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1983 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

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1983 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
← 1979
9 June 1983
1987 →
All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
Turnout72.7%, Decrease 4.1%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Michael Foot Margaret Thatcher David Steel
Party Labour Conservative Liberal
Alliance SDP–Liberal Alliance
Leader since 10 November 1980 11 February 1975 7 July 1976
Leader's seat Blaenau Gwent Finchley Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
Last election 44 seats, 41.5% 22 seats, 31.4% 3 seats, 9.0%
Seats before 45[a] 22[a] 3[a]
Seats won 41 21 5
Seat change Decrease4[b] Decrease 1[b] Increase2[b]
Popular vote 990,654 801,487 356,224
Percentage 35.1% 28.4% 12.6%
Swing Decrease 6.5 pp Decrease 3.0 pp Increase3.6 pp
  Fourth party Fifth party
 
Leader Roy Jenkins Gordon Wilson
Party SDP SNP
Alliance SDP–Liberal Alliance
Leader since 2 July 1982 15 September 1979
Leader's seat Glasgow Hillhead Dundee East
Last election Did not stand 2 seats, 17.3%
Seats before 0[a] 2[a]
Seats won 3 2
Seat change Increase3[b] Steady[b]
Popular vote 336,410 331,975
Percentage 11.9% 11.8%
Swing New party Decrease 5.5 pp

On Thursday 9 June 1983, the 1983 United Kingdom general election was held in Scotland, to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, with 72 constituencies being in Scotland.[1][2]

As a result of the third periodic review of Westminster constituencies undertaken by the Boundary Commission for Scotland the number of seats representing Scotland had increased by one to 72 constituencies from the 71 contested between the general elections in 1955 and 1979.[3]

When combined with results from across the United Kingdom, the election saw the Conservatives winning a landslide victory, improving on their 1979 result and achieving their best results since 1935. Although there was a slight drop in their share of the vote, they made significant gains at the expense of Labour. This was at odds with the Scottish result, as Labour remained by far the largest party in Scotland.[4]

Candidates

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Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1983 general election in Wales.[5][6][7]

Affiliation Candidates
Labour Party 72
Conservative Party 72
Scottish National Party 72
Liberal Party 36
Social Democratic Party 36
Ecology Party 11
Communist Party of Great Britain 10
Workers Revolutionary Party 2
British National Party 1
Animal Rights Anti-Vivisection 1[c]
Independent Conservative 1[d]
Total 314

Analysis

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The Labour, Conservative and Scottish National parties all sustained modest losses in vote share to the SDP–Liberal Alliance. The Labour Party won 41 seats, with the Conservative Party winning 21, the Alliance winning eight and the Scottish National Party winning two.[8][4] The Scottish Conservatives have been unable to match their 1983 Westminster seat total since, although they did record a slightly larger share of the Scottish vote in 2017.

Results

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Party[9][10] Seats Aggregate votes
Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%)
  Labour 4104Decrease456.9990,65435.1Decrease 6.5
  Conservative 2101Decrease129.2801,48728.4Decrease3.0
  SDP–Liberal Alliance 850Increase511.1692,63424.5Increase15.5
Liberal 520Increase26.9356,22412.6Increase3.6
SDP 330Increase34.2336,41011.9Increase11.9
  SNP 200Steady2.8331,97511.8Decrease5.5
  Ecology Party 000Steady—3,8540.1Increase0.1
  Communist 000Steady—3,2230.1Decrease0.1
  Workers Revolutionary 000Steady—2620.0Steady
  BNP 0New—1030.0New
  Ind. Conservative 0Did not stand in 1979—2490.0N/a
  Animal Rights Anti-Vivisection 0New—1390.0New
Total 72 0 100.0 2,824,580 100.0 0.0
Registered voters, and turnout 72.7[11][12] Decrease4.1
Popular vote
Labour
 
 35.1%
Conservative
 
 28.4%
Alliance
 
 24.5%
SNP
 
 11.8%
Other
 
 0.28%
Parliamentary seats
Labour
 
 56.9%
Conservative
 
 29.2%
Alliance
 
 11.1%
SNP
 
 2.8%

See also

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Notes

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  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Notional 1979 results.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Indicates boundary change—so this is a nominal figure.
  3. ↑ Candidate John Frederick Robins in Glasgow Hillhead.
  4. ↑ Candidate John P. Davidson stood in Glasgow Hillhead.

References

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  1. ↑ "Commons results report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 November 2020.
  2. ↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
  3. ↑ Third Periodical Report, Boundary Commission for Scotland, HMSO, 1983 (ISBN 0-10-187940-7)
  4. 1 2 Letters (16 December 2021). "Scottish votes haven't influenced an English election result in 40 years". The National. Retrieved 2 January 2021. In 1983, Margaret Thatcher won 387 seats out of 650, a majority of 144. Labour secured 41 of the 72 seats in Scotland, the Tories 21, the SDP-Liberal Alliance 8 and the SNP 2. Obviously Scotland's 72 seats would not have influenced the outcome either way.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ "UK General Elections Results 1832-2019". Retrieved 12 August 2026.
  7. ↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 49. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
  8. ↑ Macwhirter, Iain (2014). Road to Referendum: The Essential Guide to the Scottish Referendum. Cargo Publishing. ISBN 978-1-908885-95-1.
  9. ↑ Cracknell, Richard; Uberoi, Elise; Burton, Matthew (9 August 2023). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library. pp. 22–23. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
  10. ↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 49. 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. 91. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
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