1922 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

Main article: 1922 United Kingdom general election

1922 United Kingdom general election

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All 74 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader J. R. Clynes H. H. Asquith Bonar Law Party Labour Liberal Unionist Leader since 14 February 1921 30 April 1908 23 October 1922 Leader's seat Manchester Platting Paisley Glasgow Central Seats before 6 [a] 9 [a] New party [b] [a] Seats won 29 [a] 16 [a] 15 [a] Seat change 23 [a] 7 [a] 17 [b] [a] Popular vote 501,254 [c] 328,649 [c] 379,396 [b] [c] Percentage 32.2% [c] 21.5% [c] 25.1% [b] [c] Swing 9.3% [c] 6.1% [c] 7.7% [b] [c]   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader David Lloyd George Albert Inkpin Edwin Scrymgeour Party National Liberal Communist Scottish Prohibition Leader since 7 December 1916 1920 1901 Leader's seat Carnarvon Boroughs No seat Dundee Seats before 25 [d] [a] 0 [a] 0 seats [a] Seats won 12 [a] 1 [a] 1 [a] Seat change 13 [d] [a] 1 [a] 1 [a] Popular vote 288,529 [d] [c] 23,944 [c] Percentage 17.7% [d] [c] 1.4% [c] Swing 1.4% [d] [c] 1.4% [c]
Results of the 1922 election in Scotland   Labour   Liberal   Unionist   National Liberal   Communist Party of Great Britain   Scottish Prohibition Party

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 15 November 1922. 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, which used the Single Transferable Vote (STV) method. ^[1] As voters in university constituencies voted under a different system, and in addition to their territorial vote, the results are compiled separately.

The election saw major gains for the Labour party, which had entered the election as Scotland's 6th largest party, and emerged from the election as the largest party in Scotland. In contrast both the Conservatives (represented in Scotland by the Unionist party) and the National Liberals suffered heavy losses. These two parties had composed the ruling coalition government under David Lloyd George, which had collapsed following the Conservatives withdrawal from the coalition amidst several scandals. Most of the elected Labour MP's had included support for Scottish Home Rule in their manifestos. ^[2] Part of the reason for Labour's success came from a shift in the political alignment of Scottish Catholics of Irish descent, who had prior to Irish independence voted Liberal due to the party's support for Irish Home Rule. ^{[3] [ full citation needed ]} Despite this, the two Liberal parties received between them 39.2% of the Scottish vote.

Of the party leaders, two represented Scottish constituencies, with Bonar Law representing Glasgow Central and Asquith representing Paisley.

Two minor parties were also able to pick up seats with the Communist party gaining Motherwell and the Scottish Prohibition Party gaining a seat in Dundee (in the process ejecting Winston Churchill from Parliament).

Results

Seats summary

Party		Seats	Last Election	Seats change
	Labour	29	6	23
	Liberal	16	9	7
	Unionist	15	32	17 [b]
	National Liberal	12	25	13 [d]
	Communist	1	0	1
	Other	1	2	1
Total		74	74

Burgh & County constituencies

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% Change
	Labour	29	23	501,254	32.2	9.3
	Liberal	15	7	328,649	21.5	6.1
	Unionist	13	17 [b]	379,396	25.1	7.7 [b]
	National Liberal	12	13 [d]	288,529	17.7	1.4 [d]
	Communist	1		23,944	1.4
	Other	1		47,589	2.1
Total		71		1,569,361	100

University constituencies

General election, November 1922: Combined Scottish Universities

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir George Andreas Berry	unopposed
	Liberal	Dugald McCoig Cowan	unopposed
	Unionist	Sir Henry Craik	unopposed

Votes summary

Popular vote [c] Labour   32.20% Unionist   25.10% Liberal   21.50% National Liberal   17.70% Communist   1.40% Other   0.80%

Parliament seats [c] Labour   39.19% Liberal   21.62% Unionist   20.27% National Liberal   16.22% Communist   1.35% Scottish Prohibition   1.35%

Notes

1. Combined results for burgh, county and university seats
2. Unionist decline is compared to combined Coalition & non-Coalition Unionist results in 1918.
3. Total and percentage votes given here are for territorial constituencies only
4. National Liberal decline is compared to Coalition Liberal results in 1918

References

1. "Research Briefing: Voting systems in the UK". Library of the House of Commons. 10 January 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2024.
2. "Scotland's road to referendum". BBC Timelines. Archived from the original on 20 September 2014.
3. Brown, Stewart J.; Newlands, George; Newlands, G. M.; Cheyne, A. C. (January 2000). Scottish Christianity in the Modern World: In Honour of A. C. Cheyne. A&C Black. p. 263. ISBN   9780567087652.