1997 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
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A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1997 and all 72 seats in Scotland were contested. This would be the last UK general election to be contested in Scotland before the Scottish Parliament was established on 1 July 1999 following overwhelming public approval in a referendum.
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1 May 1997
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All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 71.3%,  4.2% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Coloured according to the winning party's vote share in each constituency | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The eleventh consecutive victory for Scottish Labour, this election gained notoriety for the fact that the Conservatives, led by then Prime Minister John Major, lost every single Scottish seat they had previously held, leaving no Conservative MPs from Scotland for the first time in British history.
MPs
Top target seats of the main parties
Labour targets
| Rank | Constituency | Winning party 1992 | Swing to gain | Labour's place 1992 | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ayr | Conservative | 0.1 | 2nd | Lab Gain | |
| 2 | Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber | Liberal Democrats | 0.45 | 2nd | Lab Gain | |
| 3 | Stirling | Conservative | 0.75 | 2nd | Lab Gain | |
| 4 | Aberdeen South | Conservative | 1.85 | 2nd | Lab Gain | |
| 5 | Edinburgh Pentlands | Conservative | 4.8 | 2nd | Lab Gain | |
SNP targets
| Rank | Constituencee | Winning party 1992 | Swing to gain | SNP's place 1992 | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber | Liberal Democrats | 0.65 | 3rd | Lab Gain | |
| 2 | Perth | Conservative | 2.1 | 2nd | SNP Gain | |
| 3 | Galloway and Upper Nithsdale | Conservative | 2.75 | 2nd | SNP Gain | |
| 4 | North Tayside | Conservative | 4.6 | 2nd | SNP Gain | |
Conservative targets
| Rank | Constituency | Winning party 1992 | Swing to gain | Con place 1992 | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gordon | Liberal Democrats | 0.2 | 2nd | LD hold | |
| 2 | Angus East | SNP | 1 | 2nd | SNP hold | |
| 3 | Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber | Liberal Democrats | 1.7 | 4th | Lab Gain | |
| 4 | West Renfrewshire | Labour | 1.85 | 2nd | Lab hold | |
| 5 | Edinburgh Central | Labour | 2.7 | 2nd | Lab hold | |
| 6 | Moray | SNP | 3.1 | 2nd | SNP hold | |
| 7 | Strathkelvin and Bearsden | Labour | 3.1 | 2nd | Lab hold | |
| 8 | Cunninghame North | Labour | 3.45 | 2nd | Lab hold | |
| 9 | Argyll and Bute | Liberal Democrats | 3.6 | 2nd | LD hold | |
| 10 | North East Fife | Liberal Democrats | 3.95 | 2nd | LD hold | |
| 11 | Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale | Liberal Democrats | 4.1 | 2nd | LD hold | |
| 12 | Banff and Buchan | SNP | 4.45 | 2nd | SNP hold | |
| 13 | Edinburgh South | Labour | 4.7 | 2nd | Lab hold | |
Liberal Democrat targets
| Rank | Constituency | Winning party 1992 | Swing to gain | LD's place 1992 | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Edinburgh West | Conservative | 0.6 | 2nd | LD Gain | |
| 2 | West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine | Conservative | 4.3 | 2nd | LD Gain | |
Results
Below is a table summarising the results of the 1997 general election in Scotland.[1]
| Party | Seats | Aggregate votes | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | Gains | Losses | Net | Of all (%) | Total | Of all (%) | Difference | ||||
| Labour | 56 | 7 | 0 |  7 | 77.8 | 1,283,350 | 45.6 | 6.6 | |||
| Liberal Democrats | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 13.9 | 365,362 | 13.0 | 0.1 | |||
| SNP | 6 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8.3 | 621,550 | 22.1 | 0.6 | |||
| Conservative | 0 | 0 | 11 | 11 | — | 493,059 | 17.5 | 8.2 | |||
| Referendum | 0 | New | — | 26,726 | 0.95 | New | |||||
| Scottish Socialist | 0 | New | — | 9,740 | 0.35 | New | |||||
| ProLife Alliance | 0 | New | — | 5,750 | 0.25 | New | |||||
| Independent | 0 | 0 | 0 |  | — | 2,162 | 0.08 | | |||
| Natural Law | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 1,979 | 0.07 | | |||
| Socialist Labour | 0 | New | — | 1,945 | 0.07 | New | |||||
| Green | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 1,721 | 0.06 | 0.2 | |||
| UKIP | 0 | New | — | 1,585 | 0.06 | New | |||||
| Independent Labour | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 812 | 0.03 | | |||
| BNP | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 651 | 0.02 | | |||
| Liberal | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 650 | 0.02 | | |||
| Socialist (GB) | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 315 | 0.01 | | |||
| Workers Revolutionary | 0 | 0 | 0 | | — | 80 | 0.00 | | |||
| Total | 72 | 2,816,748 | 71.3 | 4.2 | |||||||
1997 map of Scottish Constituencies - Results
Votes summary
Outcome
The election saw the Conservatives lose every seat that they held in Scotland, although the party were third in terms of vote share (winning 17.5% of votes cast in Scotland). By contrast the Liberal Democrats won 13% of votes cast, but won ten seats, a net gain of one on the previous election. The SNP finished second in terms of vote share with 22%, but only won six seats. Labour won 45.6% of the vote and 56 seats, a net gain of seven on 1992. The defeated Conservative included three cabinet ministers: the Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Forsyth lost Stirling to Labour, the Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind lost Edinburgh Pentlands, also to Labour, while Ian Lang, President of the Board of Trade, lost Galloway and Upper Nithsdale to the SNP.[2]
See also
Notes
- Major resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party on 22 June 1995 to face critics in his party and government, and was re-elected as Leader on 4 July 1995