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1980 Glasgow Central by-election

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1980 Glasgow Central by-election

← 1979 26 June 1980 1983 →

Glasgow Central constituency
  First party Second party Third party
 
LAB
CON
Candidate Bob McTaggart Gil Paterson Anna McCurley
Party Labour SNP Conservative
Popular vote 4,902 2,122 707
Percentage 60.8% 26.3% 8.8%
Swing Decrease11.7 pp Increase16.2 pp Decrease7.6 pp

MP before election

Thomas McMillan
Labour

Subsequent MP

Bob McTaggart
Labour

The 1980 Glasgow Central by-election was a by-election held on 26 June 1980 for the British House of Commons constituency of Glasgow Central, following the death of its sitting MP, Thomas McMillan.

On a turnout of 48%, the Labour Party held the seat.

Background

Labour had held the seat for 30 years, having won it at the 1950 general election. McMillan had been the MP for the seat since 1966.[1][2]

Candidates

This was the last parliamentary by-election in England, Scotland or Wales not contested by an official candidate of either the Liberal Party, the SDP, or their successor party the Liberal Democrats; until the 2008 Haltemprice and Howden by-election. The Social Democrat candidate had no connection to the SDP (which wasn't created until 1981) and achieved the lowest vote for any candidate in a Parliamentary election under universal suffrage, a record later surpassed by the five votes obtained by independent campaigner Bill Boaks in the Glasgow Hillhead by-election of March 1982.

Because there was no official candidate, Liberal Party member Graham Watson offered himself as a candidate sponsored by the Scottish Young Liberals. He later became a Member of the European Parliament and leader of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe group in the European Parliament.

As a seat considered safe for Labour,[3] there was little surprise when its candidate Bob McTaggart was declared victor, with 60.8% of the votes cast. Both of his closest rivals were later elected to sit in British parliaments: Gil Paterson, representing the Scottish National Party, was elected as a delegate for Central Scotland in the first sitting of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, while Conservative Anna McCurley won the Renfrew West and Inverclyde seat in the general election of 1983. McCurley was at the time a member of Strathclyde Regional Council, to which she had been elected in 1978, and had unsuccessfully contested West Stirlingshire for the Conservatives at the previous general election.[4]

While Labour won, the good performance of the SNP was described by The Glasgow Herald as the "surprise of the night" and the newspaper argued it marked their return "to the political stage" and that "both the major parties... were shaken" by the SNP's share of the vote.[1]

Votes

1980 Glasgow Central by-election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Bob McTaggart 4,902 60.8 −11.7
SNP Gil Paterson 2,122 26.3 +16.2
Conservative Anna McCurley 707 8.8 −7.6
National Front John MacKenzie 148 1.8 New
Scottish Young Liberal Graham Watson 134 1.7 New
Ecology David Mellor 45 0.6 New
Social Democrat (1979) Donald Kean 10 0.1 New
Majority 2,780 34.5 −21.5
Turnout 8,062
Labour hold Swing

1979 general election result

General election 1979: Glasgow Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Thomas McMillan 8,542 72.5
Conservative F. Saleem 1,937 16.4
SNP S. Bird 1,308 11.1
Majority 6,605 56.0
Turnout 11,787 59.5
Labour hold Swing

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Clark, William (27 June 1980). "Labour wins but SNP is on road back". No. 33, 244. p. 1. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  2. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1971). British parliamentary Election Results 1950-1970. Chichester: Political Reference Publications. p. 609. ISBN 0-900178-02-7.
  3. ^ Clark, William (10 June 1980). "You get an award for losing this type of seat". The Glasgow Herald. p. 6. Retrieved 4 January 2021.
  4. ^ The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1983. London: Times Books Ltd. 1983. p. 190. ISBN 0-7230-0255-X.
  5. ^ Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1979-83 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Archived from the original on 9 June 2000. Retrieved 19 September 2015.