A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1997 and all 72 seats in Scotland were contested. This would be the last UK general election to be contested in Scotland before the Scottish Parliament was established on 1 July 1999 following overwhelming public approval in a referendum.

The eleventh consecutive victory for Scottish Labour, this election gained notoriety for the fact that the Conservatives, led by then Prime Minister John Major, lost every single Scottish seat they had previously held, leaving no Conservative MPs from Scotland for the first time in British history.

MPs List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1997–2001)

Top target seats of the main parties Labour targets RankConstituencyWinning party 1992Swing to gainLabour's place 1992Result1Ayr 0.12ndLab Gain2Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber 0.452ndLab Gain3Stirling 0.752ndLab Gain4Aberdeen South 1.852ndLab Gain5Edinburgh Pentlands 4.82ndLab Gain

SNP targets RankConstituenceeWinning party 1992Swing to gainSNP's place 1992Result1Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber 0.653rdLab Gain2Perth 2.12ndSNP Gain3Galloway and Upper Nithsdale 2.752ndSNP Gain4North Tayside 4.62ndSNP Gain

Conservative targets RankConstituencyWinning party 1992Swing to gainCon place 1992Result1Gordon 0.22ndLD hold2Angus East 12ndSNP hold3Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber 1.74thLab Gain4West Renfrewshire 1.852ndLab hold5Edinburgh Central 2.72ndLab hold6Moray 3.12ndSNP hold7Strathkelvin and Bearsden 3.12ndLab hold8Cunninghame North 3.452ndLab hold9Argyll and Bute 3.62ndLD hold10North East Fife 3.952ndLD hold11Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale 4.12ndLD hold12Banff and Buchan 4.452ndSNP hold13Edinburgh South 4.72ndLab hold

Liberal Democrat targets RankConstituencyWinning party 1992Swing to gainLD's place 1992Result1Edinburgh West 0.62ndLD Gain2West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine 4.32ndLD Gain

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the 1997 general election in Scotland.

+ Party Seats Aggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference 56 7 0 7 77.8 1,283,350 45.6 6.6 10 1 0 1 13.9 365,362 13.0 0.1 6 3 0 3 8.3 621,550 22.1 0.6 0 0 11 11 — 493,059 17.5 8.2 0 colspan=3 — 26,726 0.95 0 colspan=3 — 9,740 0.35 0 colspan=3 — 5,750 0.25 0 0 0 — 2,162 0.08 0 0 0 — 1,979 0.07 0 colspan=3 — 1,945 0.07 0 0 0 — 1,721 0.06 0.2 0 colspan=3 — 1,585 0.06 0 0 0 — 812 0.03 0 0 0 — 651 0.02 0 0 0 — 650 0.02 0 0 0 — 315 0.01 0 0 0 — 80 0.00 Total 72 2,816,748 71.3 4.2

Votes summary

Outcome

The election saw the Conservatives lose every seat that they held in Scotland, although the party were third in terms of vote share (winning 17.5% of votes cast in Scotland). By contrast the Liberal Democrats won 13% of votes cast, but won ten seats, a net gain of one on the previous election. The SNP finished second in terms of vote share with 22%, but only won six seats. Labour won 45.6% of the vote and 56 seats, a net gain of seven on 1992. The defeated Conservative included three cabinet ministers: the Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Forsyth lost Stirling to Labour, the Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind lost Edinburgh Pentlands, also to Labour, while Ian Lang, President of the Board of Trade, lost Galloway and Upper Nithsdale to the SNP.

See also 1997 United Kingdom general election in England 1997 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland 1997 United Kingdom general election in Wales

Notes

References