Glasgow Central by-election, 1989

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

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 Liberal Democrats fell to fifth place, the worst position achieved by a major party in any British by-election since the Walsall North by-election, 1976.

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.

[edit] Results

Glasgow Central by-election, 1989
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mike Watson	14,480	54.6	-9.9
	Scottish National Party	Alex Neil	8,018	30.2	+20.3
	Conservative	A. Hogarth	2,028	7.6	-5.4
	Green	I. Brandt	1,019	3.8	n/a
	Liberal Democrats	R. McCreadle	411	1.5	-9.0
	Social Democrat	P. Kerr	253	1.0	n/a
	Revolutionary Communist	L. Murdoch	141	0.5	n/a
	Scottish Socialist	Bill Kidd	137	0.5	n/a
	Workers' Revolutionary	D. 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	Robert McTaggart	21,619	64.5
	Conservative	B. Jenkin	4,366	13.0
	Liberal	J. Bryden	3,528	10.5
	Scottish National Party	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

[edit] See also

• Glasgow Central (UK Parliament constituency)
• Elections in Scotland
• List of United Kingdom by-elections

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1988	July: Kensington | November: Glasgow Govan | December: Epping Forest
1989	February: Pontypridd | Richmond | May: Vale of Glamorgan | June: Glasgow Central | Vauxhall
1990	March: Mid Staffordshire | May: Bootle | Upper Bann | September: Knowsley South | October: Eastbourne | November: Bootle | Bradford North | Paisley North | Paisley South
1991	March: Ribble Valley | April: Neath | May: Monmouth | July: Liverpool Walton | November: Hemsworth | Kincardine and Deeside | Langbaurgh