A Curious Caledonian Contest: The 1945 General Election in Scotland

While much has been written about the 1945 general election at a UK level, the same could not be said for a specifically Scottish study on the events of that momentous election. This article aims to address this deficit and provides a comprehensive examination of the 1945 general election in Scotland. It focuses predominately on the election campaigns of the Unionists and Labour but also discusses the Liberals’ campaign, along with those of the minor parties operating in Scotland at this time, the Communists, the Independent Labour Party, the Liberal Nationals and the Scottish National Party. The article also details that the main political parties began planning for the election while still operating under the wartime electoral truce which hampered party activity. It explores the reasons why there were differences in the overall results of the election compared to the rest of the UK, with the Unionists doing better and Labour not performing as strongly in Scotland. Party organisation is a major focus within this article and will be forwarded as the main argument for the outcome of the election.