at least some of their voters.
The Labour Party saw an increase in their vote share of almost nine points compared to three years earlier and they made gains in every region of Great Britain with the exception of Scotland, where they actually made a net loss of seats. The Conservatives lost forty-two seats and fell back over four points compared to 2010, being returned to opposition after just under three years in government. As expected, the Liberal Democrats suffered heavy losses, however they retained most of their core support and a number of their sitting MPs benefitted from incumbency bonuses, which helped save their seat.
Elsewhere, the story of the election was the rise of the Scottish National Party, who made a net gain of eleven seats. For the first time since 1974 the party won seats in the Central Belt, whilst also benefitting from a fall in support of the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives in North East and South Scotland.
After the election, David Cameron announced his resignation as Conservative leader, whilst David Miliband went on to lead a Labour government with a very slim technical majority, occasionally relying on the support of its Northern Irish sister party the SDLP and the one Green MP Caroline Lucas. Vince Cable announced his intention to lead a root and branch review of the Liberal Democrats after its time in government, seeking to modernise the party and ensure it was fit for the rest of the 2010s, before stepping down the following year.
