Jump to content

1970 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1970 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
← 1966
Feb. 1974 →
All 71 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
Turnout74.1% (Decrease1.9 pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Harold Wilson Edward Heath
Party Labour Conservative
Leader since 14 February 1963 28 July 1965
Leader's seat Huyton Bexley
Last election 46 seats, 49.9% 20 seats, 37.6%
Seats won 44 23
Seat change Decrease 2 Increase 3
Popular vote 1,197,068 1,020,674
Percentage 44.5% 38.0%
Swing Decrease 5.4 pp Increase 0.4 pp
  Third party Fourth party
 
Lib
SNP
Leader Jeremy Thorpe William Wolfe
Party Liberal SNP
Alliance Liberal
Leader since 18 January 1967 1 June 1969
Leader's seat North Devon Ran in West Lothian (defeated)
Last election 5 seats, 6.8% 0 seats, 5.0%
Seats won 3 1
Seat change Decrease 2 Increase 1
Popular vote 147,667 306,802
Percentage 5.5% 11.4%
Swing Decrease 1.3 pp Increase 6.4 pp

On Thursday 18 June 1970, the 1970 United Kingdom general election was held in England, to elect all 630 members of the House of Commons, with 511 constituencies being in Scotland.[1][2]

This was the first general election in which people could vote from the age of eighteen years, after passage of the Representation of the People Act the previous year,[3] and the first UK general election in which party affiliations of candidates were put on the ballot papers.[4] The closing of the polls was also extended from 9.00 pm to 10.00 pm.[5]

Candidates

[edit]

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1970 general election in Scotland.[6][7][8]

Affiliation Candidates
Labour Party 71
Conservative Party 70
Scottish National Party 65
Scottish Liberal Party 27
Communist Party of Great Britain 15
Independent 2[a]
Independent Scottish Nationalist 1[b]
Independent Protestant 1[c]
Independent Conservative 1[d]
Independent Scottish Labour 1[e]
World Government Party 1[f]
Anti-Abortion 1[g]
Total 256

Analysis

[edit]

The Labour Party won the most seats for the fourth consecutive election, however saw a drop in vote share and seats. The party lost Aberdeen South to the Conservative Party. The Conservative Party, with a slight increase in vote share, also won the seat of Ross and Cromarty and West Aberdeenshire from the Scottish Liberal Party. The Liberals had also seen a minor decrease in vote share.

The Scottish National Party won a seat for the first time in a general election, being the seat of Western Isles. It had previously won their first ever Westminster seat at the 1945 Motherwell by-election and another shock victory in the Hamilton by-election in 1967.[9]

Results

[edit]
Party[10][7] Seats Aggregate votes
Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%)
Labour 4402Decrease262.01,197,06844.5Decrease5.4
Conservative 2330Increase332.41,020,67438.0Increase0.4
Liberal 302Decrease24.2147,6675.5Decrease1.3
SNP 101Increase11.4306,80211.4Increase6.4
Communist 000Steady—11,4080.4Decrease0.2
  Independent Scottish Nationalist 0Did not stand in 1966—1,4900.1N/a
  Independent Protestant 0New—1,1800.0New
Independent 000Steady—7580.0Steady
Ind. Conservative 0Did not stand in 1966—6140.0N/a
  Independent Scottish Labour 0New—2950.0New
  World Government 0New—1760.0New
  Anti-Aborition 0New—1030.0New
Total 71 0 100.0 2,688,235 100.0 0.0
Registered voters, and turnout 3,629,017 74.1[11][12] Decrease1.9
Popular vote
Labour
 
 44.5%
Conservative
 
 38.0%
SNP
 
 11.4%
Liberal
 
 5.5%
Other
 
 0.60%
Parliamentary seats
Labour
 
 62.0%
Conservative
 
 32.4%
Liberal
 
 4.2%
SNP
 
 1.4%

See also

[edit]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ↑ The candidates that stood were Thomas Menzies stood in Central Ayrshire and Joseph McDonagh in Glasgow Cathcart.
  2. ↑ Candidate David H. Livingstone stood in Rutherglen.
  3. ↑ Candidate Jack Glass stood in Glasgow Bridgeton.
  4. ↑ Candidate G Ross MacKay stood in Glasgow Woodside.
  5. ↑ Candidate Harry Charles Taylor stood in Hamilton.
  6. ↑ Candidate E. G. Macfarlane stood in Dundee East.
  7. ↑ Candidate William R. Cassell stood in Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles.

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "Commons results report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
  3. ↑ F.W.S. Craig (1976). British Electoral Facts 1885-1975 (3 ed.). Macmillan Press. p. 173. ISBN 0333197348.
  4. ↑ Harry Gourlay, Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (10 December 1968). "Use Of Political Descriptions In Nomination Papers And Ballot Papers At Parliamentary Elections". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Parliament of the United Kingdom: House of Commons.
  5. ↑ F.W.S. Craig (1976). British Electoral Facts 1885-1975 (3 ed.). Macmillan Press. p. 173. ISBN 0333197348.
  6. ↑ Cracknell, Richard; Uberoi, Elise; Burton, Matthew (9 August 2023). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 25. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  7. 1 2 "UK General Elections Results 1832-2019". Retrieved 12 August 2026.
  8. ↑ Colin Rallings; Michael Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 43. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
  9. ↑ Baldi, Gregory (14 October 2022). "Politics without society: explaining the rise of the Scottish National Party". British Politics. 18 (3): 342–363. doi:10.1057/s41293-022-00215-w. ISSN 1746-918X. PMC 9561324. PMID 38625219.
  10. ↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
  11. ↑ Cracknell, Richard; Uberoi, Elise; Burton, Matthew (9 August 2023). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 29. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  12. ↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=1970_United_Kingdom_general_election_in_Scotland&oldid=1377887443"