| Election Name: | 1959 United Kingdom general election |
| Election Date: | 8 October 1959 |
| Country: | Scotland |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1955 United Kingdom general election in Scotland |
| Previous Year: | 1955 |
| Previous Mps: | List of MPs elected in the 1955 United Kingdom general election |
| Next Election: | 1964 United Kingdom general election in Scotland |
| Next Year: | 1964 |
| Seats For Election: | All 71 Scottish seats to the House of Commons |
| Elected Mps: | List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1959–1964) |
| Leader1: | Hugh Gaitskell |
| Party1: | Scottish Labour |
| Last Election1: | 34, 46.7% |
| Seats1: | 38 |
| Seat Change1: | 4 |
| Popular Vote1: | 1,245,255 |
| Percentage1: | 46.7 |
| Leader2: | Harold Macmillan |
| Party2: | Unionist Party (Scotland) |
| Last Election2: | 36 seats, 50.1% |
| Seats2: | 31 |
| Seat Change2: | 5 |
| Popular Vote2: | 1,260,287 |
| Percentage2: | 47.3 |
| Swing2: | 2.8% |
| Leader3: | Jo Grimond |
| Party3: | Scottish Liberal Party |
| Last Election3: | 1 seats, 1.9% |
| Seats3: | 1 |
| Popular Vote3: | 108,963 |
| Percentage3: | 4.1% |
| Swing3: | 2.1% |
| Leader4: | David Robertson |
| Party4: | Independent Unionist |
| Last Election4: | N/A |
| Seats4: | 1 |
| Seat Change4: | 1 |
| Popular Vote4: | 12,163 |
| Percentage4: | 0.5% |
| Swing4: | N/A |
| Map Size: | 400px |
See main article: 1959 United Kingdom general election.
A general election was held in the United Kingdom on Thursday, 8 October 1959 and all 71 seats in Scotland were contested.[1] The Unionists, who aligned with the Conservative and Unionist Party at a UK level, together with their allies the National Liberals, won the largest number of votes, but lost out in seats to the Labour Party. Across the UK as a whole, the Conservatives won 365 seats, and returned as government with a majority of 100 seats.
Jo Grimond, now party leader for the Liberals, was returned as his party's only MP, representing Orkney and Shetland. The election also saw David Robertson returned as in "Independent Unionist" for Caithness and Sutherland. Robertson was the sitting MP for the seat, having resigned from taking the Conservative whip at Westminster in January of 1959.[2] Robertson was not opposed by an official Unionist candidate.[3]
List of MPs for constituencies in Scotland (1959–1964)
| Party | Seats | Seats change | Votes | % | % Change | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour Party | 38 | 4 | 1,245,255 | 46.7 | 0.0 | |||
| Conservative and Unionist (Total) | 31 | 5 | 1,260,287 | 47.3 | 2.8 | |||
| Unionist | 25 | 5 | 1,060,609 | 39.8 | 1.7 | |||
| National Liberal & Conservative | 6 | 199,678 | 7.5 | 1.1 | ||||
| Liberal | 1 | 108,963 | 4.1 | 2.1 | ||||
| Independent Unionist | 1 | 1 | 12,163 | 0.5 | New | |||
| SNP | 0 | 21,738 | 0.8 | 0.3 | ||||
| Communist | 0 | 12,150 | 0.5 | New | ||||
| Fife Socialist League | 0 | 4,886 | 0.2 | New | ||||
| Other | 0 | 2,071 | 0.1 | 0.2 | ||||
| Total | 71 | 2,667,513 | 100 | |||||