XPost: soc.history.war.misc, soc.culture.scottish, alt.religion.
hristian.presbyterian
XPost: alt.religion.christian.baptist
From: allan@EASYNET.CO.UK
"Raktizer Omheit" wrote in message
news:454fc810_1@news.iprimus.com.au...
>
> "Don Phillipson" wrote in message
> news:eio3oo$ral$1@theodyn.ncf.ca...
> Don, Scotland has long been a strong supporter of left-wing parties, with
> the exception of the somewhat fascistic Liberal Union-Conservative period
in
> U.K. history from 1895-1905, when compared to their more wealthy English
> neighbours, where the Conservative party has been stronger in the amount
of
> votes gathered.
That is a completely false idea though! You seem to be looking at Scottish
politics now and imagining it has always been so.Throughout a large part of
the 20thC the Tories were either the strongest party within Scotland or came
a close second. They won a majority of Scottish seats in the 1924, 1931 and
1935 elections. Actually in 1931 they gained a massive 58 seats out of 73.
They had a post war set back when their share fell to 30 out of 71 in 1945,
and 32 out of 71 in the following election. However come 1951 they got 35
out of the 71 seats as did Labour. In 1955 they again received a majority of
seats in getting 36 out of the 71 though this year they received over 50% of
the actual vote and remain until this day the only party to have ever
achieved that.
The party lost ground in the second half of the 20thC, at first gradually
then dramatically, for various reasons. The end of empire; the cenralisation
of the Conservative Party from the mid-60s caused it to gradually come to be
seen almost as an English party; their refusal to back devolution despite
the promises; Thatcherism; and of course the rise of the SNP from having the
likes of 0.5% of the vote in 1959 to 30.4% of the vote in 1974.
Allan
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)
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