United Kingdom general election, 1931 (Scotland)

United Kingdom general election, 1931

27 October 1931

All 74 Scottish seats to the House of Commons   First party Second party   Leader Stanley Baldwin Sir John Simon Party Unionist Liberal National Leader since 23 October 1922 5 October 1931 Last election 20 New Seats won 50 8 Seat change 28 Popular vote 1,056,768 101,430 Percentage 49.5% 4.9% Swing 13.6% New   Third party Fourth party   Leader Herbert Samuel Arthur Henderson Party Liberal Labour Leader since October 1931 1 September 1931 Last election 13 seats 36 seats Seats won 8 7 Seat change 6 29 Popular vote 205,384 696,248 Percentage 8.6% 32.6% Swing 9.5% 9.7%

PM before election David Lloyd George National Subsequent PM Andrew Bonar Law Conservative

The 1931 United Kingdom general election in Scotland was held on 27 October 1931. Of the 74 seats representing Scotland, 71 seats represented burgh and county constituencies contested under the First past the post electoral system, and 3 represented the Combined Scottish Universities multi-member University constituency.

The election saw massive gains for the Unionists across the country, with the party winning nearly 70% of all Scottish seats. The parties forming the National Government together won 64% of the vote, and 86% of the seats. In contrast the Labour party, which had been the largest party in Scotland following the 1929 election (where it had won 42% of the Scottish vote), was relegated into fourth place.

Following the election, with Labour appearing to teeter on the edge of the electoral abyss in Scotland, the Independent Labour Party increasingly moved apart from Labour, ultimately dissociating from the party in March 1932. The ILP had dominated the Labour movement in Scotland since 1918, dominating community based activism, and essentially forming the Labour party in Scotland. This had ultimately served to undermine the organizational growth of the Labour party in Scotland.^[1]

Results

Burgh & County Constituencies

Party			Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	National Government (Total)		64		1,385,385	64.0
		Unionist	48	28	1,056,768	49.5	13.6
		National Liberal & Conservative	8	New	101,430	4.9	New
		Liberal	7	6	205,384	8.6	9.5
		National Labour	1	New	21,803	1.0	New
	Labour Party		7	29	696,248	32.6	9.7
	Communist		0		35,618	1.4	0.3
	National Party of Scotland		0		20,954	1.0	0.8
	New Party		0	New	3,895	0.2	New
	Other		0		32,229	0.8
Total			71		2,174,329	100

University Constituency

References

Elections and referendums in Scotland
Scottish elections	Pre-1707 1999 2003 2007 2011 2016 Next
UK elections	1801 co-option 1802 1806 1807 1812 1818 1820 1826 1830 1831 1832 1835 1837 1841 1847 1852 1857 1859 1865 1868 1874 1880 1885 1886 1892 1895 1900 1906 1910 (Jan) 1910 (Dec) 1918 1922 1923 1924 1929 1931 1935 1945 1950 1951 1955 1959 1964 1966 1970 1974 (Feb) 1974 (Oct) 1979 1983 1987 1992 1997 2001 2005 2010 2015
Local elections	1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1977 1978 1980 1982 1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1995 1999 2003 2007 2012 2017
Referendums	1979 1997 2014
Local referendums	Scottish licensing referendums Strathclyde (water) 1994 Edinburgh (congestion charge) 2005
See also: Elections in the Kingdom of Scotland (Pre-1707) Great Britain (1707–1800) United Kingdom Politics of Scotland