1931 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

1931 United Kingdom general election
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All 74 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
	Results of the 1931 election in Scotland Unionist Liberal National Liberal Labour National Labour

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Tuesday, 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 general election (where it had won 42% of the Scottish vote), was relegated into fourth place within just two years.

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 organisational growth of the Labour Party in Scotland.^[1]

Results

Seats summary

Party			Seats	Last Election	Seats change
	National Government (Total)		67	New
		Unionist	50	22	28
		National Liberal & Conservative	8	New	5
		Liberal	8	14	6
		National Labour	1	New	1
	Labour Party		7	39	29
	Other		0	2	2
Total			74	74

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 constituencies

General election, November 1931: Combined Scottish Universities
	Candidate	Votes
Unionist	John Buchan	unopposed
Liberal	Dugald McCoig Cowan	unopposed
Unionist	Archibald Noel Skelton	unopposed

Votes summary

Popular vote^[b]

Unionist			49.50%
Labour			32.60%
Liberal			8.60%
National Liberal			4.90%
Communist			1.40%
National Labour			1.00%
NPS			1.00%
New Party			0.20%
Other			0.80%

Parliament seats^[a]

Unionist			50 seats
Liberal			8 seats
National Liberal			8 seats
Labour			7 seats
National Labour			1 seat

Notes

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Combined results for burgh, county and university seats
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Total and percentage votes given here are for territorial constituencies only

References

^ William Kenefick (2007). Red Scotland!: The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left, C. 1872–1932. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 202–203. ISBN 978-0-7486-2517-8.

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[fn2-1] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Combined results for burgh, county and university seats

[fn1-2] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l Total and percentage votes given here are for territorial constituencies only

[3] William Kenefick (2007). Red Scotland!: The Rise and Fall of the Radical Left, C. 1872–1932. Edinburgh University Press. pp. 202–203. ISBN 978-0-7486-2517-8.

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