1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election

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1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election
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  1966 9 March 1967 1970  

Glasgow Pollok constituency
 First partySecond partyThird party
 
Candidate Esmond Wright Dick Douglas George Leslie
Party Conservative Labour SNP
Popular vote14,27012,06910,884
Percentage36.9%31.2%28.2%
SwingDecrease2.svg10.6%Decrease2.svg21.2%New

Glasgow Pollok Constituency 1955-1974.svg
Map showing the Glasgow Pollok Parliamentary constituency within Scotland.

MP before election

Alex Garrow
Labour

Subsequent MP

Esmond Wright
Conservative

The 1967 Glasgow Pollok by-election of 9 March 1967 was held after the death of Labour MP (MP) Alex Garrow: [1]

Contents

The seat was marginal, having been won by Labour at the 1966 United Kingdom general election by under 2,000 votes. [2]

Candidates

Result of the previous general election

General election 1966: Glasgow Pollok
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Alex Garrow 21,257 52.44
Conservative P T Smollett19,28247.56
Majority1,9754.88
Turnout 40,539
Labour hold Swing

Result of the by-election

Glasgow Pollok by-election, 9 March 1967
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Conservative Esmond Wright 14,270 36.92 Decrease2.svg10.64
Labour Dick Douglas 12,06931.22Decrease2.svg21.22
SNP George Leslie 10,88428.16New
Liberal Ian Miller7351.90New
Communist Alexander Murray6941.80New
Majority2,2015.70N/A
Turnout 38,652
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

Both main parties lost votes compared with the previous general election due to the good showing of the SNP, who recorded what was then their best result in a Glasgow constituency. However, as the Conservatives had predicted, the SNP drew more votes from Labour, allowing Wright to gain the seat with a majority of 2,201. [3] It was the first time the Conservatives had gained a seat in Scotland since the 1959 general election and the party's first by-election gain since the Glasgow Camlachie by-election in 1948. [3] The Glasgow Herald suggested that the result would be claimed as a turning point by the Conservatives in Scotland, while Labour would have to eat "a lot of campaign words", having predicted that they would have an increased majority and that the SNP would lose their deposit. [3] Having almost pushed Labour into third place the result was described by the same newspaper as a "triumph" for the SNP, who had not previously contested the constituency, while the poor showing by the Liberals was labelled "a disaster". [3]

References

  1. Full results Archived 29 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. Election results Archived 16 June 2015 at the Wayback Machine PoliticsResources.net
  3. 1 2 3 4 Staff Reporter (10 March 1967). "Tories win Pollock by 2201 votes". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 4 August 2018.