Stirling (Scottish Parliament constituency)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

**Stirling**
Scottish Parliament county constituency

Stirling shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region
Created:	1999
MSP:	Sylvia Jackson
Party:	Labour
Council area:	Stirling (part)

Stirling is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, it is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

1 Electoral region
2 Constituency boundaries and council area
3 Description of the constituency
4 Election results
5 Footnotes

[edit] Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the South of Scotland region are Dunfermline East, Dunfermline West, Fife Central, Fife North East, Kirkcaldy, Ochil, Perth and Tayside North.

The region covers all of the Clackmannanshire council area, all of the Fife council area, all of the Perth and Kinross council area, all of the Stirling council area and parts of the Angus council area.

[edit] Constituency boundaries and council area

The 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]. The Stirling Westminster constituency was slightly enlarged.

The Holyrood constituency of Stirling covers most of the Stirling council area. The rest of the council area, a south-eastern portion, is covered by the Mid Scotland and Fife constituency of Ochil, which also covers the Clackmannanshire council area and a south-eastern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area.

[edit] Description of the constituency

The constituency includes the city of Stirling itself, the ancient capital of Scotland with its historic castle. Stirling is close to the site of the battles of Bannockburn and Stirling Bridge and is associated, as a consequence, with William Wallace.

Stirling has a university, the University of Stirling, and the student vote is important. Also within the constiteucy are the towns of Dunblane, Crianlarich, Killearn, the tourist town of Callander, and the Trossachs. Agriculture and tourism are the main industries in the more rural part of the constituency.

Traditionally, there are Conservative votes found mainly in the rural areas, and strong Labour support found in the city of Stirling. This has resulted in close-fought battles between the two parties. However, in recent years, Westminster and Holyrood constituencies have been held by Labour.

[edit] Election results

Scottish parliamentary election, 1999: Stirling
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sylvia Jackson	13,533	37.80	N/A
	Scottish National Party	Annabelle Ewing	9,522	26.68	N/A
	Conservative	Brian Monteith	9,158	25.58	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Iain MacFarlane	3,407	9.52	N/A
	Independent	Simon Kilgour	155	0.43	N/A
Majority			3,981	11.12	N/A
Turnout			35,805
	Labour hold		Swing	N/A

Scottish parliamentary election, 2003: Stirling
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sylvia Jackson	10,661	36.0	-2.0
	Conservative	Brian Monteith	7,781	26.2	+0.6
	Scottish National Party	Bruce Crawford	5,645	19.0	-7.8
	Liberal Democrats	Kenyon Wright	3,432	11.6	+2.0
	Scottish Socialist	Margaret Stewart	1,486	5.0	+5.0
	Scottish People's Alliance	Keith Harding	642	2.2	+2.2
Majority			2,880	9.7
Turnout			29,647	56.9
	Labour hold		Swing	-2.0