Start date 1975 | ||
The Woolwich West by-election, 1975 was a parliamentary by-election held on 26 June 1975 for the British House of Commons constituency of Woolwich West in South East London.
The seat had become vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), William Hamling died on 20 March 1975. He had held the seat since winning it from the Conservatives at the 1964 general election.
Results
The result of the contest was a victory for the Conservative candidate, Peter Bottomley, who held the seat until its abolition for the 1983 general election; he had contested the seat in both 1974 general elections. He then sat for Eltham, the successor seat and since 1997 has represented Worthing West, a safe Tory seat in Sussex.
As the result of the by-election was a Conservative gain from Labour, the result reduced the Labour majority in the House of Commons from 3 seats to 1 seat as their number of seats fell from 319 to 318 in a House of 635 members.