Factsheet M16 House of Commons Information Office Members Series By-election results: Revised September 2003 1997-2001 Contents Summary 2 This Factsheet has been archived so the Notes 3 Tables 3 content and web links may be out of Constituency results 9 date. Please visit our About Parliament Further reading 17 pages for current information. Contact information 17 Feedback form 18 There were 17 by-elections in the 1997 Parliament. Of these by-elections, only two, Romsey and South Antrim, resulted in a change in winning party compared with the 1997 General Election. Ten of the by- elections were caused by the death of the sitting Member of Parliament and five were due to resignations. The 1997-2001 Parliament was the first Parliament since 1951-55 where the party in Government has not lost a seat at a by- election. The Conservative win in Uxbridge was their first at a by-election since February 1989. September 2003 FS No.M16 Ed 3.2 ISSN 0144-4689 © Parliamentary Copyright (House of Commons) 2003 May be reproduced for purposes of private study or research without permission. Reproduction for sale or other commercial purposes not permitted. 2 By-election results: 1997-2001 House of Commons Information Office Factsheet M16 Summary There were 17 by-elections in the 1997 Parliament. This introduction gives some of the key facts about the results. The tables on pages 4 to 8 summarise the results and pages 9 to 14 give results for each constituency. The 1997 Parliament was the first where the party in Government has not lost a by- election since 1951-55. The Conservative win in Uxbridge was their first in a by- election since February 1989. The only seats to change hands were Romsey (Conservative to Liberal Democrat), South Antrim (Ulster Unionist to Democratic Unionist) and West Bromwich West which had had been held by the Speaker but was won by Labour on her retirement. There were two Members elected as Conservatives who were sitting as Labour by the end of the Parliament. Also, two Labour and one Conservative had moved to being independents. State of the Parties: 1997-2001 At General At opening of By- By- Other Seats at election: session: election election changes Dissolution: 1 May 1997 14 May 1997 gains losses 14 May 2001 Lab 418 417 - - 417 Con 165 162 -1 -2 159 LD 46 46 +1 - - 47 PC/SNP 10 10 - - 10 Oth 19 19 - +3 22 Speaker and 1 4 - - 4 Deputies Vacant seats - 1 - - - - Reasons for by-elections Ten of the by-elections were caused by the death of the sitting Member of Parliament and five were due to resignations, including the retirement of Rt Hon Betty Boothroyd as Speaker. One was due to a Member being awarded a peerage. The “by- election” in Winchester was technically a re-run of the 1997 General Election following a successful legal challenge to the original result. Share of the vote Across all 17 by-elections, Labour’s share of the votes cast was around 30%. Excluding the West Bromwich West result, Labour’s share was 13.5 percentage points lower than in the same constituencies at the 1997 General Election. The Conservative share increased by around one percentage point. The Liberal Democrat share was 7.7 percentage points higher in the by-elections while, in Scotland, the SNP increased their share by 11.2 percentage points. Turnout Average turnout across all 17 by-elections was 40.2%. This was 26.7 percentage points lower than the average for the same constituencies at the 1997 General Election. The lowest turnout was 19.6% in Leeds Central. This was the lowest turnout at a by-election in the UK since 1945. Women candidates Two of the winning candidates were women, Jacqui Lait and Sandra Gidley, as were two of those leaving Parliament, Audrey Wise and Betty Boothroyd. The total of 3 By-election results: 1997-2001 House of Commons Information Office Factsheet M16 women MPs at the end of the Parliament was 120, the same as at the beginning, although the total did reach a record 122 after the Romsey by-election. In total, 22 of the 140 candidates at these by-elections were women. Outstanding vacancies There were no seats vacant at dissolution. Notes Turnout is calculated as the number of valid votes cast (i.e. excluding spoilt ballot papers) as a percentage of the electorate. Most returning officers were able to provide exact eligible electorates for polling day. These have been used where available. For a few constituencies, returning officers were only able to provide figures for total electorates as first published. In these cases an estimate of the eligible electorate on polling day has been used. This was estimated by applying the proportion of the year that the register had been in force to the number of attainers. General Election results are taken from Britain Votes 61 while the by-election results were provided directly by returning officers. Key to tables * indicates a lost deposit (less than 5 per cent of the total votes cast) + indicates a woman candidate The Winchester “by-election” was technically a re-run of the 1997 General Election in that constituency. The original result, a Liberal Democrat gain from Conservative with a majority of two votes, was challeneged and a writ for a re-run issued. Technically, this election was not a by-election and is listed as a Liberal Democrat “win” rather than “hold” or “gain”. West Bromwich West was not contested by the major parties in 1997 when it was won by The Speaker. As Labour would have been the likely winners of the seat in 1997, it is also not classed as a seat changing hands. Tables Table 1 Summary of by-election results 1997-2001 Page 4 Table 2 Share of vote at by-elections: 1997-2001 Page 5 Table 3 Change in share of vote at by-elections: 1997- Page 6 2001 Table 4 Turnout at by-elections: 1997-2001 Page 7 Table 5 List of party abbreviations Page 8 Table 6 Candidate descriptions Page 13 Individual constituency results are given on pages 9 to 12. 1 Britain Votes 6: British parliamentary election results 1997. Compiled & edited by Colin Rallings & Michael Thrasher. Dartmouth 1998. 4 By-election results: 1997-2001 House of Commons Information Office Factsheet M16 Table 1 Summary of by-election results: 1997-2001 Constituency Reason for By-election Date of Result New Member by-election Uxbridge Death of Sir Michael Shersby 31 Jul 1997 Con hold John Randall (8 May 1997) Paisley South Death of Gordon McMaster 6 Nov 1997 Lab hold Douglas (28 Jul 1997) Alexander Beckenham Resignation of Piers 20 Nov 1997 Con hold Jacqui Lait Merchant (21 Oct 1997) Winchester General Election result 20 Nov 1997 LD win Mark Oaten challenged, Election Petition (28 Oct 1997) Leeds Death of Derek Fatchett 10 Jun 1999 Lab hold Hilary Benn Central (9 May 1999) Eddisbury Resignation fo Rt Hon Sir 22 Jul 1999 Con hold Stephen O'Brien Alastair Goodlad (28 Jun 1999) Hamilton Elevation to Peerage of Rt 23 Sep 1999 Lab hold Bill Tynan South Hon George Robertson (24 Aug 1999) Wigan Death of Roger Stott (8 Aug 23 Sep 1999 Lab hold Neil Turner 1999) Kensington Death of Rt Hon Alan Clark 25 Nov 1999 Con hold Micheal Portillo & Chelsea (4 Sep 1999) Ceredigion Resignation of Cynog Dafis 3 Feb 2000 PC hold Simon Thomas (10 Jan 2000) Romsey Death of Sir Michael Colvin 4 May 2000 LD gain Sandra Gidley (4 May 2000) from Con Tottenham Death of Bernie Grant 22 Jun 2000 Lab hold David Lammy (8 Apr 2000) South Death of Clifford Forsythe 21 Sep 2000 UDU gain William McCrea Antrim (27 Apr 2000) from UUP Glasgow, Death of Rt Hon Donald 23 Nov 2000 Lab hold John Robertson Anniesland Dewar (11 Oct 2000) Preston Death of Audrey Wise 23 Nov 2000 Lab hold Mark Hendrick (2 Sep 2000) West Resignation of Rt Hon Betty 23 Nov 2000 Lab win Adrian Bailey Bromwich Boothroyd (23 Oct 2000) West Falkirk West Resignation of Dennis 21 Dec 2000 Lab hold Eric Joyce Canavan (11 Nov 2000) 5 By-election results: 1997-2001 House of Commons Information Office Factsheet M16 Table 2 Share of vote at by-elections: 1997-2001 Great Britain Constituency Con Lab LD PC/SNP Other Uxbridge 51.1% 39.3% 5.6% 4.0% Paisley South 7.0% 44.1% 11.0% 32.5% 5.3% Beckenham 41.2% 37.4% 18.4% 3.0% Winchester 28.4% 1.7% 68.0% 1.8% Leeds Central 12.3% 48.2% 30.8% 8.6% Eddisbury 44.8% 40.2% 13.8% 1.2% Hamilton South 7.2% 36.8% 3.3% 34.0% 18.7% Wigan 18.0% 59.6% 13.3% 9.2% Kensington and Chelsea 56.4% 22.0% 9.4% 12.2% Ceredigion 16.5% 14.4% 23.0% 42.8% 3.3% Romsey 42.0% 3.7% 50.6% 3.7% Tottenham 16.0% 53.5% 19.1% 11.3% Glasgow, Anniesland 10.8% 52.1% 8.1% 20.8% 8.2% Preston 25.0% 45.7% 16.2% 13.1% West Bromwich West 33.9% 51.1% 9.5% 5.5% Falkirk West 8.3% 43.5% 3.2% 39.9% 5.1% Country England (11 constituencies) 35.9% 30.0% 28.8% 5.3% Wales (1) 16.5% 14.4% 23.0% 42.8% 3.3% Scotland (4) 8.3% 44.2% 6.6% 31.7% 9.1% Great Britain (16) 29.1% 32..0% 23.9% 9.1% 6.0% United Kingdom (17) 27.0% 29.7% 22.2% 8.5% 12.6% Northern Ireland Constituency UDU UUP SDLP SF Alliance South Antrim 38.0% 35.3% 11.4% 8.5% 6.6% 6 By-election results: 1997-2001 House of Commons Information Office Factsheet M16 Table 3 Change in share of vote compared with previous election: by-elections 1997-2001 (percentage points) Great Britain Constituency Con Lab LD PC/SNP Other Uxbridge +7.6 -2.5 -5.3 +0.2 Paisley South -1.7 -13.4 +1.6 +9.1 +4.3 Beckenham -1.2 +4.0 +0.2 -3.1 Winchester -13.6 -8.8 +26.0 -3.6 Leeds Central -1.4 -21.4 +19.6 +3.2 Eddisbury +2.3 +0.0 +0.6 -2.9 Hamilton South -1.4 -28.8 -1.9 +16.4 +15.7 Wigan +1.1 -9.0 +3.3 +4.6 Kensington and Chelsea +2.8 -5.9 -5.9 +9.1 Ceredigeon +1.6 -9.9 +6.5 +1.1 +0.6 Romsey -4.0 -14.8 +21.1 -2.3 Tottenham +0.3 -15.8 +8.3 +7.1 Glasgow, Anniesland -0.6