1948 Glasgow Hillhead by-election

A by-election for the constituency of Glasgow Hillhead in the House of Commons was held on 25 November 1948, caused by the appointment as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary of the incumbent Unionist MP James Reid. The result was a hold for the Unionist Party, with their candidate Tam Galbraith.

Result
Glasgow Hillhead by-election, 1948[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Tam Galbraith 16,060 68.4 +9.8
Labour T A MacNair 7,419 31.6 -2.0
Majority 8,641 36.8 +11.8
Turnout 23,479
Unionist hold Swing

Despite a clear victory for their party some Scottish Unionist MPs were reportedly disappointed by the result given that the recent Edmonton by-election had seen the Conservative Party's vote substantially increased while Labour's vote fell greatly. Commenting on the by-election, an editorial in The Glasgow Herald rejected and criticised this assessment, noting that there was a lower turnout and opining that it was a "a notable achievement" that Galbraith had increased the Unionist Party's majority by a third, given that, in the newspaper's view, he was "a young candidate succeeding one of the outstanding Unionist members of recent years."[2]

Previous election
General election 1945: Glasgow Hillhead[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist James Reid 14,909 58.6 -9.6
Labour HT MacCalman 8,545 33.6 +1.8
Liberal John Gray Wilson 2,003 7.8 New
Majority 6,364 25.0 -11.4
Turnout 25,457 66.0 -7.2
Unionist hold Swing

References
  1. "1948 By Election Results". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
  2. "Editorial - Hillhead". The Glasgow Herald. 27 November 1948. p. 2. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  3. "Politics Resources". Election 1945. Politics Resources. 5 July 1945. Archived from the original on 25 October 2014. Retrieved 8 November 2011.


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