Berwick and East Lothian (UK Parliament constituency)

Berwick and East Lothian was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP), using the first past the post system.

Berwick and East Lothian
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Berwickshire, East Lothian
1950–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	East Lothian Roxburgh & Berwickshire Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale[1]
Created from	Berwick and Haddington

History

The constituency was created in 1950 and abolished in 1983.

Boundaries

Berwick and East Lothian covered the counties of Berwickshire and East Lothian. It was largely created from Berwick and Haddington and was replaced by East Lothian and part of Roxburgh and Berwickshire for the 1983 general election.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1950	John Robertson	Labour
	1951	William Anstruther-Gray	Unionist
	1966	John Mackintosh	Labour
	Feb 1974	Michael Ancram	Conservative
	Oct 1974	John Mackintosh	Labour
	1978 by-election	John Home Robertson	Labour
	1983	constituency abolished

Elections

Berwickshire constituencies electoral history

Elections in the 1950s

General election 1950: Berwick and East Lothian[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Robertson	17,105	40.9
	Unionist	William Anstruther-Gray	15,377	36.8
	Liberal	Anthony Stodart	9,352	22.4
Majority			1,728	4.1
Turnout			41,834	82.8
	Labour win (new seat)

General election 1951: Berwick and East Lothian[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	William Anstruther-Gray	22,510	52.8	+11.9
	Labour	John Robertson	20,152	47.2	+6.3
Majority			2,358	5.5	+1.4
Turnout			42,662	83.8	+1.0
	Unionist gain from Labour		Swing	+2.8

General election 1955: Berwick and East Lothian[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	William Anstruther-Gray	21,739	53.3	+0.5
	Labour	Penry Jones	19,029	46.7	−0.5
Majority			2,710	6.7	+1.2
Turnout			40,768	80.3	−3.5
	Unionist hold		Swing	+0.5

General election 1959: Berwick and East Lothian[2][3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	William Anstruther-Gray	22,472	53.4	+0.1
	Labour	Penry Jones	19,622	46.6	−0.1
Majority			2,850	6.8	+0.1
Turnout			42,094	83.2	+2.9
	Unionist hold		Swing	+0.1

Elections in the 1960s

General election 1964: Berwick and East Lothian[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	William Anstruther-Gray	21,669	50.7	−2.7
	Labour	John Mackintosh	21,044	49.3	+2.7
Majority			625	1.4	-5.4
Turnout			42,713	85.0	+1.8
	Unionist hold		Swing	−2.7

General election 1966: Berwick and East Lothian[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Mackintosh	22,620	51.9	+2.6
	Conservative	William Anstruther-Gray	20,931	48.1	−2.6
Majority			1,689	3.8	N/A
Turnout			43,551	86.1	+1.1
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+2.6

Elections in the 1970s

General election 1970: Berwick and East Lothian[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Mackintosh	21,107	45.6	−6.3
	Conservative	J. Donald M. Hardie	20,466	44.2	−3.9
	SNP	David Rae Fisher Simpson	4,735	10.2	New
Majority			641	1.4	-0.3
Turnout			46,308	83.7	−2.4
	Labour hold		Swing

General election February 1974: Berwick and East Lothian[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Michael Ancram	21,234	43.4	−0.8
	Labour	John Mackintosh	20,694	42.3	−3.3
	SNP	David Rae Fisher Simpson	6,956	14.2	+4.0
Majority			540	1.1	-2.5
Turnout			48,884	85.8	+2.1
	Conservative gain from Labour		Swing	+1.3

General election October 1974: Berwick and East Lothian[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Mackintosh	20,682	43.3	+1.0
	Conservative	Michael Ancram	17,942	37.6	−5.8
	SNP	R. Macleod	6,323	13.2	−1.0
	Liberal	C. F. Lawson	2,811	5.9	New
Majority			2,740	5.7	+4.6
Turnout			47,758	80.8	−5.0
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.4

1978 Berwick and East Lothian by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Home Robertson	20,530	47.4	+4.1
	Conservative	Margaret Marshall	17,418	40.2	+2.6
	SNP	Isobel Lindsay	3,799	8.8	−4.4
	Liberal	Tam Glen	1,543	3.6	−2.3
Majority			3,112	7.2	+1.5
Turnout			43,290
	Labour hold		Swing	+0.8

General election 1979: Berwick and East Lothian[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	John Home Robertson	21,977	43.5	+0.2
	Conservative	Margaret Marshall	20,304	40.2	+2.6
	Liberal	Tam Glen	4,948	9.8	+3.9
	SNP	Allan Macartney	3,300	6.5	−6.7
Majority			1,673	3.3	+1.5
Turnout			60,919	82.9
	Labour hold		Swing

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)

1. "'Berwick and East Lothian', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Archived from the original on 23 March 2016. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
2. The Times Guide to the House of Commons.
3. Whitaker's Almanack, 1963.
4. Whitaker's Almanack, 1977.