The Scottish Vote 1974: A Realigning Party System?
| DOI | 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1976.tb00116.x |
| Published date | 01 September 1976 |
| Date | 01 September 1976 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THE
SCOTTISH VOTE
1974:
A REALIGNING
PARTY SYSTEM
?
*
DEAN
JAENSCH
School
of
Social Sciences, The Flinders University
of
South Australia
THE
elections of February and October
1974
provided further evidence to
support the description of ‘the United Kingdom as
a
multi-national state’.l
This evidence was not the most immediate product of the elections, but there
is
no longer any question that
in less than a decade, the political basis
of
the United Kingdom has come under attack.
The principal indicator
of
this is the decline in support
for
the Labour and Conservative
parties, which have between them monopolized responsibility
for
party government
since
the
end
of
the Second World War.z
This
trend has been
most
obvious
in
Scotland, where both the Conservative and
Labour shares of the vote have been quietly but steadily eroded away. The
1974
elections turned this slow change into
a
relatively rapid transformation. Over
TABLE
1
General Election
results
in
Scotland
1955-1974
Con.
Lab.
Con.
+Lab. Lib.
SNP
Other
%
%
%
%
%
%
1955 50.1 46.7 96.8 1.9
0.5
0.8
1959 47.2 46.7 93.9 4.1
08
1.2
1964 40.6 48.7 89.3 7.6 2.4 0.7
1966 37-7 49.9 87.6 6.8
5.0
0.6
1970 38.0
44.5
82.5
5.5
11.4 0.6
19740;) 32.9 36.7 69.6 7.9 21.9 0.6
1974(0) 24.7 36.2 60.9 8.3 304
1
*2
the last two decades, the Conservative Party has seen its popular support halved,
from an absolute majority in
1955
to less than
a
quarter of the Scottish vote in
October
1974.
The decline
in
the Labour vote occurred over a shorter time-span,
and by October
1974
it had not suffered as much. But the trend is clearly evident,
and the ‘cause’ equally
so.
The recent electoral success of the Scottish National Party
(SNP)
has been
remarkable. For the first thirty years after its formation in
1934
it
was in the
doldrums-a minor party in every sense of the word. Its activists were heartened
*
Research
for
this
article
was
carried
out
at
Strathclyde
University.
The
author wishes to
thank
Richard
Rose
for
his
constructive
criticisms
at
crucial
stages.
R.
Rose,
The
United Kingdom a3
a
Multi-National State
(Occasional
Paper,
No.
6,
University
of
Strathclyde
Survey
Research
Centre).
R.
Rose,
The
Furure
of
Scortish Polifics
(Fraser
of
Allander
Speculative
Paper,
Strathclyde
University),
p.
3.
Political
Stndiea,
Vol.
XXW,
No.
3
(306-319)
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