1997 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

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.

1997 United Kingdom general election

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All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
Turnout	71.3%, 4.2%
First party Second party   Leader Tony Blair Paddy Ashdown Party Labour Liberal Democrats Leader since 21 July 1994 16 July 1988 Last election 49 seats, 39.0% 9 seats, 13.1% Seats before 49 9 Seats won 56 10 Seat change 7 1 Popular vote 1,283,350 365,362 Percentage 45.6% 13.0% Swing 6.6% 0.1%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Alex Salmond John Major Party SNP Conservative Leader since 22 September 1990 4 July 1995[n 1] Last election 3 seats, 21.5% 11 seats, 25.6% Seats before 3 11 Seats won 6 0 Seat change 3 11 Popular vote 621,550 493,059 Percentage 22.1% 17.5% Swing 0.6% 8.2%
Coloured according to the winning party's vote share in each constituency

Main article: 1997 United Kingdom general election

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

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 1992		Swing to gain	Labour's place 1992	Result
1	Ayr		Conservative	0.1	2nd	Lab Gain
2	Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber		Liberal Democrats	0.45	2nd	Lab Gain
3	Stirling		Conservative	0.75	2nd	Lab Gain
4	Aberdeen South		Conservative	1.85	2nd	Lab Gain
5	Edinburgh Pentlands		Conservative	4.8	2nd	Lab Gain

SNP targets

Rank	Constituencee	Winning party 1992		Swing to gain	SNP's place 1992	Result
1	Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber		Liberal Democrats	0.65	3rd	Lab Gain
2	Perth		Conservative	2.1	2nd	SNP Gain
3	Galloway and Upper Nithsdale		Conservative	2.75	2nd	SNP Gain
4	North Tayside		Conservative	4.6	2nd	SNP Gain

Conservative targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 1992		Swing to gain	Con place 1992	Result
1	Gordon		Liberal Democrats	0.2	2nd	LD hold
2	Angus East		SNP	1	2nd	SNP hold
3	Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber		Liberal Democrats	1.7	4th	Lab Gain
4	West Renfrewshire		Labour	1.85	2nd	Lab hold
5	Edinburgh Central		Labour	2.7	2nd	Lab hold
6	Moray		SNP	3.1	2nd	SNP hold
7	Strathkelvin and Bearsden		Labour	3.1	2nd	Lab hold
8	Cunninghame North		Labour	3.45	2nd	Lab hold
9	Argyll and Bute		Liberal Democrats	3.6	2nd	LD hold
10	North East Fife		Liberal Democrats	3.95	2nd	LD hold
11	Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale		Liberal Democrats	4.1	2nd	LD hold
12	Banff and Buchan		SNP	4.45	2nd	SNP hold
13	Edinburgh South		Labour	4.7	2nd	Lab hold

Liberal Democrat targets

Rank	Constituency	Winning party 1992		Swing to gain	LD's place 1992	Result
1	Edinburgh West		Conservative	0.6	2nd	LD Gain
2	West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine		Conservative	4.3	2nd	LD Gain

Results

Below is a table summarising the results of the 1997 general election in Scotland.^[2]

Party		Seats					Aggregate votes
		Total	Gains	Losses	Net +/-	Of all (%)	Total	Of all (%)	Difference
	Labour	56	7	0	7	77.8	1,283,350	45.6	6.6
	SNP	6	3	0	3	8.3	621,550	22.1	0.6
	Liberal Democrats	10	1	0	1	13.9	365,362	13.0	0.1
	Conservative	0	0	11	11	0.0	493,059	17.5	8.2
	Referendum	0	0	0		0.0	26,726	0.95	New
	Scottish Socialist	0	0	0		0.0	9,740	0.35	New
	ProLife Alliance	0	0	0		0.0	5,750	0.25	New
	Independent	0	0	0		0.0	2,162	0.08	-
	Natural Law	0	0	0		0.0	1,979	0.07	-
	Socialist Labour	0	0	0		0.0	1,945	0.07	New
	Scottish Green	0	0	0		0.0	1,721	0.06	0.2
	UKIP	0	0	0		0.0	1,585	0.06	New
	Independent Labour	0	0	0		0.0	812	0.03	-
	BNP	0	0	0		0.0	651	0.02	-
	Liberal	0	0	0		0.0	650	0.02	-
	Socialist (GB)	0	0	0		0.0	315	0.01	-
	Workers Revolutionary	0	0	0		0.0	80	0.00	-
Total		72					2,816,748	71.3	4.2

• 
  1997 map of Scottish Constituencies - Results

Votes summary

Popular vote Labour   45.56% SNP   22.06% Conservative   17.50% Liberal Democrats   12.97% Other   1.91%

Parliament seats Labour   77.78% Liberal Democrats   13.89% SNP   8.33%

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.^[3]

Notes

1. Conservative party leader John Major resigned as Leader of the Conservative Party on 22 June 1995 to face critics in his party and government, and was reelected as Leader on 4 July 1995. Prior to his resignation he had held the post of Leader of the Conservative Party since 28 November 1990.^[1]