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| previous_election = 1935 United Kingdom general election
| previous_year = 1935
| outgoing_members = List of MPs elected in the 1935 United Kingdom general election
| next_election = 1950 United Kingdom general election
| next_year = 1950
| elected_members = List of MPs elected in the 1945 United Kingdom general election
| seats_for_election = All [[Number of Westminster MPs|640 seats]] in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] | majority_seats = 321
| elected_mps = List of MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1945
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The '''1945 United Kingdom general election''' was a national election held on Thursday 5 July 1945, but polling in some constituencies was delayed by some days, and the counting of votes was delayed until 26 July to provide time for [[Absentee voting in the United Kingdom|overseas votes]] to be brought to Britain. The governing [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] sought to maintain its position in [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] but faced challenges from public opinion about the future of the United Kingdom in the [[post-war period]]. Prime Minister [[Winston Churchill]] proposed to call for a general election in Parliament, which passed with a majority vote less than two months after the conclusion of the [[World War II|Second World War]] in Europe.<ref>{{cite book |first1=R.B. |last1=McCallum |author-link=R. B. McCallum |first2=Alison |last2=Readman |title=The British General Election of 1945 |publisher=Nuffield Studies |date=1964}}</ref>
The election's campaigning was focused on leadership of the country and its postwar future. Churchill sought to use his wartime popularity as part of his campaign to keep the Conservatives in power after a [[Churchill war ministry|wartime coalition]] had been in place since 1940 with the other political parties, but he faced questions from public opinion surrounding the Conservatives' actions in the 1930s and his ability to handle domestic issues unrelated to warfare. [[Clement Attlee]], leader of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], had been Deputy Prime Minister in the [[Churchill war ministry|wartime coalition in 1940-1945]] and was seen as a more competent leader by voters, particularly those who feared a return to the levels of unemployment in the 1930s and sought a strong figurehead in British politics to lead the postwar rebuilding of the country. Opinion polls when the election was called showed strong approval ratings for Churchill, but Labour had gradually gained support for months before the war's conclusion.
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