The Progressive Party was a municipal political organisation that operated in several

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

cities and towns in the 20th century. It was based on tacit anti-Labour co-operation between the Unionist Party,

Scottish Liberals The Scottish Liberal Party, the section of the Liberal Party in Scotland, was the dominant political party of Victorian Scotland, and although its importance declined with the rise of the Labour and Unionist parties during the 20th century, it ...

and independents.

Origins

National political parties were rarely active in local politics but the rise of the Labour Party led to a process of party politicisation of

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

. However, at first Labour were opposed by the Progressives before other national political parties entered local government elections on a significant scale. The Progressives formed as a loose alliance of unofficial Liberals, Unionists and independents. Apart from a distinct focus on their urban localities the other essence of the Progressive groupings was opposition to Labour policies and control, plus a desire to avoid splitting the anti-Labour vote.

History

Progressive groupings formed in Edinburgh Corporation in 1928 and

Glasgow Corporation Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the local government authority for Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was formerly governed by a corporation, also kno ...

in 1936 before spreading to other cities and towns. Their members were mainly drawn from local middle-class businessmen opposed to the introduction of what they saw as municipal

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

and Labour control. They dominated Scottish local politics for almost 50 years and as late as

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

Edinburgh Corporation was made up of 21 Progressives, nine Conservatives, 33 Labour and five Liberals. However, by the end of the 1970s they had completely disappeared as the entry of

Scottish National Party The Scottish National Party (SNP; ) is a Scottish nationalist and social democratic party. The party holds 61 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament, and holds 9 out of the 57 Scottish seats in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, ...

, Liberal and

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

candidates into local politics supplanted their role of opposing Labour.

References

Defunct political parties in Scotland History of local government in Scotland 20th century in Scotland Scottish Conservatives Scottish Liberal Party {{UK-party-stub