Scotland: 1983 general election results

How Scotland voted at the 1983 general election: Labour won 41 of 72 seats with 35.1% of the vote. Every constituency result.

37 for a majority

Lab41
Con21
Alliance8
SNP2

Scotland: results by party
Party	Seats	Change	Votes	Share	Change	Candidates
Labour	41	−3	990,644	35.1%	−6.5	72
Conservative	21	−1	801,312	28.4%	−3.0	72
SDP–Liberal Alliance	8	new	692,367	24.5%	—	72
Scottish National Party	2	0	331,975	11.8%	−5.5	72
1 other parties and independents			7,820	0.3%

Change compared with the 1979 general election in Scotland.

Constituencies

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Constituency	Winner	Majority	%	Turnout
Aberdeen North	Lab	9,144	22.3	64.2%
Aberdeen South	Con	3,581	9.1	68.1%
Angus East	Con	3,527	8.1	72.9%
Argyll and Bute	Con	3,844	11.1	72.1%
Ayr	Con	7,987	16.0	75.7%
Banff and Buchan	Con	937	2.3	66.1%
Caithness and Sutherland	Alliance	6,843	29.4	74.6%
Carrick Cumnock and Doon Valley	Lab	11,370	27.4	73.2%
Clackmannan	Lab	9,639	26.8	74.7%
Clydebank and Milngavie	Lab	7,715	20.0	74.8%
Clydesdale	Lab	4,866	10.6	75.4%
Cumbernauld and Kilsyth	Lab	9,928	29.4	75.3%
Cunninghame North	Con	1,637	4.1	74.6%
Cunninghame South	Lab	11,768	32.9	72.4%
Dumbarton	Lab	2,115	4.9	74.2%
Dumfries	Con	8,694	20.7	72.2%
Dundee East	SNP	5,016	10.8	72.9%
Dundee West	Lab	10,150	21.8	73.7%
Dunfermline East	Lab	11,301	31.5	71.2%
Dunfermline West	Lab	2,474	6.9	72.7%
East Kilbride	Lab	4,336	9.2	75.7%
East Lothian	Lab	6,241	13.1	75.3%
Eastwood	Con	8,595	19.0	75.1%
Edinburgh Central	Con	2,566	6.9	64.6%
Edinburgh East	Lab	5,866	16.3	69.8%
Edinburgh Leith	Lab	4,973	12.2	66.7%
Edinburgh Pentlands	Con	4,309	9.9	72.7%
Edinburgh South	Con	3,655	8.2	71.2%
Edinburgh West	Con	498	1.1	74.9%
Falkirk East	Lab	10,061	26.7	71.5%
Falkirk West	Lab	8,978	24.6	73.3%
Fife Central	Lab	7,794	19.8	71.6%
Fife North East	Con	2,185	5.9	72.9%
Galloway and Upper Nithsdale	Con	5,461	13.9	74.9%
Glasgow Cathcart	Lab	4,230	10.9	74.9%
Glasgow Central	Lab	10,962	34.1	62.2%
Glasgow Garscadden	Lab	13,474	38.6	68.2%
Glasgow Govan	Lab	13,057	35.2	70.8%
Glasgow Hillhead	Alliance	1,164	2.8	71.4%
Glasgow Maryhill	Lab	11,203	33.0	64.6%
Glasgow Pollok	Lab	11,532	31.8	67.1%
Glasgow Provan	Lab	15,385	49.5	64.1%
Glasgow Rutherglen	Lab	9,126	20.5	74.1%
Glasgow Shettleston	Lab	12,416	35.0	67.4%
Glasgow Springburn	Lab	17,599	50.7	64.2%
Gordon	Alliance	850	1.9	69.4%
Greenock and Port Glasgow	Lab	4,625	10.5	73.0%
Hamilton	Lab	15,019	32.3	74.6%
Inverness Nairn and Lochaber	Alliance	7,298	16.3	69.8%
Kilmarnock and Loudoun	Lab	8,800	19.0	74.6%
Kincardine and Deeside	Con	7,796	18.3	70.6%
Kirkcaldy	Lab	5,331	14.0	71.1%
Linlithgow	Lab	11,361	26.0	74.5%
Livingston	Lab	4,951	13.1	70.2%
Midlothian	Lab	6,156	13.6	74.2%
Monklands East	Lab	9,799	27.4	71.8%
Monklands West	Lab	12,264	32.2	74.5%
Moray	Con	1,713	4.0	70.1%
Motherwell North	Lab	17,894	42.2	73.9%
Motherwell South	Lab	12,349	32.5	71.8%
Orkney and Shetland	Alliance	4,150	20.3	67.1%
Paisley North	Lab	7,587	21.9	67.8%
Paisley South	Lab	6,529	17.3	71.4%
Perth and Kinross	Con	6,733	15.2	71.7%
Renfrew West and Inverclyde	Con	1,322	3.2	77.0%
Ross Cromarty and Skye	Alliance	1,704	4.9	71.9%
Roxburgh and Berwickshire	Alliance	3,396	10.7	75.0%
Stirling	Con	5,133	12.1	74.8%
Strathkelvin and Bearsden	Con	3,700	7.7	78.2%
Tayside North	Con	10,099	26.8	72.0%
Tweeddale Ettrick and Lauderdale	Alliance	8,539	29.6	76.9%
Western Isles	SNP	3,712	24.5	65.9%

Scotland at every election →

Questions and answers

Who won in Scotland at the 1983 general election?

Labour won 41 of the 72 seats in Scotland, with 35.1% of the vote.

How many seats were there in Scotland in 1983?

72 constituencies.

Official results House of Commons Library, General election results from 1918 to 2019. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. How we use this data