Scottish Government Yearbook 1989 the SCOTTISH DISTRICT
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Scottish Government Yearbook 1989 Scottish Government Yearbook 1989 and advance upon its 1987 performance. As ever, the Labour party could only hope to maintain its position in THE SCOTTISH DISTRICT ELECTIONS OF 1988 these elections. Since the reorganisation of Scottish local government in 1974, Labour had established a position of overwhelming predominance in the Regions and Districts. After the 1984 district elections Labour John Bochel and David Denver controlled authorities contained three-quarters of the Scottish electorate, and in the 1987 general election it won almost 70 per cent of the constituencies. Clearly something extra-ordinary needs to happen to The Scottish District Elections held on 5th May 1988 were the first threaten Labour domination of Scottish politics. electoral test for the parties in Scotland since the 1987 general election. In that election voting behaviour in Scotland deviated even more sharply from Local elections are not, however, simply gigantic optmon polls that in the rest of the country than hitherto. Whilst the Conservatives more recording voters' current preferences amongst the parties, although this is a or less held their own and Labour failed to make headway elsewhere, in legitimate view of them. These elections do decide who runs local affairs Scotland Conservative support slumped to only 24 percent of the vote and and, in these days of seemingly perpetual conflict between central and local they won only ten of the seventy-two seats- their worst performance ever. government, and despite the limits placed on the discretion of local From an already strong positioin Labour advanced to 42.4 percent of the authorities, that is important. Local elections are also of intrinsic interest to vote and won fifty seats; the SNP made a modest recovery ( 14 percent ofthe those concerned with the developing patterns of party competition, vote and three seats), and the Alliance slipped back to 19.2 percent of the electoral participation and trends in party support in Scotland. It is these vote while increasing its tally of seats to nine. themes that we wish to pursue in what follows. After their 1987 debacle the Conservatives sought to go on the Forms of Local Politics offensive in Scotland. A review of party organisation was undertaken and radical changes were implemented. Scottish ministers and Mrs Thatcher We have in the past distinguished Scottish districts by the level of party herself began to preach aggressively the relevance of Thatcherism for competition in them. We identified three categories viz. (a) Partisan Scotland. Few, if any policy changes seemed to be contemplated. The party districts, in which party competition is the norm and councils are run on remained firmly anti-devolutionist and the obviously unpopular poll-tax or party lines, (b) Non-partisan districts, in which Independents predominate community charge was to go ahead first in Scotland. The latter became the and (c) Mixed or Intermediate districts which fall between the first two central issue in the 1988local election campaign. One year was too short a categories. Table 1 presents our categorisastion of the fifty-three districts time to see any significant results from the reform of party organisation or for the five sets of elections since 1974. attempts to change political attitudes in Scotland. So the local elections became, to a large extent, a chance for Scots to pronounce a verdict on the TABLE I proposed tax. Forms of Local Politics in Scottish Districts 1974-88 For the former Alliance parties the elections were also an important 1974 1977 1980 1984 1988 test. The formation of the Social and Liberal Democrats from the former Liberal party and a section of the SDP was a long and rather messy Partisan Districts 27 26 32 34 34 business, and inevitably support in the opinion polls for the new party fell Mixed Districts 9 14 7 6 9 compared with that for the former Alliance. Time was short for the new Non-Partisan Districts 17 13 14 13 10 party to expect to make headway in the local elections. For the SLD, then, a holding operation must have been the most optimistic aspiration. Reorganisation resulted in much greater party interest and involvement in local elections than before and the level of partisanship has Having made some progress in the 1987 general election, the SNP was grown steadily since 1974. The number of purely non-partisan districts has subsequently encouraged by good figures in Scottish opinion polls and fallen to only ten, and these are very small (in terms of population) and on some successes in local by-elections. It was vigorously opposed to the poll the geographical periphery. tax and, unlike Labour, it was relatively united in its policy of non-payment as a means of resistance. The SNP had grounds for expecting to consolidate 20 21 Scottish Government Yearbook 1989 Scottish Government Yearbook 1989 upon their 1984 figures. Strathclyde had more candidates too ( +67) largely Candidates because of a major increase in SNP intervention ( +90). The total number Table 2 presents the number of candidates put forward by the different of candidates rose in every region except Tayside which was the only one parties and groups at each set of district elections. 1988 showed the where the number of Conservative aspirants fell. continuation of an upward trend which produced over 3,000 for the first time. The increase is entirely attributable to the growing involvement of the The Conservatives seem to have a major problem in attracting parties and indicates that, in this respect at least, local democracy is in good candidates in Central region where the SLD is also very weak as it is in Tayside and Strathclyde. health. TABLE2 The decline in the number of Independent candidates continues Number of Candidates 1974-1988 unabated, as it has since 1974. Table 3 shows that they now constitute a tiny minority in partisan districts. In non-partisan districts Independent 1974 1977 1980 1984 1988 candidates were formerly in a near-monopolistic position, but in the last two sets of elections the major parties have made quite large incursions. In 626 mixed districts the intervention of parties in 1988 was very substantial and Conservatives 539 543 547 571 753 719 765 830 870 Independents declined to less than half of all candidates. It seems likely that Labour 333 in these districts there will be a slow but steady move towards partisan local Lib/ Alliance/SLD 148 136 153 417 493 769 politics. SNP 269 465 439 402 373 Independent 644 521 426 207 187 122 122 159 TABLE3 Others Independents as a proportion of All Candidates 1974-1988 2560 2571 2452 2835 3130 Total 1974 1977 1980 1984 1988 One of the weaknessess of Conservative organisation at local level in Partisan Districts (34) 10.7 7.1 5.1 3.3 Scotland was the relatively low number of candidates they put forward at 3.0 Mixed Districts (9) 73.7 72.7 64.8 62.1 44.3 district and regional elections. This had a knock-on effect at Parliamentary Non-Partisan Districts (10) 92.0 92.1 97.0 86.5 72.0 elections because the local electoral machines were at best rusty and All Districts 25.2 20.3 17.4 14.2 sometimes non-existent. Efforts were obviously made to remedy this and as 11.9 a consequence they fielded a record number of candidates in 1988. The Uncontested Elections and Party Competition hope was not only to revive local organisation, but also to have as many candidates as possible to spread the Conservative message. Although Uncontested returns have long been unheard of in parliamentary Labour could hardly expect to improve upon the number of district councils elections, and indeed, with the exception of Ulster, it is normal for the it controlled, encouraged by some good results in unlikely places at the major parties to nominate candidates in all constituencies. But uncontested general election, it sought to improve its performance in some hitherto elections still persist at local level. Two major factors may account for this. hostile territory. As a consequence it also fielded a record number of Firstly there is the sheer number of wards- well over a thousand in Scottish candidates. The SNP clearly perceived that its fortunes were on an upturn, districts - for which candidates must be found. Finding a candidate and morale had improved and so it was easier to attract candidates. These mounting a campaign presupposes, or should, a ward party organisation factors led to a spectacular increase in the number of candidates ( + 276) and and some resources of manpower and finance. It is very doubtful whether for the first the SNP had more than the Conservatives. The break-up of the any of our parties has a viable organisation in every ward in Scotland, and Alliance and the recent fraught birth of the SLD resulted in the new party so gaps arise in party slates. Secondly, the rewards of local government are putting forward fewer candidates (333) than the combined Alliance total in few and the costs, in time, career prospects and disruption to family life are 1984 (417). It was still a creditable effort when we note that about half ofthe not inconsiderable. Of course many people do wish to serve as local decline reflects our decision to treat the SDP (Continuing) candidates in councillors, and some even claim to enjoy campaigning in elections. But 1988 as 'others'. very often calls upon party loyalty and the promised support of the party machine are required to persuade party members to stand as candidates. Overall, big increases in the number of candidates were recorded in There are, however, no such pressures for Independents and self-motivation Grampian ( +85) and in Fife (+57) where all four major parties advanced 22 23 Scottish Government Yearbook 1989 Scottish Government Yearbook 1989 is becoming increasingly rare.