On Wednesday 29 October 1924, the 1924 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.

It was the third general election to be held in less than two years. Parliament was dissolved on 9 October. Following the decision to withdraw the prosecution of Communist John Ross Campbell under the Incitement to Mutiny Act 1797 by Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald on 13 August 1924, a motion was passed against the government on 8 October 1924. Despite not being framed as such, this was regarded by the Government as a loss of a motion of no confidence and caused the dissolution of Parliament on 9 October 1924 with new elections being called.

It was the first in which party leaders would give political broadcasts over radio during an general election campaign.

Although the election saw an increase of support for Labour by vote share in England, Labour's election loss across the United Kingdom to the Conservative Party, along with a collapse in Liberal support in England and Scotland, brought an end to the first Labour Government.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1924 general election in Scotland, excluding those in the Combined Scottish Universities constituency.

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 61Unionist Party 56Scottish Liberal Party 34Communist Party of Great Britain 2Co-operative Party 2Scottish Prohibition Party 1Total 156

Analysis

In Scotland the election saw both the Labour Party and the Unionists gain votes at the expense of the Liberals.

Labour lost 12 seats to the Unionists, however gained Motherwell from the Unionist Party and three seats from the Liberal Party. The Unionist Party gained 12 seats from the Labour Party, being Stirlingshire West, Renfrewshire East, Dunbartonshire, Lanark, Glasgow Partick, Lanarkshire North, Renfrewshire West, Glasgow Maryhill, Kilmarnock, Midlothian & Peebles North, Linlithgow and Berwick and Haddington. The Co-operative Party, under the Labour Party Whip, lost Glasgow Patrick, with the party retaining Glasgow Tradeston. Labour also gained a further 11 seats from the Liberal Party. Labour were slightly (0.4%) ahead of the Unionists in terms of votes cast, however the Unionists managed to secure 12 more Scottish seats than Labour overal, winning 38 seats in total.

The Scottish Liberals saw an 11.8% swing against them and lost more than half their seats to finish third. The Liberals lost Stirling and Falkirk, Paisley and Edinburgh East to Labour. It also lost Banff, East Aberdeenshire & Kincardineshire, Aberdeen and Kincardine Central, Forfarshire, Perth, Fife East, Argyll, Edinburgh West, Edinburgh North, Dumfriesshire and Galloway to the Unionist Party. In total, the Scottish Liberals lost 14 seats in Scotland at this election.

The only other party represented in parliament from Scotland was the Scottish Prohibition Party, who retained their only seat in Dundee.

When combined with results from across the UK, Stanley Baldwin's Conservatives, within a national affiliation with the Unionists at Westminster, obtained a large parliamentary majority of 209. Labour lost 40 seats. The Liberal Party, led by Asquith, lost 118 of their 158 seats which brought about a polarisation of British politics between two parties, the Labour Party and the Conservative Party.

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 (%)   Unionist 38 23 1 22 51.4   Labour (Total) 26 4 12 8 35.1 25 4 11 7 33.8 1 0 1 1 1.4   Liberal 9 0 14 14 12.2   Scottish Prohibition 1 0 0 1.4 Total 74

County and burgh constituency results

Below is a table summarising the constituency results of the 1924 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 (%)   Unionist 36 23 1 22 50.7 688,299 40.7 8.5   Labour (Total) 26 4 12 8 36.6 697,146 41.1 5.2 25 4 11 7 35.2 673,467 39.7 5.7 1 0 1 1 1.4 23,679 1.4 0.5   Liberal 8 0 14 14 11.3 286,540 16.6 11.8   Scottish Prohibition 1 0 0 1.4 29,193 0.9   Communist 0 0 0 — 15,930 0.7 1.7 Total 71 0 100.0 1,717,108 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 2,279,893 75.1 7.2

Combined Scottish Universities result The Combined Scottish Universities elected an additional 3 members to the house using the STV voting method. The constituency had not been contested at the previous election in 1923.

Notes

See also 1924 United Kingdom general election in England 1924 United Kingdom general election in Wales 1924 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland

References