2010 United Kingdom general election in Scotland

none 2010 United Kingdom general election May 2020 August 2012 2010 United Kingdom general election in ScotlandElection 2010 United Kingdom - National Results BBC News Scotland parliamentary no 2005 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 2005 List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland 2005–10 2015 United Kingdom general election in Scotland 2015 All 59 Scottish seats to the House of Commons List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland 2010–15 2010 5 6 yes 63.8%, 3.2% UK seats Gordon Brown official (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Gordon Brown 24 June 2007 Labour Party (UK) Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath 41 seats, 39.5% 41 41 258 1,035,528 42.0% 2.5 pp Nick Clegg official portrait.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Nick Clegg 18 December 2007 Liberal Democrats (UK) Sheffield Hallam 11 seats, 22.6% 11 11 57 465,471 18.9% 3.7 pp Alex Salmond, First Minister of Scotland (cropped).jpg 120 120 160 0 0 Alex Salmond 3 September 2004 Scottish National Party Banff and Buchan (stood down) 491,386 19.9% 2.2 pp 6 seats, 17.7% 6 6 6 David Cameron official.jpg 120 120 160 0 0 David Cameron 6 December 2005 Conservative Party (UK) Witney 412,855 16.7% 0.9 pp 1 seat, 15.8% 1 1 306 File:2010 UK General election in Scotland.svg Coloured according to the winning party's vote share in each constituency A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday, 6 May 2010 and all 59 seats in Scotland were contested. The election result in Scotland was unusual in that there wasn't any change of seats from the previous general election in 2005, although the Labour Party took back two seats that it had lost at by-elections. This was the last general election at which the Labour Party won a majority of seats and plurality of votes in Scotland until 2024. Contesting parties Since the 2005 general election, the Scottish National Party had won the 2007 Scottish Parliament election as well as the 2009 European election. They had also won the Glasgow East by-election in 2008, which was previously one of the safest Labour seats in the UK. This boosted the party's confidence and the party's leader Alex Salmond set the ambitious target of 20 seats at the general election. Salmond himself was standing down as an MP because he wanted to focus more on his role as First Minister of Scotland. At the election, the party only increased their share of the vote by 2.3% and had their number of seats reduced to six after losing Glasgow East to Labour. The Scottish Labour Party had held the majority of seats in Scotland at every general election since 1959, and many prominent government officials were representing Scottish constituencies, such as the Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the Chancellor Alistair Darling. At the election, the Labour Party in Scotland increased its share of the vote by 2.5% and regained the Glasgow East and Dunfermline and West Fife constituencies after having lost them at by-elections over the course of the preceding term, giving them 41 out of 59 seats in Scotland. The Scottish Conservative Party had not held the majority of Scottish seats in a general election since 1955 and it lost all eleven of its seats in the election of 1997. Since 2001, the party had only held one Westminster seat in Scotland. In 2005, following the re-organisation of Scottish constituencies, that seat was Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, a mostly rural constituency near the Scottish Borders. However, the party had 11 target seats within Scotland for the election and officials such as former party leader William Hague had predicted a 'Tory breakthrough' for Scotland.http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/public-accounts/2010/04/160-election-scottish-scotland William Hague predicts Tory election "breakthrough" in Scotland www.newstatesman.com 8 April 2010 Following the election, the Conservative vote in Scotland increased by roughly 1% but with only the solitary seat being retained. At the 2005 general election, the Scottish Liberal Democrats gained 11 Scottish seats in Westminster and saw this tally increased to 12 following the Dunfermline and West Fife by-election in 2006. Two former Liberal Democrat leaders, Charles Kennedy and Sir Menzies Campbell represent Scottish constituencies. At the election, the Liberal Democrat vote share fell in Scotland and no gains were made. The party was once again left with 11 seats. Minor parties such as the UK Independence Party, the British National Party and the Scottish Green Party all contested more Scottish seats than they did in the 2005 election. The Socialist Workers Party and Solidarity (a splinter group of the Scottish Socialists) took part in the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition for the election. The Scottish Socialist Party had contested all of the Scottish constituencies in 2005 but because of party splits, it fielded only 10 candidates for the 2010 election. Campaign events 9 April – The Labour Party candidate for Moray, Stuart Maclennan, was sacked after making offensive comments on his Twitter page. These included insulting politicians such as David Cameron, Nick Clegg, John Bercow and Diane Abbott and also referring to the elderly as 'coffin dodgers' and voters in the North of Scotland as teuchters.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/scotland/8610934.stm Twitter abuse candidate removed 9 April 2010 BBC News 12 April – Prime Minister Gordon Brown asks the Queen to dissolve parliament, thus triggering the election. 20 April – The first of three televised Scottish Leader's debates takes place. 27 April – The Conservative candidate for North Ayrshire and Arran, Philip Lardner was expelled from his party and relieved from his job as a primary school teacher after making comments on his blog that homosexuality was 'not normal'. This occurred on 27 April 2010, which was too late to remove his name from the ballot paper and subsequently he still read as the Conservative & Unionist candidate.https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/election_2010/scotland/8647206.stm Tory suspended over gay comments 27 April 2010 BBC News 28 April – The SNP failed to sue the BBC for excluding them from the televised leader's debates, claiming that the BBC had breached its rules on impartiality by excluding the SNP. 6 May – Polling day across the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The following day, a hung parliament is declared, where no party holds an overall majority in the House of Commons. Scottish Leaders' debates In correspondence with the main leaders' debates, featuring David Cameron, Gordon Brown and Nick Clegg, three televised debates were broadcast, with representatives from the four main parties in Scotland. The first debate was broadcast on STV on 20 April, the second on Sky News on 25 April and the third on BBC One Scotland on 2 May. The representatives from each of the main parties were: Scottish Labour Party – Jim Murphy, Secretary of State for Scotland, MP for East Renfrewshire Scottish Conservative Party – David Mundell, Shadow Secretary of State for Scotland, MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale Scottish Liberal Democrats – Alistair Carmichael, Liberal Democrat Spokesman on Northern Ireland and Scotland, MP for Orkney and Shetland Scottish National Party – Angus Robertson, SNP leader at Westminster, MP for Moray Target seats Labour Party RankConstituencyWinning party 2005Swing RequiredLabour's place 2005Result1Dundee East Scottish National Party0.49%2ndSNP hold2Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale Scottish Conservative Party1.95%2ndCON hold3East Dunbartonshire Scottish Liberal Democrats4.35%2ndLD hold4Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Scottish Liberal Democrats4.69%2ndLD hold Scottish National Party RankConstituencyWinning party 2005Swing RequiredSNP's place 2005Result1Ochil and South Perthshire Scottish Labour Party0.74%2ndLAB hold2Dundee West Scottish Labour Party7.28%2ndLAB hold3Kilmarnock and Loudoun Scottish Labour Party9.81%2ndLAB hold4Aberdeen North Scottish Labour Party9.28%3rdLAB hold Liberal Democrats RankConstituencyWinning party 2005Swing RequiredLiberal Democrat's place 2005Result1Edinburgh South Scottish Labour Party0.48%2ndLAB hold2Aberdeen South Scottish Labour Party1.62%2ndLAB hold3Edinburgh North and Leith Scottish Labour Party2.53%2ndLAB hold Conservative Party RankConstituencyWinning party 2005Swing RequiredConservative's place 2005Result1Perth and North Perthshire Scottish National Party1.66%2ndSNP hold2Angus Scottish National Party2.1%2ndSNP hold3Dumfries and Galloway Scottish Labour Party2.87%2ndLAB hold4Stirling Scottish Labour Party5.46%2ndLAB hold Overall results Party Seats Aggregate votesTotal Gains Losses Net Of all (%) Total Of all (%) Difference Labour Party (UK) 41 0 0 69.5 1,035,528 42.0 2.5 Liberal Democrats (UK) 11 0 0 18.6 465,471 18.9 3.7 Scottish National Party 6 0 0 10.2 491,386 19.9 2.2 Conservative Party (UK) 1 0 0 1.7 412,855 16.7 0.9 UKIP 0 0 0 — 17,223 0.7 0.3 Scottish Green Party 0 0 0 — 16,827 0.7 0.3 British National Party 0 0 0 — 8,910 0.4 0.3 Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition 0 colspan=3 New — 3,530 0.1 New Scottish Socialist Party 0 0 0 — 3,157 0.1 1.7 Socialist Labour Party (UK) 0 0 0 — 1,673 0.0 Christian Party (UK) 0 0 0 — 835 0.0 0.2 Trust (British political party) 0 colspan=3 New — 534 0.0 New Liberal Party (UK, 1989) 0 0 0 — 389 0.0 Scottish Jacobite Party 0 colspan=3 New — 290 0.0 New Communist Party of Britain 0 0 0 — 237 0.0   Others 0 0 0 — 6,877 0.3 Total 59 2,465,722 63.8 3.2 Votes and seats summary Popular vote #ddd 600px 410px Labour Scottish Labour Party 42.00 SNP Scottish National Party darkgray 19.93 Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats 18.88 Conservative Scottish Conservative Party 16.74 UKIP UK Independence Party 0.70 Greens Scottish Green Party 0.68 Other #777777 1.07 Parliament seats #ddd 600px 410px Labour Scottish Labour Party 69.49 Liberal Democrats Scottish Liberal Democrats 18.64 SNP Scottish National Party darkgray 10.17 Conservative Scottish Conservative Party 1.69 Results by constituency Winning party in each constituency is marked in bold. Constituency Labour % Lib Dems % SNP % Conservative % Others % Notes Aberdeen North 16,746 44.4% 7,001 18.6% 8,385 22.2% 4,666 12.4% 903 2.4% SNP target #4 Aberdeen South 15,722 36.5% 12,216 28.4% 5,102 11.9% 8,914 20.7% 1,080 2.5% Lib Dem target #1 Airdrie and Shotts 20,849 58.2% 2,898 8.1% 8,441 23.5% 3,133 8.7% 528 1.5% Angus 6,535 17.2% 4,090 10.8% 15,020 39.6% 11,738 30.9% 577 1.5% Conservative target #2 Argyll and Bute 10,274 22.7% 14,292 31.6% 8,563 18.9% 10,861 24.0% 945 2.0% Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock 21,632 47.1% 4,264 9.3% 8,276 18.0% 11,721 25.5% N/A Banff and Buchan 5,382 14.0% 4,365 11.3% 15,868 43.3% 11,841 30.8% 1,010 2.6% Largest swing recorded in Scotland (10.6 SNP to CON) Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk 5,003 10.2% 22,230 45.4% 4,497 9.2% 16,555 33.8% 729 1.5% Michael Moore's Seat Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross 7,081 24.6% 11,907 41.4% 5,516 19.2% 3,744 13.0% 520 1.8% Central Ayrshire 20,950 47.7% 5,236 11.9% 8,364 19.0% 8,943 20.4% 422 1.0% Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill 27,728 66.6% 3,519 8.5% 7,014 16.9% 3,374 8.1% N/A Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East 23,549 57.2% 3,924 9.5% 9,794 23.8% 3,407 8.3% 476 1.2% Dumfries and Galloway 23,950 45.9% 4,608 8.8% 6,419 12.3% 16,501 31.6% 695 1.3% Conservative target #3 Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale 13,263 28.9% 9,080 19.8% 4,945 10.8% 17,457 38.0% 1,147 2.5% Conservative's only Scottish seat, Labour target #2 Dundee East 13,529 33.3% 4,285 10.6% 15,350 37.8% 6,177 15.2% 796 1.9% Labour target #1 Dundee West 17,994 48.5% 4,233 11.4% 10,716 28.9% 3,461 9.3% 722 2.0% SNP target #2 Dunfermline and West Fife 22,639 46.3% 17,169 35.1% 5,201 10.6% 3,305 6.8% 633 1.3% Regained by Labour after by-election loss to Lib Dems East Dunbartonshire 16,367 34.1% 18,551 38.7% 5,054 10.5% 7,431 15.5% 545 1.1% Labour target #3 East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow 26,241 51.1% 5,052 9.9% 11,738 23.0% 6,613 13.0% 1,302 2.6% East Lothian 21,919 44.6% 8,228 16.9% 7,883 16.0% 9,661 19.7% 1,410 2.9% East Renfrewshire 25,987 50.8% 4,720 9.2% 4,535 8.9% 15,567 30.4% 372 0.7% Jim Murphy's seat Edinburgh East 17,314 43.4% 7,751 19.4% 8,133 20.4% 4,358 10.9% 2,309 5.8% Edinburgh North and Leith 17,740 37.5% 16,016 33.8% 4,568 9.6% 7,079 14.9% 1,825 3.8% Lib Dem target #2 Edinburgh South 15,215 34.7% 14,899 34.0% 3,354 7.7% 9,452 21.6% 880 2.0% Edinburgh South West 19,473 42.8% 8,194 18.0% 5,530 12.2% 11,026 24.3% 1,239 2.7% Alistair Darling's seat Edinburgh West 12,881 27.7% 16,684 35.9% 6,115 13.2% 10,767 23.2% N/A Falkirk 23,207 45.7% 5,225 10.3% 15,364 30.3% 5,698 11.2% 1,283 2.5% Glasgow Central 15,908 52.0% 5,010 16.4% 5,357 17.5% 2,158 7.1% 2,139 7.0% Glasgow East 19,797 61.6% 1,617 5.0% 7,957 24.7% 1,453 4.5% 1,340 4.1% Regained by Labour after by-election loss to SNP Glasgow North 13,181 44.5% 9,283 31.3% 3,530 11.9% 2,039 7.1% 1,530 5.2% Glasgow North East 20,100 68.3% 2,262 7.7% 4,158 14.1% 1,569 5.3% 1,320 4.4% Glasgow North West 19,233 54.1% 5,622 15.8% 5,430 15.3% 3,537 9.9% 1,760 5.0% Glasgow South 20,736 51.7% 4,739 11.8% 8,078 20.1% 4,592 11.5% 1,949 4.9% Glasgow South West 19,863 62.5% 2,870 9.0% 5,192 16.3% 2,084 6.6% 1,772 4.9% Glenrothes 25,247 62.3% 3,108 7.7% 8,799 21.7% 2,922 7.2% 425 1.0% Gordon 9,811 20.1% 17,575 36.0% 10,827 22.2% 9,111 18.7% 1,451 2.9% Inverclyde 20,933 56.0% 5,007 13.3% 6,577 17.5% 4,502 12.0% 433 1.2% Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey 10,407 22.1% 19,172 40.7% 8,803 18.7% 6,278 13.3% 2,426 5.2% Danny Alexander's seat, Labour target #4 Kilmarnock and Loudoun 24,460 52.5% 3,419 7.3% 12,082 26.0% 6,592 14.2% N/A SNP target #3 Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath 29,559 64.5% 4,269 9.3% 6,550 14.3% 4,258 9.3% 1,166 2.6% Gordon Brown's seat, largest majority of any Scottish seat Lanark and Hamilton East 23,258 50.0% 5,249 11.3% 9,780 21.0% 6,981 15.0% 1,286 2.7% Linlithgow and East Falkirk 25,634 49.8% 6,589 12.8% 13,081 25.4% 6,146 11.9% N/A Livingston 23,215 48.5% 5,316 11.1% 12,424 25.9% 5,158 10.8% 1,794 3.7% Midlothian 18,449 47.0% 6,711 17.1% 8,100 20.6% 4,661 11.9% 1,321 3.3% Moray 7,007 17.1% 5,965 14.5% 16,273 39.7% 10,683 26.1% 1,085 2.6% Motherwell and Wishaw 23,910 61.1% 3,840 9.8% 7,104 18.2% 3,660 9.4% 609 1.6% Na h-Eileanan an Iar 4,838 32.9% 1,097 7.5% 6,723 45.7% 647 4.4% 1,412 9.6% North Ayrshire and Arran 21,860 47.4% 4,630 10.0% 11,965 25.9% 7,212 15.6% 449 1.0% North East Fife 6,869 17.1% 17,763 44.3% 5,685 14.2% 8,715 21.8% 1,032 2.6% Menzies Campbell's seat Ochil and South Perthshire 19,131 37.9% 5,754 11.4% 13,944 27.6% 10,342 20.5% 1,298 2.6% SNP target #1 Orkney and Shetland 2,061 10.7% 11,989 62.0% 2,042 10.6% 2,032 10.5% 1,222 6.3% Safest Lib Dem seat in the UK Paisley and Renfrewshire North 23,613 54.0% 4,597 10.5% 8,333 19.1% 6,381 14.6% 783 1.8% Paisley and Renfrewshire South 23,842 59.6% 3,812 9.5% 7,228 18.1% 3,979 9.9% 1,137 2.8% Douglas Alexander's seat Perth and North Perthshire 7,923 16.4% 5,954 12.3% 19,118 39.6% 14,739 30.5% 534 1.1% Conservative target #1 Ross, Skye and Lochaber 5,265 15.1% 18,335 52.6% 5,263 15.1% 4,260 12.2% 1,715 4.9% Charles Kennedy's seat Rutherglen and Hamilton West 28,566 60.8% 5,636 12.0% 7,564 16.1% 4,540 9.7% 675 1.4% Stirling 19,558 41.8% 6,797 14.5% 8,091 17.3% 11,204 23.9% 1,141 2.4% Conservative target #4 West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine 6,159 13.6% 17,362 38.4% 7,086 15.7% 13,678 30.3% 910 2.0% West Dunbartonshire 25,905 61.3% 3,434 8.1% 8,497 20.1% 3,242 7.7% 1,188 2.8% Superlatives Labour Party Highest share of vote – Glasgow North East, 68.3% of vote Lowest share of vote – Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk, 10.2% of vote Scottish National Party Highest share of vote – Na h-Eileanan an Iar, 45.7% of vote Lowest share of vote – Edinburgh South, 7.7% of vote Liberal Democrats Highest share of vote – Orkney and Shetland, 62.0% of vote Lowest share of vote – Glasgow East, 5.0% of vote Conservative Party Highest share of vote – Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale, 38.0% of vote Lowest share of vote – Na h-Eileanan an Iar, 4.4% of vote Minor parties' highest shares UK Independence Party – Orkney and Shetland, 6.3% of vote Scottish Green Party – Edinburgh East, 5.1% of vote British National Party – Banff and Buchan, 2.6% of vote See also 2010 United Kingdom general election in England 2010 United Kingdom general election in Northern Ireland 2010 United Kingdom general election in Wales References #Scotland United Kingdom General Election Results in Scotland, 2010 Category:2010s elections in Scotland 2010