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 ...

for the House of Commons of the UK Parliament took place in Edinburgh North on 8 November 1973.

Alexander Fletcher Alexander Fletcher or Alex Fletcher may refer to: * Alexander Fletcher (British politician) (1929–1989), known as Sir Alex Fletcher, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) in the UK * Alexander Fletcher (colonial politician), Canadian politician ...

retained the seat for the Conservatives, after his predecessor became

Duke of Buccleuch Duke of Buccleuch (pronounced ), formerly also spelt Duke of Buccleugh, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created twice on 20 April 1663, first for James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth and second suo jure for his wife Anne Scott, 4th Cou ...

. One of four UK parliamentary by-elections taking place that day, and one of two in Scotland; it was overshadowed in the media by the surprise SNP victory in Glasgow Govan. Prior to the by-election, an opinion poll for ''

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 ...

'' had predicted that the Conservatives would hold the seat with Labour in second place.

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In the aftermath of his victory, the winning Conservative candidate, Alex Fletcher, said that he considered the result to be "a tremendous vote of confidence in the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

from the people of Edinburgh." Labour's candidate, Robert Cairns, said his campaign had "under-estimated the solidarity of the Tory vote" and that some Labour voters had switched to the SNP. William Wolfe said he was "very pleased" that the SNP had established a stronghold in a constituency it had not previously contested. For the Liberal, Ronald Guild described the result as "a sad day for Scotland" and stated his belief that it meant that the Kilbrandon Report was "as good as buried". An editorial in the following day's ''The Glasgow Herald'' said that the by-election results in Govan and Edinburgh "were the worst ever for the Labour Party in Scotland." It argued that in addition to the loss of what was considered a safe seat in Govan, "the failure of Labour to improve on their position in North Edinburgh" was significant given the perceived "unpopularity of the Government over prices." It noted that while Labour had lost out to the SNP the Conservatives in Edinburgh had kept the SNP and the Liberals "in also-ran spots."

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See also