Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber (Scottish Parliament constituency)
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| Scottish Parliament county constituency | |
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| Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region |
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| Created: | 1999 |
| MSP: | Fergus Ewing |
| Party: | Scottish National Party |
| Council area: | Highland (part) |
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber covers a southern portion of the Highland council area.
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[edit] Electoral region
The other seven constituencies of the Highlands and Islands electoral region are Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Moray, Orkney, Ross, Skye and Inverness West, Shetland and the Western Isles.
The region covers most of Argyll and Bute council area, all of the Highland council area, most of the Moray council area, all of the Orkney council area, all of the Shetland council area and all of Na h-Eileanan Siar.
[edit] Constituency boundaries
The Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of a pre-existing Westminster (House of Commons) constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster constituencies were generally replaced with new larger constituencies[1]. For representation at Westminster, the area of the Holyrood constituency is now divided between two constituencies: the Ross, Skye and Lochaber Westminster constituency and the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Westminster constituency.
[edit] Council area
Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber is the most southerly of three Holyrood constituencies covering the Highland council area. The other two are Ross, Skye and Inverness West and Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber has Ross, Skye and Inverness West on its northern boundary. Inverness East, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is further north. All three constituencies are within the Highlands and Islands electoral region.
In terms of Highland Council committee areas established in 1999, the Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber constituency covers part of the Inverness committee area (generally southeast of Loch Ness and the River Ness), all of the Nairn committee area, all of the Lochaber committee area and all of the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area.
Ward boundaries will change in April 2007, but these changes will not affect constituency boundaries. At the same time, the council will create three new operational management areas, with boundaries similar to but not identical to Westminster constituency boundaries. The new areas are called, in some contexts, North Highland, Mid and West Highland, and East Highland. In other contexts they are known, perhaps confusingly, by the names of the Westminster consituencies.
[edit] Member of the Scottish Parliament
- 1999 - present: Fergus Ewing, Scottish National Party
[edit] Election results
| Scottish parliamentary election, 2003: Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Scottish National Party | Fergus Ewing | 10764 | 30.9 | -2.1 | |
| Labour | Rhoda Grant | 9718 | 27.9 | -4.1 | |
| Conservative | Mary Scanlon | 6205 | 17.8 | +3.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Patsy Kenton | 5622 | 16.2 | -4.2 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Steven Arnott | 1661 | 4.8 | +4.8 | |
| Independent (politician) | Thomas Lamont | 825 | 2.4 | +2.4 | |
| Majority | 1046 | 3.0 | +1.9 | ||
| Turnout | 34795 | 52.5 | -10.0 | ||
| Scottish National Party hold | Swing | ||||
| Scottish parliamentary election, 1999: Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Scottish National Party | Fergus Ewing | 13825 | 33.1 | N/A | |
| Labour | Joan Aitken | 13384 | 32.0 | N/A | |
| Liberal Democrats | Donnie Fraser | 8508 | 20.3 | N/A | |
| Conservative | Mary Scanlon | 6107 | 14.6 | N/A | |
| Majority | 441 | 1.1 | |||
| Turnout | 41824 | 62.5 | |||
