On 8 October 1959, the 1959 United Kingdom general election was held in Scotland to elect all 630 seats of the House of Commons, with 71 constituencies being in Scotland.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1951 general election in Scotland.

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 71Unionist Party 59Liberal Party 16National Liberal Party 11Communist Party of Great Britain 6Scottish National Party 5Independent Unionist 1Fife Socialist League 1Independent 1Independent Labour Party 1Total 172

Analysis

The Unionists, who were in a national affiliation with the Conservative Party, together with their allies the National Liberal Party, won the largest number of votes, but lost out in seats to the Labour Party. Across the UK as a whole, the Conservatives won 365 seats, and returned as government with a majority of 100 seats.

In Scotland, the Unionists lost Ayrshire Central, Glasgow Craigton, Glasgow Scotstoun and Lanark to the Labour Party. It also lost Caithness and Sutherland to Independent Unionist David Robertson. Robertson had been initially elected as a member of the Unionist Party in 1950, however, stood as an independent unionists following his resignation from the party whip in 1959."Sir D. Robertson Resigns Whip", The Times, 31 January 1959. Robertson was not opposed by an official Unionist candidate."Conservatives Not Likely To Oppose Sir D. Robertson", The Times, 10 September 1959. The National Liberal Party retained its seats of Dumfriesshire, East Fife, South Angus, North Angus and Mearns, West Renfrewshire and Ross and Cromarty.

The Unionists therefore lost an overall of five seats in Scotland. The Labour Party correspondingly won four seats, becoming the largest party in Scotland by seats. Jo Grimond, now party leader for the Liberals, was returned as his party's only MP, representing Orkney and Shetland.

Results

+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%)   Labour Party 38 4 0 4 53.5 1,245,255 46.7   Unionist (Total) 31 0 5 5 43.7 1,260,287 47.3 2.8 25 0 5 5 35.2 1,060,609 39.8 1.7 6 0 0 8.5 199,678 7.5 1.1   Liberal 1 0 0 0.0 108,963 4.1 2.1   Independent Unionist 1 colspan=2 1 1.4 12,163 0.5   SNP 0 0 0 — 21,738 0.8 0.3   Communist 0 0 0 — 12,150 0.5   Fife Socialist League 0 colspan=3 — 4,886 0.2   Independent 0 colspan=3 — 1,331 0.1   Ind. Labour Party 0 0 0 — 740 0.0 0.1 Total 71 0 100.0 2,667,513 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 3,413,732 78.1 3.0

See also 1959 United Kingdom general election in England 1959 United Kingdom general election in Wales 1959 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1959–1964)

Notes

References