January 1910 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

January 1910 United Kingdom general election

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All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
First party Second party Third party   Leader H. H. Asquith Arthur Balfour Arthur Henderson Party Liberal Conservative and Liberal Unionist Labour Last election 58 [a] 11 [b] [a] 2 [a] Seats won 58 [a] 12 [b] [a] 2 [a] Seat change 1 [b] [a] Popular vote 354,847 [c] 260,033 [b] [c] 37,852 [c] Percentage 54.2% [c] [c] 39.6% [b] [c] 5.1% [c] Swing 2.2% [c] 1.4% [b] [c] 2.8% [c]
Results of the January 1910 election in Scotland for the county and burgh seats   Liberal   Conservative   Liberal Unionist   Labour   Independent Liberal

Main article: January 1910 United Kingdom general election

A general election was held in the United Kingdom over the period was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910, and members were returned for all 72 seats in Scotland. ^[1] Called amid a constitutional crisis after the Conservative-dominated House of Lords rejected the People's Budget, the Liberal government, seeking a mandate, lost their majority.

Scotland was allocated 72 seats in total, with 70 territorial seats, comprising 32 burgh constituencies and 37 county constituencies. ^[d] There were also two university constituencies, Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities and Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities. As voters in university constituencies voted in addition to their territorial vote, the results are compiled separately.

In Scotland the election saw little change from the 1906 election, being a second landslide for the Liberal government, which took 58 of the 72 seats. However when combined with results from across the United Kingdom, the election resulted in a hung parliament: Arthur Balfour’s Conservatives and their Liberal Unionist allies won the most votes, but Asquith’s Liberals secured the most seats, edging out the Conservatives by two. With Irish Parliamentary Party support, Asquith remained in power. Labour retained two seats. Archibald Corbett retained his seat of Glasgow Tradeston sitting as an Independent Liberal, however as he had stood in the 1906 election a Liberal Unionist this represented a loss of one seat for the Conservative/Liberal Unionist alliance.

Another election followed in December as the Liberal government sought at a mandate for the Parliament Act 1911, which would prevent the House of Lords from permanently blocking legislation linked to money bills.

Results

Seats summary

Party			Seats	Last Election	Seats change
	Liberal		58	58
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist (Total)		11	12	1
		Conservative	8	8
		Liberal Unionist	3	4	1
	Labour		2	2
	Independent Liberal		1	0	1
Total			72	72

Burgh & County constituencies

Main article: January 1910 United Kingdom general election

Party			Seats [1]	Seats change	Votes [1]	%	% Change
	Liberal		58		354,847	54.2	2.2
	Conservative and Liberal Unionist		9	1	260,033	39.6	1.4
	Labour Party		2		37,852	5.1	2.8
	Other		1	1	7,710	1.1	2.0
Total			70		660,442	100

University constituencies

The two university constituencies each elected an additional member to the house.

General election January 1910: Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Robert Finlay	5,205	65.9	2.0
	Liberal	Alexander Russell Simpson	2,693	34.1	N/A
Majority			2,512	31.8	4.0
Turnout			7,898	69.8	5.1
Registered electors			11,319
	Liberal Unionist hold		Swing	N/A

General election January 1910: Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities ^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Henry Craik	4,879	58.9	9.9
	Free Trader	Frederick Pollock	3,411	41.1	24.0
Majority			1,468	17.8	2.7
Turnout			8,290	70.8	2.2
Registered electors			11,705
	Conservative hold		Swing	7.1

Votes summary

Popular vote [c] Liberal   54.2% Conservative and Liberal Unionist [b]   39.6% Labour   5.1% Other   1.2%

Parliamentary seats [a] Liberal   80.6% Conservative and Liberal Unionist [b]   15.2% Labour   2.8% Independent Liberal   1.4%

Notes

1. Combined results for burgh, county and university seats
2. The seat and vote count figures given here combines the Conservatives and the Liberal Unionists.
3. Total and percentage votes given here are for territorial constituencies only
4. One burgh seat, Dundee, was represented by two members of parliament.

References

1. Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 18. ISBN   978-1-907278-03-7.
2. Debrett's House of Commons and Judicial Bench, 1916