The 1983 Election Campaign in Scotland

AuthorHenry Drucker
Date01 October 1983
Published date01 October 1983
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9256.1983.tb00077.x
Subject MatterArticle
An
earlier version of
this
paper was delivered at the Conference of Europeanists,
~ashington,
D.C.,
May
1982.
f
am particularly grateful to George
Ross
and Martin
Schain for their comments.
References
and
spp
~~~~~ta~
~~~~~~9~~~~
Cerny,
P.G.
(1983)
,
'Economic Policy:
Crisis
Management,
Structural
Reform
and
Socialist Politics',
in
S.
Williams,
(ed.),
Socialism
in
France (London and
New
York):
Frances Pinter
and
St.
Martin's Press).
Cerny,
P.G.
(1982),
'Gaullism, Advanced Capitalism and the Fifth Republic'
,
in
D.S.
Bell, (ed.), Contemporary French Political Parties (London and New York: &room
Helm and
St.
Martin's Press).
Cerny,
P.G.
(1980), The Politics
of
Grandeur:
Ideological Aspects
of
de
Gaufle's
Foreign Policy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; and London: Frances Pinter,
paperback edi
ti
on
7
983)
Cerny,
P.G.
(1984), 'The Socialists
in
Power',
in
P.G.
Cerny and
M.A.
Schain (eds.),
Socialism, the State and Public Policy
in
France (London: Frances Pinter, forthco~ing~.
Harrison,
M.
(1981
Johns Hopkins University Press).
The
Reluctant
Ally: France
and
Atlantic Security (Baltimore:
Howorth,
J.
and
Chilton,
P.
(eds.) (1983)
,
Defence and Dissent
in
France
in
the 1980s
(London
and
Ithaca: Croom Helm and Cornell University Press).
Wallace,
W,
(1980), 'Foreign Policy
and
Economic Interests',
in
P.G.
Cerny and
M.A.
Schain, (eds.), ,French Politics
and
Public Policy
(London
and
New
York: Frances
Pinter,
St.
Martin's Press and Methuen University Paperbacks),
Wesseling,
H.
(1980), 'Constants
in
French Foreign Policy, 1870-1980', unpublished
discussion paper, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton University, 1980.
-0-000-0-
Scotland
was
to
be Labour's saving
grace
-
its fig leaf.
In
the event
it
was
barely even that, as the following table shows
Table 1:
ELECTORAL
RESULTS
IN
SCOTLAND
JUNE 1983
Percentage
Percentage Change
Lost
Second
Seats Voters Share since 79
deposits
place
Conservatives 21 801,485 28.37
-3
3
29
Labour 41 990,654 35.07
-
6.4 11
8
Alliance
8
693,034 24.53 +16.2
3
28
SNP
2
331,975
11.75
-
5.6
53
7
Labour
is
still
the
predominant party in seats
and
votes,
but
it actually won a smaller
percentage of
the
votes than
it
did
when
the
SNP
were
hot
in
pursuit
in
October
1974,
Then Labour got 36.2%
of
Scottish votes.
friend, played
up
Labour's lead
in
Scotland. In fact, Labour lost more
to
the Alliance
than
the
Conservatives
did.
Two
things
about the campaign
in
Scotland call
for
particular explanation
-
the
continued Labour strength com~ared to England and the
surprising
strength
of
the
Alliance.
The
electoral system, the Tories'
English

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT