Western Isles (Scottish Parliament constituency)
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| Western Isles Scottish Parliament county constituency |
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.svg/220px-Highlands_and_Islands_(Scottish_Parliament_electoral_region).svg.png) |
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| Western Isles shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region and the region shown within Scotland |
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| Created: | 1999 |
| MSP: | Alasdair Allan |
| Party: | Scottish National Party |
| Council area: | Na h-Eileanan Siar |
The Western Isles 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.
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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, Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber, Moray, Orkney, Ross, Skye and Inverness West and Shetland.
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 Western Isles constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, the name of the Westminster (House of Commons) constituency was changed to Na h-Eileanan an Iar.
The Holyrood constituency covers Na h-Eileanan Siar (the Western Isles council area).
Geographically, the constituency consists of the Outer Hebidean islands. The major islands include Lewis and Harris, North Uist, Benbecula, South Uist and Barra. Because of the remoteness of the constituency from the rest of Scotland, and the difficulties involved in getting from island to island, there is a significantly smaller electorate than in the mainland Scottish Parliament constituencies.[1].
[edit] Member of the Scottish Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Alasdair Morrison | Labour | |
| 2003 | |||
| 2007 | Alasdair Allan | Scottish National Party | |
[edit] Election results
| Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Western Isles | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Scottish National Party | Alasdair Allan | 6,354 | 46.6 | +5.4 | |
| Labour | Alasdair Morrison | 5,667 | 41.6 | -2.7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Ruaraidh Ferguson | 852 | 6.3 | +2.2 | |
| Conservative | Dave Petrie | 752 | 5.5 | +0.6 | |
| Majority | 687 | 5.0 | |||
| Turnout | 13,625 | 61.8 | +3.4 | ||
| Scottish National Party gain from Labour | Swing | 5.4 | |||
| Scottish Parliament Election 2003: Western Isles | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Alasdair Morrison | 5,825 | 47.03 | ||
| Scottish National Party | Alasdair Nicholson | 5,105 | 41.21 | ||
| Conservative | Frank Warren | 612 | 4.94 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | Conor Snowden | 498 | 4.02 | ||
| Scottish Socialist | Joanne Telfer | 347 | 2.80 | ||
| Majority | 720 | 5.81 | |||
| Turnout | 12,387 | 58.4 | |||
| Labour hold | Swing | ||||
| Scottish Parliament Election 1999: Western Isles | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Labour | Alasdair Morrison | 7,248 | 51.94 | ||
| Scottish National Party | Alasdair Nicholson | 5,155 | 36.94 | ||
| Conservative | Jamie McGrigor | 1,095 | 7.85 | ||
| Liberal Democrats | John Horne | 456 | 3.27 | ||
| Scottish Socialist | Joanne Telfer | 347 | |||
| Majority | 2,093 | 15.00 | |||
| Turnout | |||||
