1987 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

1987 United Kingdom general election in Scotland
← 1983 11 June 1987 1992 →
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All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
Turnout	75.1% (2.4%)

On Thursday 11 June 1987, the 1987 United Kingdom general election was held in Scotland, to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons, with 72 constituencies being in Scotland.^[1]^[2]

Candidates

Below is a table summarising the candidates of the 1987 general election in Scotland.^[3]^[4]^[5]

Affiliation		Candidates
	Labour Party	72
	Conservative and Unionist Party	72
	Scottish National Party	71
	Liberal Party	36
	Social Democratic Party	36
	Green Party	12
	Communist Party of Great Britain	5
	Independent	1^[a]
	Independent Liberal	1^[b]
	Orkney and Shetland Movement	1^[c]
	Red Front	1^[d]
Total		308

Analysis

While the Conservatives under Margaret Thatcher comfortably won a majority across the United Kingdom, the result saw the Conservatives suffer significant losses in Scotland as their vote share declined significantly in what The Glasgow Herald called "the humiliation of the Tories north of the border." Labour, who as well as gaining seats from the Conservatives also took two from the SNP and one from the SDP, now had more MPs from Scotland than at any other point in the party's history, including holding every seat in Glasgow, while the Conservatives were reduced to their lowest number since the Second World War.^[6]

Several prominent Scottish Conservative MPs, including Peter Fraser, Sir Alex Fletcher and Michael Ancram lost their seats, while George Younger, then Secretary of State for Defence, only very narrowly held his Ayr constituency after a recount.^[6]^[7] The Conservatives also had close results in Edinburgh West, where James Douglas-Hamilton's majority was reduced to 498 votes, and at Stirling where junior minister Michael Forsyth's majority fell from over 5,000 to 948 votes.^[8] The SNP's leader Gordon Wilson and the former leader of the SDP Roy Jenkins, also lost their seats to Labour challengers.^[7] Labour also took the Western Isles constituency from the SNP following the retirement of former SNP leader Donald Stewart, with the seat seeing an SNP to Labour swing of 19.6%. The SNP partially compensated for their losses by gaining three seats from the Conservatives, while the Conservatives also lost two seats to the Liberals.^[9]^[10]

In reaction to the poor Conservative performance compared with England, Scottish Secretary, Malcolm Rifkind, said "Of course I am disappointed. We have done well in the south, but not so well in Scotland." He noted that the recession had "bitten deeper" in Scotland than in England and that recovery had been slower.^[6] The defeated Sir Alex Fletcher stated that "There is no Tory press in Scotland. The papers up here are rather hostile to the Tory Party".^[7]

An editorial in The Glasgow Herald the day after the election argued that the results meant that "the case in favour of devolution is automatically strengthened", while also observing that the "patchy showing" by the SNP showed "that there is no general inclination for separatism".^[11]

Results


Party^[12]			Seats					Aggregate votes
Party^[12]			Total	Gains	Losses	Net	Of total (%)	Total	Of total (%)	Change (%)
	Labour Party		50	9	0	9	69.4	1,258,132	42.4	7.3
	Conservative Party		10	0	11	11	13.9	713,081	24.0	4.4
	SDP–Liberal Alliance		9	2	1	1	12.5	570,053	19.2	5.3
		Liberal	7	2	1	2	9.7	307,210	10.4	2.2
		SDP	2	0	1	1	2.8	262,843	8.9	3.0
	SNP		3	2	3	1	4.2	416,473	14.0	2.2
	Green		0	0	0		—	4,745	0.2	0.1
	Orkney and Shetland Movement		0	New			—	3,095	0.1	New
	Communist		0	0	0		—	1,187	0.0	0.1
	Independent Liberal		0	Did not stand in 1983			—	686	0.0	N/a
	Independent		0	Did not stand in 1983			—	230	0.0	N/a
	Red Front		0	New			—	126	0.0	New
Total			72			0	100.0	2,967,808	100.0	0.0
Registered voters, and turnout									75.1^[13]^[14]	2.4

Popular vote

Labour			42.4%
Conservative			24.0%
Alliance			19.2%
SNP			14.0%
Other			0.3%

Parliamentary seats

Labour			69.4%
Conservative			13.9%
Alliance			12.5%
SNP			4.2%

Incumbents defeated

	Name	Constituency	Office held whilst in power	Year elected	Defeated by
Conservative	Gerry Malone	Aberdeen South		1983	Frank Doran	Labour
	The Rt Hon Peter Fraser	East Angus	Solicitor General for Scotland	1979	Andrew Welsh	SNP
	John MacKay	Argyll and Bute	Under-Secretary of State for Scotland	1979	Ray Mitchie	Liberal
	Sir Albert McQuarrie	Banff and Buchan		1979	Alex Salmond	SNP
	John Corrie	Cunninghame North		February 1974	Brian Wilson	Labour
	Alexander MacPherson Fletcher	Edinburgh Central		1973	Alistair Darling	Labour
	Barry Henderson	North East Fife		1979	Menzies Campbell	Liberal
	Alexander Pollock	Moray	Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Secretary of State for Defence	1979	Margaret Ewing	SNP
	Anna McCurley	Renfrew West and Inverclyde		1983	Tommy Graham	Labour
	Michael Hirst	Strathkelvin and Bearsden		1983	Sam Galbraith	Labour
	The Rt Hon Michael Ancram, Earl of Ancram	Edinburgh South		1979	Nigel Griffiths	Labour
SDP	The Rt Hon Roy Jenkins	Glasgow Hillhead	Former Leader of the Social Democratic Party	1982	George Galloway	Labour
SNP	Gordon Wilson	Dundee East	Leader of the Scottish National Party	February 1974	John McAllion	Labour
SNP	Ian Smith ^[e]	Western Isles		N/a	Calum MacDonald	Labour

Notes

↑ Candidate Dan Kenny in Galloway and Upper Nithsdale.
↑ Candidate William Mowat stood in Caithness and Sutherland.
↑ Candidate John Goodlad stood in Orkney and Shetland.
↑ Candidate John Goodlad stood in Glasgow Central.
↑ Incumbent SNP seat, although incumbent MP was Donald Stewart.

References

↑ "Commons results report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2020.
↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
↑ Cracknell, Richard; Uberoi, Elise; Burton, Matthew (9 August 2023). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 25. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
↑ "UK General Elections Results 1832-2019". Retrieved 12 August 2026.
↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
1 2 3 Parkhouse, Geoffrey (12 June 1987). "Scotland swims against the Tory tide". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
1 2 3 Clark, William (12 June 1987). "Labour gains raise the Doomsday issue". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
↑ The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1987. London: Times Books Ltd. 1987. pp. 108 & 212. ISBN 0-7230-0298-3.
↑ The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1987. London: Times Books Ltd. 1987. p. 238. ISBN 0-7230-0298-3.
↑ David Butler; Robert Waller (1987). "Survey of the voting. Election of haves and have-nots". The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1987. London: Times Books Ltd. p. 255. ISBN 0-7230-0298-3.
↑ "Divided kingdom". The Glasgow Herald. 12 June 1987. p. 12. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.
↑ Cracknell, Richard; Uberoi, Elise; Burton, Matthew (9 August 2023). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 29. Retrieved 8 August 2026.
↑ Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.

[6] Candidate Dan Kenny in Galloway and Upper Nithsdale.

[7] Candidate William Mowat stood in Caithness and Sutherland.

[8] Candidate John Goodlad stood in Orkney and Shetland.

[9] Candidate John Goodlad stood in Glasgow Central.

[19] Incumbent SNP seat, although incumbent MP was Donald Stewart.

[1] "Commons results report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 October 2020.

[R&T-2] Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.

[3] Cracknell, Richard; Uberoi, Elise; Burton, Matthew (9 August 2023). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 25. Retrieved 8 August 2026.

[UKGE-4] "UK General Elections Results 1832-2019". Retrieved 12 August 2026.

[5] Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.

[GHheadline16June1987-10] 1 2 3 Parkhouse, Geoffrey (12 June 1987). "Scotland swims against the Tory tide". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 26 April 2021.

[GH12June87p1story2-11] 1 2 3 Clark, William (12 June 1987). "Labour gains raise the Doomsday issue". The Glasgow Herald. p. 1. Retrieved 26 April 2021.

[TimesGuide87pp108&212-12] The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1987. London: Times Books Ltd. 1987. pp. 108 & 212. ISBN 0-7230-0298-3.

[TimesGuide87p238-13] The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1987. London: Times Books Ltd. 1987. p. 238. ISBN 0-7230-0298-3.

[TimesGuide1987p255-14] David Butler; Robert Waller (1987). "Survey of the voting. Election of haves and have-nots". The Times Guide to the House of Commons June 1987. London: Times Books Ltd. p. 255. ISBN 0-7230-0298-3.

[GHeditorial12061987-15] "Divided kingdom". The Glasgow Herald. 12 June 1987. p. 12. Retrieved 28 April 2021.

[16] Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.

[17] Cracknell, Richard; Uberoi, Elise; Burton, Matthew (9 August 2023). "UK Election Statistics: 1918-2023, A Century of Elections" (PDF). House of Commons Library. p. 29. Retrieved 8 August 2026.

[18] Colin Rallings; Micheal Thrasher (2006). British Electoral Facts. Total Politics. p. 91. ISBN 978-1-907278-03-7.

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v t e 1987 United Kingdom general election
MPs elected Northern Ireland Scotland Wales Opinion polling
Incumbent prime minister: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative) Appointed prime minister: Margaret Thatcher (Conservative)
Parties elected to the House of Commons	Conservative (Margaret Thatcher) Labour (Neil Kinnock) SDP–Liberal Alliance David Steel – Liberal David Owen – SDP Ulster Unionist Party (James Molyneaux) Democratic Unionist Party (Ian Paisley) Scottish National Party (Gordon Wilson) Plaid Cymru (Dafydd Elis-Thomas) Social Democratic and Labour Party (John Hume) Sinn Féin (Gerry Adams) Ulster Popular Unionist Party (James Kilfedder)
Results by area	England Northern Ireland Scotland Wales