Unionist Party (Scotland)

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The Unionist Party, or outside Scotland's Scottish Unionist Party, was the leading Conservative party in Scotland between 1912 and 1965 . During its existence, the party maintained a close association with the Conservative Party in England and Wales . After the general election, their elected MPs - just like the Unionists from Northern Ireland - joined the Conservative faction in Westminster. Formally, however, the Unionist Party in Scotland and the Conservative Party in England and Wales were two independent parties. After the election defeat after the general election in 1964 , the Unionist Party merged with the Conservative Party in England and Wales to form the Conservative and Unionist Party (mostly Conservative Party for short ). Today's Scottish Conservative Party is the successor to the Unionist Party.

Origins

The origins of the party lay in the split in the Liberal Party in 1886. This split was due to differences within the party over the question of Ireland's Home Rule within the United Kingdom . Liberal Unionist Party were against the Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone promoted home rule , considering it the beginning of the dissolution of the United Kingdom and British Empires saw. The split-off liberal unionists formed an electoral alliance with the Scottish Conservatives in Scotland and united with them in 1912 to form the Unionist Party .

Party history

In terms of content, there were relatively few differences to the conservatives in England and Wales. However, the Unionist Party had a strong Scottish self-confidence. In view of the strong liberal tradition in Scotland, she also avoided the term "conservative". The party was partly shaped by the Presbyterian Protestant tradition of Scotland. Defining itself as a Scottish party was also used against the Labor Party during election campaigns , which was portrayed as a foreign socialist party directed from London. The Labor Party became the main political opponent after the liberals, which once dominated Scotland, increasingly lost support and were weakened by splits, in particular by the split-off of the National Liberal Party in 1931. The party experienced its greatest electoral successes in the general elections in 1924 , 1931 , 1935 and 1955 . The party provided two Prime Ministers of the United Kingdom, most of whom are officially counted as "Conservatives" - Andrew Bonar Law (served 1911-1921 and 1922-1923) and Alec Douglas-Home (1963-1965). After successively losing constituency seats in the general election in 1959 and 1964, the party underwent reform and changed its name to the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party . In 1965 she joined the party organization of the Anglo-Welsh Conservative Party. Further reforms meant that from 1977 it functioned entirely as the Scottish national organization of a united conservative party, which was now called the Conservative and Unionist Party .

Party leader

Election results

The table below shows the election results of the Unionist Party in the general election in Scotland.

choice Share of votes Seats
General election 1918 30.8%
28/73
General election 1922 25.1%
13/73
General election 1923 31.6%
14/73
General election 1924 40.7%
36/73
General election 1929 35.9%
20/73
General election 1931 49.5%
48/73
General election 1935 42.0%
35/73
General election 1945 36.7%
24/71
General election 1950 37.2%
26/71
General election 1951 39.9%
30/71
General election 1955 41.5%
36/71
General election 1959 39.8%
25/71
General election 1964 37.3%
24/71

literature

  • David Seawright: An important matter of principle. The decline of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party . Ashgate, Aldershot 1999, ISBN 1-84014-066-6 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b David Seawright: The Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party: 'the lesser spotted Tory'? In: Hassan G, Warhurst C (Ed.): Tomorrow's Scotland . Lawrence & Wishart Ltd., 2002, ISBN 0-85315-947-5 (English, leeds.ac.uk [PDF] Publication also as POLIS Working Paper No. 13 February 2004, University of Leeds ).