Ross, Skye and Inverness West (UK Parliament constituency)

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Ross, Skye and Inverness West
County constituency
Created: 1997
Abolished: 2005
Type: House of Commons

Ross, Skye and Inverness West was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2005. The constituency elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

The constituency was formed by merging together most of the former Ross, Cromarty and Skye constituency (that constituency minus an Easter Ross area) with part of the former Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber constituency.

When abolished 2005 much of the area of the constituency became part of the then new Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency. Most of the rest went to Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey while a tiny portion joined Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross .

There is also a Ross, Skye and Inverness West constituency of the Scottish Parliament, which was created in 1999 with the same boundaries as the former House of Commons constituency.

[edit] Council area

See also Politics of the Highland council area

The constituency area was entirely within the Highland unitary council area. In terms of Highland Council committee areas it covered Ross and Cromarty minus an Easter Ross area, all of Skye and Lochalsh, and part of Inverness.

[edit] Member of Parliament

Charles Peter Kennedy, Liberal Democrat, was elected in 1997 and re-elected in 2001.

When the constituency was abolished in 2005 Charles Kennedy was elected as the MP for Ross, Skye and Lochaber.

[edit] Election results

General Election 2001: Ross, Skye and Inverness West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Charles Kennedy 18,832 54.1 +15.4
Labour Donald Crichton 5,880 16.9 -11.8
Scottish National Party Jean Urquhart 4,901 14.1 -5.5
Conservative Angus Laing 3,096 8.9 -2.0
Scottish Green Eleanor Scott 699 2.0 +1.2
Scottish Socialist Stuart Topp 683 2.0 N/A
UK Independence Philip Anderson 456 1.3 N/A
Countryside Party (UK) James Crawford 265 0.8 N/A
Majority 12,952
Turnout 61.6 -10.2
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
General Election 1997: Ross, Skye and Inverness West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Charles Kennedy 15,472 38.7 N/A
Labour Donnie Munro 11,453 28.7 N/A
Scottish National Party Margaret Paterson 7,821 19.6 N/A
Conservative Mary MacLeod 4,368 10.9 N/A
Referendum Party L. Durance 535 1.3 N/A
Scottish Green A. Hopkins 306 0.8 N/A
Majority 4,019 N/A
Turnout 71.8 N/A
Liberal Democrats hold Swing N/A