1983 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday 9 June 1983 and all 72 seats in Scotland were contested.^[1]

1983 United Kingdom general election

← 1979 9 June 1983 1987 →
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All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
Turnout	72.7%, 4.14%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Michael Foot Margaret Thatcher David Steel (Lib.) David Owen (SDP) Party Labour Conservative Alliance Leader since 10 November 1980 11 February 1975 7 July 1976 (Steel) 21 June 1983 (Owen) Last election 44 seats, 41.5% 22 seats, 31.4% 3 seats, 9.0% Seats won 41 21 8 Seat change 3 1 5 Popular vote 990,654 801,487 692,634 Percentage 35.1% 28.4% 24.5% Swing 6.5% 3.0% 15.5%   Fourth party   Leader Gordon Wilson Party SNP Leader since 15 September 1979 Last election 2 seats, 17.3% Seats won 2 Seat change Popular vote 331,975 Percentage 11.8% Swing 5.5%
Results of the 1983 election in Scotland

Main article: 1983 United Kingdom general election

The Labour Party won 41 seats, with the Conservative Party winning 21, the SDP–Liberal Alliance winning eight and the Scottish National Party winning two.^[2][3]

Results

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	41	3	990,654	35.1	6.5
	Conservative	21	1	801,487	28.4	3.0
	Alliance	8	5	692,634	24.5	15.5
	SNP	2		331,975	11.8	5.5
	Other	0		7,830	0.3	0.2
Turnout:				2,824,580	72.7

Popular vote Labour   35.1% Conservative   28.4% Alliance   24.5% SNP   11.8% Other   0.3%

Parliament seats Labour   56.94% Conservative   29.16% Alliance   11.11% SNP   2.77%

See also

• List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1983–1987)
• 1983 United Kingdom general election in England
• 1983 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland
• 1983 United Kingdom general election in Wales

References

1. "Commons results report" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 November 2020.
2. Macwhirter, Iain (2014). Road to Referendum: The Essential Guide to the Scottish Referendum. Cargo Publishing. ISBN 978-1-908885-95-1.
3. Letters (16 December 2021). "Scottish votes haven't influenced an English election result in 40 years". The National. Retrieved 2 January 2021. In 1983, Margaret Thatcher won 387 seats out of 650, a majority of 144. Labour secured 41 of the 72 seats in Scotland, the Tories 21, the SDP-Liberal Alliance 8 and the SNP 2. Obviously Scotland's 72 seats would not have influenced the outcome either way.