On Thursday 11 June 1987, the 1987 United Kingdom general election was held in Scotland, to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, with 72 constituencies being in Scotland.

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1987 general election in Scotland.

Affiliation CandidatesLabour Party 72Conservative Party 72Scottish National Party 71Liberal Party 36Social Democratic Party 36Green Party 12Communist Party of Great Britain 5Independent 1Independent Liberal 1Orkney and Shetland Movement 1Red Front 1Total 308

Analysis

While the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher comfortably won a majority across the United Kingdom, the result saw the Conservatives suffer significant losses in Scotland as their vote share declined significantly in what The Glasgow Herald called "the humiliation of the Tories north of the border." Labour, who as well as gaining seats from the Conservatives also took two from the SNP and one from the SDP, now had more MPs from Scotland than at any other point in the party's history, including holding every seat in Glasgow, while the Conservatives were reduced to their lowest number since the Second World War.

Several prominent Scottish Conservative MPs, including Peter Fraser, Sir Alex Fletcher and Michael Ancram lost their seats, while George Younger, then Secretary of State for Defence, only very narrowly held his Ayr constituency after a recount. The Conservatives also had close results in Edinburgh West, where James Douglas-Hamilton's majority was reduced to 498 votes, and at Stirling where junior minister Michael Forsyth's majority fell from over 5,000 to 948 votes. The SNP's leader Gordon Wilson and the former leader of the SDP Roy Jenkins, also lost their seats to Labour challengers. Labour also took the Western Isles constituency from the SNP following the retirement of former SNP leader Donald Stewart, with the seat seeing an SNP to Labour swing of 19.6%. The SNP partially compensated for their losses by gaining three seats from the Conservatives, while the Conservatives also lost two seats to the Liberals.

In reaction to the poor Conservative performance compared with England, Scottish Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, said "Of course I am disappointed. We have done well in the south, but not so well in Scotland." He noted that the recession had "bitten deeper" in Scotland than in England and that recovery had been slower. The defeated Sir Alex Fletcher stated that "There is no Tory press in Scotland. The papers up here are rather hostile to the Tory Party".

An editorial in The Glasgow Herald the day after the election argued that the results meant that "the case in favour of devolution is automatically strengthened", while also observing that the "patchy showing" by the SNP showed "that there is no general inclination for separatism".

Results +PartySeatsAggregate votes Total Gains Losses Net Of total (%) Total Of total (%) Change (%)   Labour Party 50 9 0 9 69.4 1,258,132 42.4 7.3   Conservative Party 10 0 11 11 13.9 713,081 24.0 4.4   SDP–Liberal Alliance 9 2 1 1 12.5 570,053 19.2 5.3 7 2 1 2 9.7 307,210 10.4 2.2 2 0 1 1 2.8 262,843 8.9 3.0   SNP 3 2 3 1 4.2 416,473 14.0 2.2   Green 0 0 0 — 4,745 0.2 0.1   Orkney and Shetland Movement 0 colspan=3 — 3,095 0.1   Communist 0 0 0 — 1,187 0.0 0.1   Independent Liberal 0 colspan=3 — 686 0.0   Independent 0 colspan=3 — 230 0.0   Red Front 0 colspan=3 — 126 0.0 Total 72 0 100.0 2,967,808 100.0 0.0 Registered voters, and turnout 75.1 2.4

Incumbents defeated

PartyNameConstituencyOffice held whilst in powerYear electedDefeated byParty Gerry MaloneAberdeen South1983Frank Doran The Rt Hon Peter FraserEast AngusSolicitor General for Scotland1979Andrew Welsh John MacKayArgyll and ButeUnder-Secretary of State for Scotland1979Ray Mitchie Sir Albert McQuarrieBanff and Buchan1979Alex Salmond John CorrieCunninghame NorthBrian Wilson Alexander MacPherson FletcherEdinburgh Central1973Alistair Darling Barry HendersonNorth East Fife1979Menzies Campbell Alexander PollockMorayParliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence 1979Margaret Ewing Anna McCurleyRenfrew West and Inverclyde1983Tommy Graham Michael HirstStrathkelvin and Bearsden1983Sam Galbraith The Rt Hon Michael Ancram, Earl of AncramEdinburgh South1979Nigel Griffiths The Rt Hon Roy Jenkins Glasgow Hillhead Former Leader of the Social Democratic Party 1982 George Galloway Gordon Wilson Dundee East Leader of the Scottish National Party February 1974 John McAllion Ian Smith Western Isles Calum MacDonald

See also 1987 United Kingdom general election in England 1987 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland 1987 United Kingdom general election in Wales List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1987–1992)

Notes

References