West Lothian (UK Parliament constituency)

West Lothian
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Linlithgowshire
1950–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Linlithgow Livingston Falkirk East^[1]
Created from	Linlithgowshire

West Lothian was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

The constituency is best known for its third and final MP, Tam Dalyell of the Labour Party, whose concerns about Scottish devolution were labelled "the West Lothian question".

History

West Lothian was created for the 1950 general election, partly replacing the previous Linlithgowshire constituency.

With effect from the 1983 general election, it became two different constituencies: Linlithgow and Livingston.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member^[2]	Party	Notes
	1950	George Mathers	Labour	later Baron Mathers
	1951	John Taylor	Labour
	1962 by-election	Tam Dalyell	Labour	subsequently MP for Linlithgow
1983		constituency abolished: see Linlithgow

Election results

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1950: West Lothian^[3]^[4]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	George Mathers	27,236	60.61	N/A
	Conservative	W McE. Younger	15,999	35.60	N/A
	Scottish Self-Government	Maxwell Hynd	1,039	2.31	N/A
	Communist	J Borrowman	664	1.48	N/A
Majority			11,237	25.01	N/A
Turnout			44,938	79.76	N/A
Registered electors			56,339
	Labour win (new seat)

General Election 1951: West Lothian^[5]^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Taylor	28,906	60.52	-0.09
	Conservative	Humphrey Edward Gregory Atkins	18,854	39.48	+3.88
Majority			10,052	21.05	-3.96
Turnout			47,760	84.89	+5.13
Registered electors			56,259
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.99

General Election 1955: West Lothian^[7]^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Taylor	25,654	59.66	-0.86
	Conservative	William R Grieve	17,347	40.34	+0.86
Majority			8,307	19.32	-1.73
Turnout			43,001	75.38	-9.51
Registered electors			57,045
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.86

General Election 1959: West Lothian^[9]^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Taylor	27,454	60.29	+0.63
	Conservative	W Ian Stewart	18,083	39.71	-0.63
Majority			9,371	20.58	+1.26
Turnout			45,537	77.90	+2.52
Registered electors			58,457
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.63

Elections in the 1960s

West Lothian by-election, 1962^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Tam Dalyell	21,266	50.82
	SNP	William Wolfe	9,750	23.30
	Conservative	W. I. Stewart	4,784	11.43
	Liberal	D. Bryce	4,537	10.84
	Communist	Gordon McLennan	1,511	3.61
Majority			11,516	27.5
Turnout			41,848

General Election 1964: West Lothian^[12]^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tam Dalyell	24,933	50.32	-9.97
	SNP	William Cuthbertson Wolfe	15,087	30.45	N/A
	Conservative	RA Gordon Stuart	8,919	18.00	-21.71
	Communist	Irene Swan	610	1.23	N/A
Majority			9,846	19.87	-0.71
Turnout			49,549	79.50	+4.12
Registered electors			62,328
	Labour hold		Swing	-20.21

General Election 1966: West Lothian^[14]^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tam Dalyell	26,662	52.37	+2.05
	SNP	William Cuthbertson Wolfe	17,955	35.27	+4.82
	Conservative	Dr David L MacKinnon	5,726	11.25	-6.75
	Communist	Irene Swan	567	1.11	-0.12
Majority			8,707	17.10	-2.77
Turnout			50,910	79.59	+0.09
Registered electors			63,967
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.39

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1970: West Lothian^[16]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tam Dalyell	29,360	52.91	+0.54
	SNP	William Cuthbertson Wolfe	15,620	28.15	-7.12
	Conservative	Michael Ancram	10,048	18.11	+6.86
	Communist	Christopher Bett	459	0.83	-0.28
Majority			13,740	24.76	+7.66
Turnout			55,487	76.68	-2.91
Registered electors			72,366
	Labour hold		Swing	+3.83

General Election, February 1974: West Lothian^[1]^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tam Dalyell	28,112	45.31	-7.60
	SNP	William Cuthbertson Wolfe	21,690	34.96	+6.81
	Conservative	Alexander Pollock	11,804	19.03	+0.92
	Communist	Christopher Bett	438	0.71	-0.12
Majority			6,422	10.35	-14.41
Turnout			62,044	80.63	+3.95
Registered electors			76,946
	Labour hold		Swing	-7.21

General Election, October 1974: West Lothian^[1]^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tam Dalyell	27,687	45.31	+0.00
	SNP	William Cuthbertson Wolfe	24,997	40.91	+5.95
	Conservative	Anthony Lester	6,086	9.96	-9.06
	Liberal	Hector MacAulay	2,083	3.41	N/A
	Communist	Christopher Bett	247	0.40	-0.31
Majority			2,690	4.40	-5.95
Turnout			61,100	78.81	-1.82
Registered electors			77,527
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.97

General Election 1979: West Lothian^[1]^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Tam Dalyell	36,713	54.87	+9.55
	SNP	William Cuthbertson Wolfe	16,631	24.86	-16.06
	Conservative	John Roderick Whyte	13,162	19.67	+9.71
	Communist	William Sneddon	404	0.60	+0.20
Majority			20,082	30.01	+25.61
Turnout			66,910	78.12	-0.69
Registered electors			85,645
	Labour hold		Swing	+22.81

References

1 2 3 4 "'West Lothian', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 3)
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1950". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1951". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1955". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1959". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑
↑ "1962 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 2012-02-05. Retrieved 2015-08-17.
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1964". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1966". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results 1970". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results February 1974". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results October 1974". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.
↑ Kimber, Richard. "UK General Election results May 1979". Political Science Resources. Retrieved 24 March 2016.

Westminster constituencies of Scotland

1708 to 1832 1832 to 1868 1868 to 1885 1885 to 1918 1918 to 1950 1950 to 1955 1955 to 1974 1974 to 1983 1983 to 1997 1997 to 2005

Current constituencies (2005 to present)

Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie & Shotts Angus Argyll & Bute Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Banff & Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East Dumfries & Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline & West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North & Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Kilmarnock & Loudoun Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Lanark & Hamilton East Linlithgow & East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell & Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire & Arran North East Fife Ochil & South Perthshire Orkney & Shetland Paisley & Renfrewshire North Paisley & Renfrewshire South Perth & North Perthshire Ross, Skye & Lochaber Rutherglen & Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine West Dunbartonshire

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