The

Stirling and Falkirk Stirling and Falkirk is a lieutenancy area of Scotland. It consists of the local government areas of Stirling and Falkirk Falkirk ( gd, An Eaglais Bhreac, sco, Fawkirk) is a large town in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, historically wit ...

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

of 16 September 1971 was held following the death of

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP)

Malcolm MacPherson Malcolm MacPherson (18 August 1904 – 24 May 1971) was a Scottish Labour politician. Biography Malcolm MacPherson was born on The Isle of May, in the Firth of Forth, where his father, John McPherson, was one of the lighthouse keepers. Malc ...

. The seat was retained by Labour. On the day of polling it was reported that Labour were confident of holding the seat and believed that they would have a swing of 10% or more towards them with the

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

in second place. The SNP reportedly thought they would win 38% of the vote and the Conservatives would lose their deposit. In contrast the Conservatives claimed that the SNP would take votes from Labour and allow them to win.

Results

Outcome and aftermath

Labour's victorious candidate Harry Ewing claimed that the result represented a "complete rejection" of the policies of the

Heath Government Edward Heath of the Conservative Party formed the Heath ministry and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by Queen Elizabeth II on 19 June 1970, following the 18 June general election. Heath's ministry ended after the February 19 ...

, particularly "their policy on the Common Market." Ewing also conceded that his "majority was less than we expected". Journalist William Clark writing in ''The

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' reported that Labour supporters were surprised by the size of the SNP vote, and himself described the level support for McIntyre as being a "major upset". McIntyre said the result showed that "the SNP are on the march again." The defeated Conservative,

Alloa Alloa (Received Pronunciation ; educated Scottish pronunciation /ˈaloʊa/; gd, Alamhagh, possibly meaning "rock plain") is a town in Clackmannanshire in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. It is on the north bank of the Forth at the spot where ...

Solicitor David Anderson, said that he did not think the result was "an anti-Common Market vote", but was probably a protest against the Government. He also said that he thought that it was significant that Labour had not performed as well as they had expected. An editorial in the Glasgow ''

Evening Times The ''Glasgow Times'' is an evening tabloid newspaper published Monday to Saturday in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Called ''The Evening Times'' from 1876, it was rebranded as the ''Glasgow Times'' on 4 December 2019.Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...

and the Conservatives it particularly highlighted what it saw as his Government's poor handling of the

Upper Clyde Shipbuilders Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS) was a Scottish shipbuilding consortium, created in 1968 as a result of the amalgamation of five major shipbuilders of the River Clyde. It entered liquidation, with much controversy, in 1971. That led to a "work-in" ...

crisis.

References

1971 in Scotland 1970s elections in Scotland 1971 elections in the United Kingdom September 1971 events in Europe Politics of Falkirk (council area) Politics of Stirling (council area) By-elections to the Parliament of the United Kingdom in Scottish constituencies {{Scotland-UK-Parl-by-election-stub