1988 Hamilton District Council election

1988 Hamilton District Council election
All 20 seats to Hamilton District Council; 11 seats needed for a majority
Registered	80,029
Turnout	48.8%
Council Leader before election; ; Labour	Council Leader after election ; ; Labour

Elections to Hamilton District Council were held on 5 May 1988, on the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. This was the fifth election to the district council following the local government reforms in the 1970s.

The election used the 20 wards created by the Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements in 1980. Each ward elected one councillor using first-past-the-post voting.^[1]

Despite losing two seats and their vote share falling by 10.2%, Labour maintained control of the district council as they won 15 of the 20 seats – taking 54.7% of the popular vote. In March 1988, the Social Democratic Party and the Liberal Party merged and the newly formed Scottish Social and Liberal Democrats (SSLD) matched the result of the SDP–Liberal Alliance at the previous election as they returned two councillors. The remaining seats were won by the Scottish National Party (SNP) – who gained one seat and had come second in the popular vote – and the Conservatives.

Results

1988 Hamilton District Council election result
Party		Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	15	1	3	2	75.0	54.7	21,235	10.2
	SSLD	2	1	1		10.0	7.8	3,031	8.6^{[Note 1]}
	SNP	1	1	0	1	10.0	19.9	7,700	11.9
	Conservative	1	0	0		10.0	10.0	3,861	0.7
	Independent Labour	1	1	0	1	10.0	6.6	2,592	New
	Tenants' Association	0	0	0		0.0	1.1	448	New
Total		20						38,867

Source:^[2]^[3]

Ward results

Hillhouse

Hillhouse
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Newberry	1,200	78.5	4.2
	SNP	J. Randalls	276	18.1	11.8
	Conservative	H. MacKie	50	3.3	0.3
Majority			924	60.4	14.4
Turnout			1,526	43.4	1.5
Registered electors			3,525
	Labour hold		Swing	4.2

Source:^[2]^[3]

Udston

Udston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Scott	1,499	74.2	3.2
	SNP	J. Pollock	512	25.4	12.5
Majority			987	48.8	15.7
Turnout			2,011	49.4	3.7
Registered electors			4,084
	Labour hold		Swing	3.2

Source:^[2]^[3]

Wellhall North

Wellhall North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SSLD	I. Blackstock	720	36.3	28.4
	Labour	S. Dallas	418	21.1	22.0
	Independent Labour	B. McKinnon	372	18.7	New
	SNP	W. Stevenson	277	14.0	7.3
	Conservative	D. Thomas	195	9.8	3.0
Majority			302	15.2	N/A
Turnout			1,982	44.5	3.5
Registered electors			4,464
	SSLD gain from Labour		Swing	25.2

Source:^[2]^[3]

Central

Central
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	T. Murphy	981	51.7	0.6
	Conservative	W. Irving	527	27.8	1.5
	SSLD	J. Clarke	378	19.9	7.0
Majority			454	23.9	2.1
Turnout			1,886	43.6	3.8
Registered electors			4,353
	Labour hold		Swing	0.6

Source:^[2]^[3]

Burnbank

Burnbank
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	I. McKillop	1,140	57.7	29.2
	Tenants' Association	E. Kerr	448	22.7	New
	SNP	G. Gebbie	302	15.3	New
	Conservative	R. Wilkie	83	4.2	8.3
Majority			692	35.0	39.4
Turnout			1,973	47.3	7.8
Registered electors			4,176
	Labour hold		Swing	29.2

Source:^[2]^[3]

Ferniegair

Ferniegair
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	M. Mitchell	759	41.1	1.4
	Labour	I. Donnelly	632	34.2	0.4
	SNP	E. Hamilton	449	24.3	17.9
Majority			127	6.9	1.0
Turnout			1,840	47.4	0.5
Registered electors			3,896
	Conservative hold		Swing	0.5

Source:^[2]^[3]

Fairhill

Fairhill
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	N. Cochrane	1,176	62.8	21.1
	SNP	Y. Dear	595	31.8	New
	Conservative	M. Murray	98	5.2	10.4
Majority			581	31.0	37.3
Turnout			1,863	48.5	4.2
Registered electors			3,863
	Labour hold		Swing	21.1

Source:^[2]^[3]

Woodhead

Woodhead
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Lowe	1,457	73.3	10.1
	SNP	S. Buchanan	523	26.3	16.3
Majority			934	47.0	26.4
Turnout			1,526	45.0	0.2
Registered electors			4,424
	Labour hold		Swing	10.1

Source:^[2]^[3]

Low Waters

Low Waters
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	P. Grenfell	836	41.6	3.5
	Conservative	A. Kegg	592	29.5	1.8
	SNP	N. Dear	576	28.7	20.2
Majority			244	12.1	5.3
Turnout			2,004	49.6	0.1
Registered electors			4,051
	Labour hold		Swing	2.6

Source:^[2]^[3]

Cadzow

Cadzow
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	J. Smith	915	47.8	30.9
	Labour	G. Smith	878	45.8	36.8
	Conservative	A. Aitchison	122	6.4	New
Majority			37	2.0	N/A
Turnout			1,915	51.4	4.8
Registered electors			3,728
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	33.8

Source:^[2]^[3]

Dalserf

Dalserf
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	M. Ahmed	913	52.1	16.2
	Independent Labour	J. Millward	365	20.8	New
	SNP	R. Wilson	252	14.4	1.7
	Conservative	A. Aitchison	221	12.6	New
Majority			548	31.3	20.9
Turnout			1,751	52.7	16.4
Registered electors			3,321
	Labour hold		Swing	16.2

Source:^[2]^[3]

Larkhall East

Larkhall East
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Ferguson	973	58.3	9.2
	SNP	M. Miller	686	41.1	9.2
Majority			287	17.2	18.3
Turnout			1,659	46.6	5.9
Registered electors			3,582
	Labour hold		Swing	9.2

Source:^[2]^[3]

Larkhall North

Larkhall North
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	T. McCabe	1,163	66.2	11.5
	SNP	R. Forbes	576	32.8	11.4
Majority			587	33.4	22.9
Turnout			1,739	46.2	8.0
Registered electors			3,800
	Labour hold		Swing	11.4

Source:^[2]^[3]

Larkhall South

Larkhall South
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	S. Casserly	1,204	72.6	9.5
	SNP	M. Miller	453	27.3	9.7
Majority			751	45.3	19.2
Turnout			1,657	50.7	4.7
Registered electors			3,275
	Labour hold		Swing	9.6

Source:^[2]^[3]

Stonehouse

Stonehouse
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	R. Gibb	1,305	66.0	5.8
	Conservative	A. Haston	407	20.6	New
	SNP	R. Clark	265	13.4	7.5
Majority			898	45.4	19.0
Turnout			1,977	50.0	5.3
Registered electors			3,953
	Labour hold		Swing	5.8

Source:^[2]^[3]

Uddingston

Uddingston
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SSLD	T. Maxwell	1,060	49.5	7.1
	Labour	C. Begley	801	37.4	8.9
	Conservative	G. Prince	277	12.9	1.7
Majority			259	12.1	16.0
Turnout			2,138	53.9	1.7
Registered electors			3,974
	SSLD hold		Swing	7.1

Source:^[2]^[3]

Bothwell

Bothwell
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	M. Rooney	1,060	41.2	3.8
	SSLD	M. Radcliffe	873	34.0	20.1
	Conservative	E. Bath	393	15.3	7.0
	SNP	C. Sutherland	242	9.4	New
Majority			187	7.2	N/A
Turnout			2,568	55.1	0.8
Registered electors			4,664
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	11.9

Source:^[2]^[3]

High Blantyre

High Blantyre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	J. Swinburne	1,199	58.0	34.0
	Independent Labour	M. Martin	524	25.4	New
	SNP	I. Campbell	339	16.4	New
Majority			675	32.6	51.7
Turnout			2,062	53.5	11.1
Registered electors			3,867
	Labour hold		Swing	34.0

Source:^[2]^[3]

Blantyre

Blantyre
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Labour	M. Tremble	1,331	57.4	*New*
	Labour	J. Handibode	837	36.1	42.1
	Conservative	L. McIntosh	137	5.9	2.7
Majority			494	21.3	N/A
Turnout			2,305	50.6	7.4
Registered electors			4,575
	Independent Labour gain from Labour		Swing	49.7

Source:^[2]^[3]

Stonefield

Stonefield
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	H. Dunsmuir	1,563	77.0
	SNP	T. Muir	462	22.7
Majority			1,101	54.3
Turnout			2,025	45.6
Registered electors			4,454
	Labour hold

Source:^[2]^[3]

Notes

^ ^a ^b At the 1984 election, the SDP–Liberal Alliance won 16.4% of the vote with candidates from both the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party. These parties subsequently merged in March 1988 to form the Scottish Social and Liberal Democrats (SSLD).

References

^ "Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements". Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u Botchel, J. M.; Denver, D. T. (1989). The Scottish District Elections 1988: Results and Statistics (PDF). Dundee: Election Studies, University of Dundee. ISBN 1-869820-02-9. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u Botchel, J. M.; Denver, D. T. (1984). The Scottish District Elections 1984: Results and Statistics (PDF). Dundee: Election Studies, University of Dundee. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

[SSLD-1] At the 1984 election, the SDP–Liberal Alliance won 16.4% of the vote with candidates from both the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the Liberal Party. These parties subsequently merged in March 1988 to form the Scottish Social and Liberal Democrats (SSLD).

[2] "Initial Statutory Reviews of Electoral Arrangements". Local Government Boundary Commission for Scotland. Retrieved 28 December 2023.

[SCE1988-3] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u Botchel, J. M.; Denver, D. T. (1989). The Scottish District Elections 1988: Results and Statistics (PDF). Dundee: Election Studies, University of Dundee. ISBN 1-869820-02-9. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

[SCE1984-4] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k ^l ^m ⁿ ^o ^p ^q ^r ^s ^t ^u Botchel, J. M.; Denver, D. T. (1984). The Scottish District Elections 1984: Results and Statistics (PDF). Dundee: Election Studies, University of Dundee. Retrieved 29 December 2023.

[Note 1]

[1]

[2]

[3]