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1923 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

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1923 United Kingdom general election
← 1922 6 December 1923 1924 →
All 74 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Ramsay MacDonald H. H. Asquith Stanley Baldwin
Party Labour Liberal Unionist
Last election 29[a] 28[a][c] 15[a]
Seats won 34[a] 23[a][c] 16[a]
Seat change Increase5 Decrease5[a][c] Increase1
Popular vote 532,450[b] 422,995[b] 468,526[b]
Percentage 35.9[b] 28.4[b] 31.6[b]
Swing Increase3.7%[b] Decrease10.8%[b] Increase6.5%[b]
Results of the 1923 election in Scotland for the county and burgh seats
  Unionist
  Labour
  Liberal
Main article: 1923 United Kingdom general election

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday 6 December 1923,[1] and MPs were elected to represent all 74 seats in Scotland.[2] Scotland was allocated 71 territorial seats (32 burgh constituencies and 38 county constituencies)[d] which voted using the first past the post voting method, and one university constituency, which elected an additional 3 members using the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method.[3] As voters in university constituencies voted under a different system, and in addition to their territorial vote, the results are compiled separately.

The election saw the Labour Party make further gains following their success in the previous election in 1922, winning 34 seats in total. The Liberals, who had reunited following the split caused by the continuation of the Wartime coaltion, came in second on 23 seats, down five from the previous combined total for their two former factions. The Unionists gained a seat, finishing third on 16 seats. Although Labour won a plurality of seats in Scotland, when combined with results from across the UK, the Conservatives (with whom the Unionists alligned at Westminster) led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, won a plurality in the House of Commons. The conservatives were however, well short of majority, with both Labour, led by Ramsay MacDonald, and H. H. Asquith's reunited Liberal Party gaining enough seats to produce a hung parliament. MacDonald formed the first Labour government with tacit support from the Liberals. Rather than trying to bring the Liberals back into government, Asquith's motivation for permitting Labour to enter power was that he hoped they would prove to be incompetent and quickly lose support. Being a minority, MacDonald's government only lasted ten months and another general election was held in October 1924.

The Communist Party lost their only Scottish seat in Motherwell. The Scottish Prohibition Party retained their only seat in Dundee.

Results

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Seats summary

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Party Seats Last Election Seats change
Labour 34 29 Increase 5
Liberal 23 28[c] Decrease 5[c]
Unionist 16 15 Increase 1
Scottish Prohibition Party 1 1 Steady
Communist 0 1 Decrease 1
Total 74 74

Burgh & County constituencies

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Party Seats Seats change Votes % % Change
Labour 34 Increase 5 532,450 35.9 Increase 3.7
Liberal (Reunited) 22 Decrease 5 422,995 28.4 Decrease 10.8
Unionist 14 Increase 1 468,526 31.6 Increase 6.5
Communist 0 Decrease 1 39,448 2.4 Increase 1.0
Other 1 - 37,908 1.7 Decrease 0.4
Total 71 1,501,327 100

University constituency

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The Combined Scottish Universities elected an additional 3 members to the house using the STV voting method. Note that there was no election as only three candidates stood for election.

General election 1923: Combined Scottish Universities
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist George Andreas Berry Unopposed N/A N/A
Liberal Dugald Cowan Unopposed N/A N/A
Unionist Henry Craik Unopposed N/A N/A

Votes summary

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Popular vote[b]
Labour
 
 35.9%
Unionist
 
 31.6%
Liberal
 
 28.4%
Other
 
 4.1%
Parliamentary seats[a]
Labour
 
 34 seats
Liberal
 
 23 seats
Unionist
 
 16 seats
Scottish Prohibition Party
 
 1 seats

Notes

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Combined results for burgh, county and university seats
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Total and percentage votes given here are for territorial constituencies only
  3. ^ a b c d e Liberal total and change in compared to the combined Liberal and National Liberal total in 1922
  4. ^ One burgh seat, Dundee, was represented by two members of parliament.

References

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  1. ^ Morgan, William Thomas (1924). "The British Elections of December, 1923". American Political Science Review. 18 (2): 331–340. doi:10.2307/1943928. ISSN 0003-0554. JSTOR 1943928.
  2. ^ As per Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972, except Graig omits indication that the burgh of Renfrew was not entirely within the county of the same name
  3. ^ "Research Briefing: Voting systems in the UK". Library of the House of Commons. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
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