1959 Galloway by-election

Last updated

The Galloway by-election of 9 April 1959 was held after the death of Unionist Member of Parliament (MP) John Mackie: [1]

Contents

The seat was safe, having been won by the Unionists at the 1955 general election by 8,014 votes [2]

Result of the previous general election

General election 1955: Galloway
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist John Mackie 15,89366.86
Labour W S Gray7,87933.14
Majority8,01433.72-
Turnout 23,772
Unionist hold Swing

Result of the by-election

By-election 1959: Galloway [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Unionist John Brewis 13,20449.93-16.41
Liberal Simon Mackay 6,72125.42New
Labour W Cross6,52024.65-9.26
Majority6,48324.51-9.21
Turnout 26,445
Unionist hold Swing

Aftermath

The Glasgow Herald stated that the initial reaction to the result among the political parties was "Government satisfaction, Liberal jubilation, and Labour despondency." [4] However, the same newspaper also noted that Conservatives would be happy to have held the seat with a "substantial majority", the Liberal performance would worry them. The result indicated that the Liberals were maintaining their recent trend of polling well in by-elections. The Conservatives were reported to fear that if this trend in Liberal candidates taking votes from their party continued, it could allow Labour to win the next general election, if the Liberals fielded 200 candidates. [4]

Related Research Articles

February 1974 United Kingdom general election General election held in the United Kingdom

The February 1974 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 28 February 1974. The Labour Party, led by Leader of the Opposition and former Prime Minister Harold Wilson, gained 14 seats, but was seventeen short of an overall majority. The Conservative Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Edward Heath, lost 28 seats; but achieved a higher share of the vote than Labour. This resulted in a hung parliament, the first since 1929. Heath resigned when he refused to a key term of a possible coalition, and Wilson became Prime Minister for a second time, his first under a minority government. Because Labour was unable to form a majority coalition with another party, Wilson called another early election in September, which was held in October and resulted in a Labour majority. This was also the first general election to be held with the United Kingdom as a member state of the European Communities (EC)—widely known as the "Common Market".

1959 United Kingdom general election General election held in the United Kingdom

The 1959 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 8 October 1959. It marked a third consecutive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, now led by Harold Macmillan. For the second time in a row, the Conservatives increased their overall majority in Parliament, this time to a landslide majority of 100 seats, having gained 20 seats for a return of 365. The Labour Party, led by Hugh Gaitskell, lost 19 seats and returned 258. The Liberal Party, led by Jo Grimond, again returned only six MPs to the House of Commons, but managed to increase its overall share of the vote to 5.9%, compared to just 2.7% four years earlier.

2005 United Kingdom general election General election held in the United Kingdom

The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader after Harold Wilson to form three majority governments. However, its majority fell to 66 seats compared to the 167-seat majority it had won four years before. This was the first time the Labour Party had won a third consecutive election, and remains the party's most recent general election victory.

2010 United Kingdom general election Election of members to the House of Commons in 2010

The 2010 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 May 2010, with 45,597,461 registered voters entitled to vote to elect members to the House of Commons. The election took place in 650 constituencies across the United Kingdom under the first-past-the-post system.

Tam Galbraith Scottish politician

Sir Thomas Galloway Dunlop Galbraith was a Scottish Unionist politician.

Scottish Conservatives Part of the British Conservative Party that operates in Scotland

The Scottish Conservatives, officially the Scottish Conservative & Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party that operates in Scotland. It is the second-largest party in the Scottish Parliament and Scottish local government. The party has the second largest number of Scottish MPs in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

2011 Scottish Parliament election Parliamentary election held in Scotland

The 2011 Scottish Parliament election was held on Thursday, 5 May 2011 to elect 129 members to the Scottish Parliament.

1982 Glasgow Hillhead by-election

A Glasgow Hillhead by-election was held on 25 March 1982. The by-election was caused by the death of the Conservative Party Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead Tam Galbraith on 2 January 1982.

The East Fife by-election, 1961 was a by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of East Fife in Scotland on 9 November 1961. It was won by the Unionist candidate Sir John Gilmour with a majority of 7,066 votes.

The Berwick and East Lothian by-election, 1978 was a by-election held for the House of Commons constituency of Berwick and East Lothian in Scotland on 26 October 1978. It was one of two UK parliamentary by-elections held on that day, and was won by the Labour Party candidate John Home Robertson.

There was a by-election for Dundee East, in Scotland, on 1 March 1973. It was one of three UK parliamentary by-elections held on that day. It was caused by the appointment of George Thomson as a European commissioner. George Machin retained the seat for Labour, but only narrowly. There was a strong showing by the Scottish National Party, which prefigured their serious breakthrough at the Govan by-election later in the year, and the two general elections of 1974.

2012 Scottish local elections

The 2012 Scottish local elections, were held on 3 May 2012 in all 32 local authorities. The Scottish National Party (SNP) overtook Labour to win the highest share of the vote, and retained and strengthened its position as the party with most councillors. Labour also made gains, while the Liberal Democrats experienced meltdown, losing over half their seats and falling behind the Conservatives. For the first time since the introduction of the Single Transferable Vote system, the SNP won majority control of 2 councils, from no overall control. Labour also won majority control of 2 councils from no overall control, while retaining majority control over 2 councils.

This is the results breakdown of the 2005 United Kingdom general election.

The Swindon by-election of 30 October 1969 was held after Labour Member of Parliament (MP) Francis Noel-Baker resigned from the House of Commons. The seat was won by the Conservative Party in a defeat for Harold Wilson's government.

1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election

The Glasgow Pollok by-election of 9 March 1967 was held after the death of Labour MP (MP) Alex Garrow:

The Argyll by-election of 12 June 1958 was held after the death of Conservative Party MP Duncan McCallum.

The Glasgow Scotstoun by-election of 25 October 1950 was held after the death of Conservative MP Sir Arthur Young.

A by-election for Dumfriesshire was held on 12 December 1963, after the sitting MP, Niall Macpherson, was made elevated to the peerage as Lord Drumalbyn. Macpherson had been elected in 1959 as a National Liberal and Unionist, the latter label being that used by Conservatives in Scotland at this time. Macpherson had first been elected as a National Liberal in 1945. At the last election Macpherson had polled over 58% of the votes cast in a two-way fight against a Labour candidate and gaining a majority of 7,430 votes.

The Dundee East by-election was held on 17 July 1952, due to the death in a road accident of the incumbent Labour MP, Thomas Cook. It was won by the Labour candidate George Thomson.

2015 United Kingdom general election Election of members to the House of Commons in 2015

The 2015 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 7 May 2015 to elect 650 members to the House of Commons. It was the first and, as of 2022, the only general election held at the end of a fixed-term Parliament. Local elections took place in most areas on the same day.

References

  1. Full results Archived 10 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Archived 11 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine PoliticsResources.net
  3. "1959 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 10 October 2012. Retrieved 15 August 2015.
  4. 1 2 "Government Satisfaction at Galloway Result". The Glasgow Herald. 11 April 1959. Retrieved 25 January 2019.