The 1983 Westminster Election

The 1983 General Election - Westminster

The election of 1983 took place after major boundaries which affected almost every Scottish constituency and the number of seats was increased from 71 to 72. Labour won back Greenock & Port Glasgow from the SDP but "lost" Renfrew West & Inverclyde to the Tories where the vote was split three ways.

Constituencies Changing Hands

Constituency	Winner	Loser	Notional 1979 majority
Gordon			4,731 (Conservative)
Greenock & Port Glasgow			12,006 (Labour)
Renfrew West & Inverclyde			1,818 (Labour)
Ross, Cromarty & Skye			5,579 (Conservative)
Roxburgh & Berwickshire			18 (Conservative)

Retiring MPs

Four of Scotland's 71 MPs - two Labour, one Tory and one Liberal - retired at the 1983 General Election. MPs of the same party were returned in Glasgow Govan and Orkney & Shetland, however Gordon was won by the Liberals and Glasgow Queen's Park was abolished.

MP	Constituency	Party	Replacement	New Constituency
Sir Russell Fairgrieve	Aberdeenshire West Feb 1974 - 1983		James Cran (not elected)	Gordon
Jo Grimond later Lord Grimond	Orkney & Shetland 1950- 1983		Jim Wallace	Orkney & Shetland
Andy McMahon	Glasgow Govan 1979 - 1983		Bruce Millan MP (Glasgow Craigton 1959 - 1983)	Glasgow Govan
Helen McElhone	Glasgow Queen's Park Dec 1982 (by-election) - 1983		seat abolished	seat abolished

Defeated MPs

67 of Scotland's 71 MPs stood for re-election in 1983. Of these, 62 were elected and five were defeated - three Conservatives, one SDP and one Labour. Upon his defeat, Hamish Gray was appointed to the House of Lords by Margaret Thatcher and given back his job as Minister of State at the Department of Energy. Only Hamish Gray was defeated in his "own" constituency. Neil Carmichael's Glasgow Kelvingrove was split between Hillhead and Maryhill and he stood in Hillhead where Roy Jenkins was MP. After his defeat he was created Lord Carmichael of Kelvingrove. David Myles' Banff was split between Moray and Banff & Buchan and he stood in Orkney & Shetland. Liberals in Greenock & Port Glasgow refused to accept ex Labour MP, Dr J. Dickson Mabon as the SDP candidate and he stood in Renfrew West and Inverclyde. Iain Sproat made the biggest political miscalculation in the election when he carpet-bagged from Aberdeen South (which the Tories held) to Roxburgh & Berwickshire, which he lost. Iain Sproat became MP for Harwich in 1992 and was defeated in 1997.

MP	Constituency	Party	Defeated by	Party	New Constituency
Neil Carmichael later Lord Carmichael of Kelvingrove	Glasgow Woodside 1962 (by-election) - Feb 1974 Glasgow Kelvingrove Feb 1974 - 1983		Roy Jenkins		Glasgow Hillhead
Hamish Gray later Lord Gray	Ross & Cromarty 1970 - 1983		Charles Kennedy		Ross, Cromarty & Skye
Dr Jesse Dickson Mabon	Greenock & Port Glasgow 1955 - 1983		Anna McCurley		Renfrew West & Inverclyde
David Myles	Banff 1979 - 1983		Jim Wallace		Orkney & Shetland
Iain Sproat	Aberdeen South 1970 - 1983		Archie Kirkwood (Later Lord Kirkwood)		Roxburgh & Berwickshire