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.

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, and the first UK general election in which party affiliations of candidates were put on the ballot papers. The closing of the polls was also extended from 9.00 pm to 10.00 pm.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1970 general election in Scotland.

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 71Conservative Party 70Scottish National Party 65Scottish Liberal Party 27Communist Party of Great Britain 15Independent 2Independent Scottish Nationalist 1Independent Protestant 1Independent Conservative 1Independent Scottish Labour 1 World Government Party 1 Anti-Abortion 1Total 256

Analysis

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.

Results

+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%) 44 0 2 2 62.0 1,197,068 44.5 5.4 23 3 0 3 32.4 1,020,674 38.0 0.4 3 0 2 2 4.2 147,667 5.5 1.3 1 0 1 1 1.4 306,802 11.4 6.4 0 0 0 — 11,408 0.4 0.2   Independent Scottish Nationalist 0 colspan=3 — 1,490 0.1   Independent Protestant 0 colspan=3 — 1,180 0.0 0 0 0 — 758 0.0 0 colspan=3 — 614 0.0   Independent Scottish Labour 0 colspan=3 — 295 0.0   World Government 0 colspan=3 — 176 0.0   Anti-Aborition 0 colspan=3 — 103 0.0 Total 71 0 100.0 2,688,235 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 3,629,017 74.1 1.9

See also 1970 United Kingdom general election in England 1970 United Kingdom general election in Wales 1970 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1970–February 1974)

Notes

References