A general election was held in the United Kingdom on 1 May 1997 and all 72 seats in Scotland were contested. This would be the last UK general election to be contested in Scotland before the Scottish Parliament was established on 1 July 1999 following overwhelming public approval in a referendum.

This article needs additional citations for verification. (August 2014)

Quick Facts All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons, Turnout ...

1997 United Kingdom general election

← 1992 1 May 1997 2001 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 72 Scottish seats to the House of Commons
Turnout	71.3%, 4.2%
First party Second party   Leader Tony Blair Paddy Ashdown Party Labour Liberal Democrats Leader since 21 July 1994 16 July 1988 Seats before 49 9 Seats won 56 10 Seat change 7 1 Popular vote 1,283,350 365,362 Percentage 45.6% 13.0% Swing 6.6% 0.1%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Alex Salmond John Major Party SNP Conservative Leader since 22 September 1990 4 July 1995[n 1] Seats before 3 11 Seats won 6 0 Seat change 3 11 Popular vote 621,550 493,059 Percentage 22.1% 17.5% Swing 0.6% 8.2%
Coloured according to the winning party's vote share in each constituency

Close

List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1997–2001)

Below is a table summarising the results of the 1997 general election in Scotland.^[2]

More information Party, Seats ...

Party		Seats	Seats change	Votes	%	% change
	Labour	56	7	1,283,350	45.6	6.6
	SNP	6	3	621,550	22.1	0.6
	Liberal Democrats	10	1	365,362	13.0	0.1
	Conservative	0	11	493,059	17.5	8.2
	Referendum	0	New	26,726	0.95	New
	Scottish Socialist	0	New	9,740	0.35	New
	ProLife Alliance	0		5,750	0.25
	Independent	0		2,162	0.08
	Natural Law	0		1,979	0.07
	Socialist Labour	0		1,945	0.07
	Scottish Green	0		1,721	0.06
	UKIP	0		1,585	0.06
	Independent Labour	0		812	0.03
	BNP	0		651	0.02
	Liberal	0		650	0.02
	Socialist (GB)	0		315	0.01
	Workers Revolutionary	0		80	0.00
Turnout				2,816,748	71.3	4.2

Close

The election saw the Conservatives lose every seat that they held in Scotland, although the party were third in terms of vote share (winning 17.5% of votes cast in Scotland). By contrast the Liberal Democrats won 13% of votes cast, but won ten seats, a net gain of one on the previous election. The SNP finished second in terms of vote share with 22%, but only won six seats. Labour won 45.6% of the vote and 56 seats, a net gain of seven on 1992. The defeated Conservative included three cabinet ministers: the Secretary of State for Scotland, Michael Forsyth lost Stirling to Labour, the Foreign Secretary Malcolm Rifkind lost Edinburgh Pentlands, also to Labour, while Ian Lang, President of the Board of Trade, lost Galloway and Upper Nithsdale to the SNP.^[3]