Labour’s victories

Published on 18/02/2013 00:00

DJ Hollingdale (Letters, 16 February) claims that only three Labour governments would have been elected without Scottish votes since the First World War. This is not the case.

Just three Labour governments since 1945 have relied on Scottish seats for their general election victories. In two of those cases – 1964 and October 1974 – Scottish MPs turned what would otherwise have been a minority administration into one with a slim 
majority. Only in February 1974 were Scottish votes essential to the formation of a minority 
Labour government.

So, Harold Wilson did benefit from Scottish votes, but he wasn’t the only politician to do so, nor the most recent. But for the presence of Scottish MPs at Westminster, Nick Clegg would not be Deputy Prime Minister today and the Liberal Democrats would not be in government.

Angus McLellan

Haughview Terrace

Glasgow