# West Lothian (UK Parliament constituency)

West Lothian was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983. Its area corresponded to the Council area of West Lothian. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.
The constituency is best known for its third and final MP, Tam Dalyell of the Labour Party, whose concerns about Scottish devolution were labelled "the West Lothian question".

## History

West Lothian was created for the 1950 general election, partly replacing the previous Linlithgowshire constituency.
With effect from the 1983 general election, it became two different constituencies: Linlithgow and Livingston.

## Members of Parliament

| Election | Election | Member | Party | Notes |
| | 1950 | George Mathers | Labour | later Baron Mathers |
| | 1951 | John Taylor | Labour |
| | 1962 by-election | Tam Dalyell | Labour | subsequently MP for Linlithgow |
| 1983 | 1983 | constituency abolished: see Linlithgow | constituency abolished: see Linlithgow | constituency abolished: see Linlithgow |

## Election results
### Elections in the 1950s

1950 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | George Mathers | 27,236 | 60.61 | ' |
| | Unionist | W M Younger | 15,999 | 35.60 | |
| | Scottish Self-Government | Maxwell Hynd | 1,039 | 2.31 | |
| | Communist | J Borrowman | 664 | 1.48 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 11,237 | 25.01 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 44,938 | 79.76 | |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 56,339 | | |
| | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) | Labour win (new seat) |
1951 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Taylor | 28,906 | 60.52 | −0.09 |
| | Unionist | Humphrey Atkins | 18,854 | 39.48 | +3.88 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 10,052 | 21.04 | −3.97 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 47,760 | 84.89 | +5.13 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 56,259 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -1.99 | |
1955 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Taylor | 25,654 | 59.66 | −0.86 |
| | Unionist | William R Grieve | 17,347 | 40.34 | +0.86 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8,307 | 19.32 | −1.72 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 43,001 | 75.38 | −9.51 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 57,045 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -0.86 | |
1959 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | John Taylor | 27,454 | 60.29 | +0.63 |
| | Unionist | W Ian Stewart | 18,083 | 39.71 | −0.63 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,371 | 20.58 | +1.26 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 45,537 | 77.90 | +2.52 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 58,457 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | +0.63 | |

### Elections in the 1960s

West Lothian by-election, 1962 :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Tam Dalyell | 21,266 | 50.82 | −9.47 |
| | SNP | William Wolfe | 9,750 | 23.30 | New |
| | Unionist | W. I. Stewart | 4,784 | 11.43 | −28.28 |
| | Liberal | D. Bryce | 4,537 | 10.84 | New |
| | Communist | Gordon McLennan | 1,511 | 3.61 | New |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 11,516 | 27.52 | +6.94 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 41,848 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | | |
1964 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Tam Dalyell | 24,933 | 50.32 | −9.97 |
| | SNP | William Wolfe | 15,087 | 30.45 | N/A |
| | Unionist | RA Gordon Stuart | 8,919 | 18.00 | −21.71 |
| | Communist | Irene Swan | 610 | 1.23 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 9,846 | 19.87 | −0.71 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 49,549 | 79.50 | +1.60 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 62,328 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -20.21 | |
1966 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Tam Dalyell | 26,662 | 52.37 | +2.05 |
| | SNP | William Wolfe | 17,955 | 35.27 | +4.82 |
| | Conservative | David L MacKinnon | 5,726 | 11.25 | −6.75 |
| | Communist | Irene Swan | 567 | 1.11 | −0.12 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 8,707 | 17.10 | −2.77 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 50,910 | 79.59 | +0.09 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 63,967 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -1.39 | |

### Elections in the 1970s

1970 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Tam Dalyell | 29,360 | 52.9 | +0.5 |
| | SNP | William Wolfe | 15,620 | 28.2 | −7.1 |
| | Conservative | Michael Ancram | 10,048 | 18.1 | +6.9 |
| | Communist | Christopher Bett | 459 | 0.8 | −0.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 13,740 | 24.7 | +7.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 55,487 | 76.7 | −2.9 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 72,366 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | +3.8 | |
February 1974 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Tam Dalyell | 28,112 | 45.3 | −7.6 |
| | SNP | William Wolfe | 21,690 | 35.0 | +6.8 |
| | Conservative | Alexander Pollock | 11,804 | 19.0 | +0.9 |
| | Communist | Christopher Bett | 438 | 0.7 | −0.1 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,422 | 10.3 | −14.4 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 62,044 | 80.6 | +3.9 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 76,946 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -7.2 | |
October 1974 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Tam Dalyell | 27,687 | 45.3 | 0.0 |
| | SNP | William Wolfe | 24,997 | 40.9 | +5.9 |
| | Conservative | Anthony Lester | 6,086 | 10.0 | −9.0 |
| | Liberal | Hector MacAulay | 2,083 | 3.4 | New |
| | Communist | Christopher Bett | 247 | 0.4 | −0.3 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,690 | 4.4 | −5.9 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 61,100 | 78.8 | −1.8 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 77,527 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | -3.0 | |
1979 general election: West Lothian :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Tam Dalyell | 36,713 | 54.9 | +9.6 |
| | SNP | William Wolfe | 16,631 | 24.9 | −16.0 |
| | Conservative | John Roderick Whyte | 13,162 | 19.7 | +9.7 |
| | Communist | William Sneddon | 404 | 0.6 | +0.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 20,082 | 30.0 | +25.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 66,910 | 78.1 | −0.7 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 85,645 | | |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | +22.8 | |