The seat fell vacant when the constituency's Labour Member of Parliament (MP), Francis Patrick "Frank" McElhone (5 April 1929 – 22 September 1982) died.

He was then elected as MP for Glasgow Queen's Park, and held that seat until he died in office in 1982 at the age of 53.

He had, as an Independent Liberal candidate, stood in the Glasgow Central constituency, in a by-election on 29 June 1980.

John R. Kay, a draughtsman who had become the full-time Glasgow secretary of the Communist Party of Great Britain, was born in June 1926.

On the other hand, he argued that it was "a bad result for the Conservatives", but noted that the party "could really have expected little more in an area like Queen's Park."

He also speculated that the SNP's performance could "revive thoughts of devolution in the minds of some Labour politicians who have been keeping conspicuously quiet on the subject as of late.

"[3] another Glasgow newspaper, the Evening Times, reported that Labour's "majority was substantially bigger than party analysts had predicted.