On Thursday 30 May 1929, the 1929 United Kingdom general election was held in Scotland, to elect all 615 members of the House of Commons, with 74 seats being in Scotland. 71 seats (32 burgh constituencies and 38 county constituencies) represented territorial constituencies. There was also one university constituency, which elected an additional 3 members using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method.

As a result of the election across the United Kingdom, the Labour Party held the most seats in the House of Commons for the first time, but without an overall majority in its own right. Ramsay MacDonald returned as Prime Minister at the head of the new minority Labour Government. The Liberal Party also regained several seats from its losses in the 1924 general election and held the balance of power. These results followed a general swing towards Labour at this election.William Kenefick (2007). Red Scotland!: The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left, C. 1872–1932. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 202–203. .

The general election was the first in which women aged 21–29 had the right to vote (owing to the Representation of the People Act 1928). Women over 30, with some property qualifications, had been able to vote since the 1918 general election, but the 1929 poll was the first general election with universal suffrage for adults over 21, which was then the age of majority.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1929 general election in Scotland, excluding those in the Combined Scottish Universities constituency.

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 66Unionist Party 65Scottish Liberal Party 45Communist Party of Great Britain 10National Party of Scotland 2Independent Labour 2Scottish Prohibition Party 1Scottish Protestant League 1Total 192

Analysis

As a result of the election, Labour across the United Kingdom obtained the highet vote share national, however did not gain the greatest number of seats. It stands as the fourth of six instances under the secret ballot, and the first of three under universal suffrage, in which a party has lost on the popular vote but won the highest number (known as "a plurality") of seats versus all other parties. This also occurred in 1874, January 1910 and December 1910 previously, and would occur again 1951 and February 1974.

The Labour Party won Stirlingshire West, Dunbartonshire, Lanark, Partick, Lanarkshire North, Renfrewshire West, Maryhill, Kilmarnock, Edinburgh West, Linlithgow and Berwick and Haddington from the Unionist Party. Neil Maclean was elected as member for Glasgow Govan standing under the Independent Labour label, but would subsequently go on to take the Labour whip in Parliament. His gain, however, was one from the Labour Party in this election in comparison to 1924.

Furthermore, the Scottish Liberal Party gained Banff, Aberdeenshire West and Kincardine, Fife East, Dumfriesshire and Galloway from the Unionists.

Edwin Scrymgeour, standing for the Scottish Prohibition Party, retained his Dundee seat with an increased majority. All other seats were won by official candidates for the three major parties. The election was the first general election in which the National Party of Scotland (a forerunner of the Scottish National Party) stood candidates.

Seat summary

Below is a table summarising the total number of seats, gains and losses for each party in both the territorial county and burgh constituencies and the Combined Scottish Universities constituency.

+PartySeats Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) 36 1 11 10 48.6 22 0 16 16 29.7 14 5 0 5 18.9 1 0 0 1.4 1 colspan="2" 1 1.4 Total 74

County and burgh constituency results

Below is a table summarising the constituency results of the 1929 general election in Scotland, excluding the result in the Combined Scottish Universities constituency.

+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%) 36 11 1 10 50.7 937,300 42.3 1.2 20 0 16 16 28.2 792,063 35.9 4.8 13 5 0 5 18.3 407,081 18.1 1.5 1 0 0 1.4 50,073 1.1 0.2 0 0 0 — 27,114 1.1 0.4 1 colspan="2" 1 1.0 19,095 0.9 0 colspan="3" — 6,902 0.3 0 colspan="3" — 3,313 0.2 Total 71 0 100.0 2,242,941 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 2,940,456 73.5 1.6

Combined Scottish Universities result The Combined Scottish Universities elected an additional 3 members to the house using the STV voting method.

Notes

See also 1929 United Kingdom general election in England 1929 United Kingdom general election in Wales 1929 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

References