On Thursday 25 October 1951, the 1951 United Kingdom general election was held in Scotland, to elect all 625 seats of the House of Commons, with 71 constituencies being in Scotland.

It was the final general election to be held during the reign of King George VI, as he died the following year on 6 February 1951 and was succeeded by his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Candidates

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

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 71Unionist Party 57National Liberal Party 13Liberal Party 9Communist Party of Great Britain 4Scottish National Party 2Independent Labour Party 2Independent 1United Socialist Movement 1Total 160

Analysis

The Unionists, together with their allies the National Liberals, ended up narrowly ahead of the Labour Party in terms of vote share, however the two were equal in terms of seats won, each taking 35 seats. When combined with results from across the UK, the Conservatives (with whom the Unionists sat at Westminster) won a majority of 17 seats, despite winning slightly fewer votes than Labour. The election is noteworthy for being, as of 2024, the last election in which the Conservatives did better in Scotland than in England. It is also the most recent election where no party won a majority of Scottish seats.

In terms of seat changes for the Unionist Party and National Liberal Party, the Unionist won Berwick and East Lothian and Rutherglen from Labour and Roxburgh and Selkirk from the Liberal Party. The National Liberal Party retained its seats of Dumfriesshire, East Fife, South Angus, North Angus and Mearns and West Renfrewshire.

John MacLeod in Ross and Cromarty, who had held the seat previously as an Independent Liberal, took up the Whip of the National Liberals and Conservative and Unionist Party at Westminster, under which the National Liberals and Unionist Party held a national affiliation. Thus, his seat was a National Liberal gain compared to the last election.

As a consequence, The Unionists and National Liberals increased overall by four seats, with Labour being reduced by two.

The Liberals were reduced to one Scottish seat, with the loss of Rxoburhg and Selkirk. Jo Grimond retained the Liberal's sole seat of Orkney and Shetland.

Results

+PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%)   Unionist (Total) 35 4 0 4 49.3 1,349,298 48.6 3.8   Unionist 29 3 0 3 40.8 1,108,321 39.9 2.7   National Liberal 6 1 0 1 8.6 240,977 8.7 1.1   Labour Party 35 0 2 2 49.3 1,330,244 47.9 1.7   Liberal 1 0 1 1 1.4 76,291 2.7 3.9   Communist 0 0 0 — 10,947 0.4 0.6   SNP 0 0 0 — 7,299 0.3 0.1   Independent Labour Party 0 0 0 — 2,991 0.1   United Socialist Movement 0 0 0 — 411 0.0   Independent 0 0 0 — 356 0.3   Other 0 colspan=2 1 — 0 0.0 Total 71 0 100.0 2,777,837 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 3,421,419 81.2 0.3

See also 1951 United Kingdom general election in England 1951 United Kingdom general election in Wales 1951 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1951–1955)

Notes

References