The 2024 general election was held on 4 July 2024. 57 Scottish Westminster seats were contested. The election saw a resurgence of Labour within Scotland, with the party winning 37 seats, an increase of 36 from the previous election. The Liberal Democrats also saw gains, increasing their Scottish representation in Parliament from two seats to six. The Scottish National Party, the dominant party in Scotland since 2007, saw a collapse of support in which they lost 39 seats, bringing their total from 48 seats won at the previous election to nine. This was their worst Westminster election result since 2010. The Conservative Party lost one seat, taking their total down to five. Turnout dropped to 59%, eclipsed for the first time by a preceding Scottish Parliament election (63.5%). This was a reduction in turnout of 8.4% from 2019 and in a few constituencies the turnout was down 10%.
The Scottish National Party (SNP) suffered political turmoil through having multiple party leaders and First Ministers including Nicola Sturgeon, Humza Yousaf and John Swinney, as well as the Operation Branchform police investigation into the party's finances. Sturgeon resigned following heavy criticism for her positions on gender reforms and claimed occupational burnout was the reason for her resignation,[2] while Yousaf resigned amid a government crisis following his termination of a power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens.[3] Swinney assumed the leadership after being elected unopposed.[4] Like the Conservative Party in the UK, the SNP's popularity also suffered from being in government for a long time, which led to speculation that Scottish Labour could win the election for the first time since their near-wipeout in the 2015 general election.
All polling companies listed here are members of the British Polling Council (BPC) and abide by its disclosure and sample size rules.
The dates for these opinion polls range from the 2019 general election on 12 December to the present day.
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In March 2020, Cabinet Office minister Chloe Smith confirmed that the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies would be based on retaining 650 seats.[10][11] The previous relevant legislation was amended by the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020[12] and the four boundary commissions formally launched their 2023 reviews on 5 January 2021.[13][14][15][16] They were required to issue their final reports prior to 1 July 2023. The Scottish commission published its own report on 28 June.[17][18] As the reports were laid before Parliament, Orders in Council giving effect to the final proposals must be made within four months, unless "there are exceptional circumstances". Prior to the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020, boundary changes could not be implemented until they were approved by both Houses of Parliament.
Fifty-seven single member constituencies were used in Scotland for this election, a reduction of two since 2019. A number of constituencies are unchanged, including the two protected constituencies of Na h-Eileanan an Iar covering the Western Isles, and Orkney and Shetland, covering the Northern Isles.[19]
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The SNP ultimately won nine seats in the 2024 election, a loss of 38 seats on its 2019 result, reducing it to the second-largest party in Scotland, behind Scottish Labour, and the fourth-largest party in Westminster. Swinney took full responsibility but said that he would not resign as leader. He said of the results, "There will have to be a lot of soul searching as a party as a consequence of these results that have come in tonight", and that the SNP has to be "better at governing on behalf of the people of Scotland", admitting the party was not "winning the argument" on Scottish independence.[32]
On 7 July 2024, newly elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Keir Starmer travelled to Edinburgh on the first stop of his tour of the four countries of the United Kingdom and met with Swinney at the official residence of the First Minister, Bute House. During the meeting, both Swinney and Starmer agreed to "work together" and to "reset the relationship between their two governments".[33]
Voting closed at 22:00, which was followed by an exit poll. The first seat, Houghton and Sunderland South, declared at 23:15 with Bridget Phillipson winning for Labour.[34][35] Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire was the last seat to declare, after a recount took place on Saturday 6 July.[36]
The Scottish Labour Party gained the majority of seats in Scotland for the first time since 2010, regaining most of the seats lost to the SNP in 2015. Labour gained every seat in Glasgow, all but one seat in Edinburgh, and all but one seat in the Central Belt (both of these exceptions being seats won by the Scottish Liberal Democrats). Labour also gained Na h-Eileanan an Iar for the first time since 2001. Labour was also runner-up in four other constituencies, around Aberdeen and Dundee.
The Scottish National Party elected nine MPs, a net loss of thirty-nine compared to 2019. The SNP lost most of their seats gained in 2015, including every seat in Glasgow, Edinburgh and the Central Belt. Most of the remaining SNP seats are large rural constituencies in the Scottish Highlands, along with Aberdeen North, Aberdeen South and Dundee Central, Dundee Central had the lowest majority of any Scottish constituency (675 votes between SNP and Labour). The only SNP gain was Aberdeenshire North and Moray East, the predecessor seat of Banff and Buchan had been previously Conservative. The SNP was the runner-up in every constituency it did not win.
The Scottish Liberal Democrats elected six MPs, gaining Mid Dunbartonshire and Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire, the predecessor seats had once been held by former Liberal Democrat leaders Jo Swinson and Charles Kennedy respectively. The remaining four seats were defended with significantly increased majorities, and close to or over 50% of the vote. Orkney and Shetland remains the longest continuously held Liberal constituency, since 1950. This is the first time since 2010 that there are more Liberal Democrat MPs in Scotland than Conservatives, although the Conservatives had more votes.
The Scottish Conservatives elected five MPs, losing Aberdeenshire North and Moray East which was a new seat being contested by outgoing MP and leader Douglas Ross. As in the previous election, the Conservatives won in all three border constituencies, with their other two seats being in Aberdeenshire. The Conservatives therefore did proportionally better in Scotland compared to their significant losses in England and Wales, and in contrast to the previous Labour landslide of 1997 when the Conservatives lost every seat in Scotland.
Other parties and independents failed to win any seats. The two Alba Party MPs who had defected from the SNP, Kenny MacAskill and Neale Hanvey lost their seats, as did independent Angus McNeil who also left the SNP.
Unlike in England and Wales, the Scottish Greens and Reform UK were not the runner-up in any constituency, but they both did achieve some significant third places considering that Greens and Reform only won seats in England.[39] The strongest results for the Greens were in the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, where Labour took all the SNP seats across the cities.[40] Surprisingly, the Greens even came in third place in Orkney and Shetland, a constituency they had never before contested at a general election before.[41] Reform UK performed strongest in SNP-Conservative areas such as North East Scotland and the Scottish Borders, achieving particularly strong third places in Aberdeenshire in constituencies such as Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.[42] They even achieved third places in traditionally Labour-SNP areas in the Central Belt like Airdrie and Shotts, Glenrothes and Mid Fife, Livingston and Rutherglen. Between the two parties they achieved over 10% of the vote in Scotland (Reform 7% and Greens 4%) but no seats. For this discrimination via the electoral system the two parties were similarly compared in England.[43] Unlike Reform, the Scottish Greens did not stand in every seat nor did they retain most of their election deposits.
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Media related to 2024 UK general election in Scotland at Wikimedia Commons