The 1906 United Kingdom general election was held between 12 January and 8 February 1906, and members were returned for all Scottish seats. Scotland was allocated 72 seats in total, with 70 territorial seats, comprising 32 burgh constituencies and 37 county constituencies. There were also two university constituencies, Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities and Edinburgh and St Andrews Universities. As voters in university constituencies voted in addition to their territorial vote, the results are compiled separately.
In Scotland the opposition Liberals under Henry Campbell-Bannerman won a crushing victory, winning 56.4% of vote and 58 out of Scotland's 72 seats. The figure of 56.4% has not been surpassed by any single party in any election since, although the coalition of parties forming the National Government would secure 64.0% at the 1931 election. When combined with results from across the United Kingdom the result was a landslide victory for the Liberals against a bewildered Conservative Party, whose leader, Arthur Balfour, lost his seat; the party won the lowest number of seats it ever had in its history, a nadir unsurpassed until 2024. The primary reason given by historians for the Conservatives' weakness resulted from the party's split over the issue of free trade (Joseph Chamberlain had resigned from government in September 1903 in order to campaign for Tariff Reform, which would allow "preferential tariffs"). Many working-class people at the time saw this as a threat to the price of food, hence the debate was nicknamed "Big Loaf, Little Loaf". The Liberals' landslide victory of 125 seats over all other parties led to the passing of social legislation known as the Liberal reforms.
The Scottish Workers' Representation Committee (SWRC) stood five candidates: John Robertson in North East Lanarkshire, Joseph Sullivan in North West Lanarkshire, David Gilmour in Falkirk Burghs, James Brown in North Ayrshire, and Robert Smillie in Paisley. The candidates together won a total of 14,877 votes, but the group failed to win a single seat.Frank Bealey and Henry Pelling, Labour and Politics, 1900-1906, p.296 The Labour Representation Committee (which after the election would be renamed the Labour Party) was more successful, picking up 2 Scottish seats (George Barnes in Glasgow Blackfriars and Hutchesontown and Alexander Wilkie in Dundee), alongside a total of 29 seats across the UK. Following the SWRC's failure to secure representation, the organisation decided to align itself more closely with the new Labour Party, eventually becoming the party's Scottish section.
Results Seats summary Party Seats Last Election Seats change Liberal 58 34 24 Conservative and Liberal Unionist (Total) 12 38 26 Conservative 7 20 13 Liberal Unionist 5 18 13 Labour Representation Committee 2 0 2 Total 72 72
Burgh & County constituencies
Party Seats Seats change Votes % % Change Liberal 58 24 336,400 56.4 6.2 Conservative and Liberal Unionist 10 26 225,802 37.8 11.2 Labour Representation Committee 2 2 16,897 2.8 New Scottish Workers' Representation Committee 0 14,877 2.5 1.9 Other 0 2,938 0.5 Total 70 596,914 100.0Turnout: 80.9 5.6
University constituencies The two university constituencies each elected an additional member to the house. Both seats were uncontested at the previous election, with the winning candidates having been elected unopposed.
Votes summary
Notes
References