1989 Glasgow Central by-election

The Glasgow Central by-election, in the Glasgow Central constituency, Scotland, was held on 15 June 1989. It was caused by the death of the sitting Member of Parliament for the constituency, Bob McTaggart.

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The Scottish National Party (SNP) had high hopes of repeating their victory from the previous year at the by-election for the Glasgow Govan seat, and they chose as their candidate a close associate of their Govan victor, Jim Sillars in Alex Neil. However, the hoped for victory did not transpire for the SNP, as Mike Watson retained the seat for the Labour Party with a 6,462 majority, despite a 20.3% rise in the SNP share of the votes cast. The day after the election, The Glasgow Herald described the result as "the revenge" Labour sought for their by-election defeat in Govan a few months earlier.[1] The SNP blamed opinion polls in the latter stages of the election campaign which showed them trailing Labour, arguing these stalled their momentum.[1] Winner Mike Watson argued that the result showed that "The SNP bandwagon is off the rails", although SNP spokesman Chris McLean denied that the result was a setback, pointing out that they had significantly increased their vote share.[1]

The Liberal Democrats fell to fifth place, the worst position achieved by a major party in any British by-election since the 1976 Walsall North by-election. This was equaled in the Henley by-election in 2008, when Labour also fell to fifth, and surpassed in the Glasgow North East by-election in 2009, when the Liberal Democrats came sixth. Their 1.6% vote share remained the lowest percentage vote for the Liberal Democrats until they entered the Conservative-Liberal Democrat Coalition in 2010, and in fact was not beaten until the South Shields by-election three years into their time in government.

This was also the only parliamentary contest engaged in by the Scottish Socialist Party that existed at the time (which should not be confused with the present day Scottish Socialist Party). Their candidate was Bill Kidd.

Results
Glasgow Central by-election, 1989[2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Mike Watson 14,480 54.6 -9.9
SNP Alex Neil 8,018 30.2 +20.3
Conservative Allan Hogarth 2,028 7.6 -5.4
Green Irene Brandt 1,019 3.8 N/A
Liberal Democrats Robert McCreadie 411 1.5 -9.0
SDP (1988) Peter Kerr 253 1.0 N/A
Revolutionary Communist Linda Murdoch 141 0.5 N/A
Scottish Socialist Bill Kidd 137 0.5 N/A
Workers Revolutionary David Lettice 48 0.2 N/A
Majority 6,462 24.4
Turnout 26,535 52.9 -12.7
Labour hold Swing -15.1
General Election 1987: Glasgow Central
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Bob McTaggart 21,619 64.5
Conservative B. Jenkin 4,366 13.0
Liberal J. Bryden 3,528 10.5
SNP A. Wilson 3,339 10.0
Green A. Brooks 290 0.9 N/A
Communist J. McGoldrick 265 0.8
Red Front D. Owen 126 0.4 N/A
Majority 17,253 51.5
Turnout 65.6
Labour hold Swing

References
  1. Clark, William; Henderson, Connie (16 June 1989). "Central heads night of poll joy for Labour". The Glasgow Herald. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
  2. Boothroyd, David. "Results of Byelections in the 1987-92 Parliament". United Kingdom Election Results. Retrieved 1 October 2015.

See also
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