Ross, Skye and Inverness West (Scottish Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Scottish Parliament county constituency | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Ross, Skye and Inverness West shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region |
|
| Created: | 1999 |
| MSP: | John Farquhar Munro |
| Party: | Liberal Democrats |
| Council area: | Highland (part) |
Ross, Skye and Inverness West 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.
Ross, Skye and Inverness West covers a central portion of the Highland council area.
Contents |
[edit] Electoral region
The other seven constituencies of the Highlands and Islands electoral region are Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Moray, Orkney, 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 Ross, Skye and Inverness West 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 three constituencies: the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Westminster constituency, the Ross, Skye and Lochaber Westminster constituency and the Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Westminster constituency.
[edit] Council area
Ross, Skye and Inverness West is one of three Holyrood constituencies covering the Highland council area. The other two are Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross and Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber. Ross, Skye and Inverness West covers a central portion of the council area, with Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross to the north and Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber to the south. All three are within the Highlands and Islands electoral region.
In terms of Highland Council committee areas established in 1999, the Ross, Skye and Inverness West constituency covers most of the Ross and Crommarty committee area, all of the Skye and Lochalsh committee area and part (generally northwest of Loch Ness and the River Ness) of the Inverness 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: John Farquhar Munro, Liberal Democrats
[edit] Election results
| Scottish parliamentary election, 2003: Ross, Skye and Inverness West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Farquhar Munro | 12495 | 43.1 | +10.2 | |
| Scottish National Party | David Thomson | 5647 | 19.5 | -3.1 | |
| Labour | Maureen MacMillan | 5464 | 18.9 | -9.7 | |
| Conservative | Jamie McGrigor | 3772 | 13.0 | +3.6 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Anne McLeod | 1593 | 5.5 | +5.5 | |
| Majority | 6848 | 23.6 | |||
| Turnout | 28971 | 52 | |||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | ||||
| Scottish parliamentary election, 1999: Ross, Skye and Inverness West | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Farquhar Munro | 11652 | 32.9 | N/A | |
| Labour | Donnie Munro | 10113 | 28.6 | N/A | |
| Scottish National Party | Jim Mather | 7997 | 22.6 | N/A | |
| Conservative | John Scott | 3351 | 9.5 | N/A | |
| Independent (politician) | William Douglas Briggs | 2302 | 6.5 | N/A | |
| Majority | 1539 | 4.3 | |||
| Turnout | 35415 | 62.8 | |||
