| Ross, Skye and Lochaber | |
|---|---|
| County constituency | |
| for the House of Commons | |
Boundary of Ross, Skye and Lochaber in Scotland. |
|
| Subdivisions of Scotland | Highland |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | |
| Member of Parliament | Charles Kennedy (Liberal Democrat) |
| Created from | Ross, Skye & Inverness West and Inverness East, Nairn & Lochaber |
| Overlaps | |
| European Parliament constituency | Scotland |
Ross, Skye and Lochaber is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
The constituency covers a central portion of the Highland council area, and at 12,000 square kilometres (4,600 sq mi), it is the largest Parliament constituency area-wise in Britain.[1] It is currently represented by former Liberal Democrat leader Charles Kennedy.
Contents |
The constituency was created in 2005 by merging an area from Ross, Skye and Inverness West with an area from Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber. Most of the rest of Ross, Skye and Inverness West was merged with the rest of Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber to form Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey. A small area of Ross, Skye and Inverness West was merged into Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
For representation in the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) the area of the Westminster constituency is divided between Ross, Skye and Inverness West (the Holyrood constituency) and Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber (the Holyrood constituency).
The Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency is one of three Westminster constituencies covering the Highland council area, the other two being Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey and Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross. Ross, Skye and Lochaber covers a central portion of the council area, with Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey to its south and east and Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross to its north. Ross, Skye and Lochaber includes the Black Isle on the east coast of Scotland and, in the west, the Hebidean island of Skye.
When created in 2005, the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency covered 26 out of the 80 wards of the council area: 11 wards (Avoch and Fortrose, Black Isle North, Conon and Maryburgh, Dingwall North, Dingwall South, Gairloch, Knockbain and Killearnan, Lochbroom, Lochcarron, Muir of Ord and Strathpeffer and Strathconon) out of the 18 wards of the Ross and Cromarty committee area , all of the six wards of the Skye and Lochalsh area committee, all of the eight wards of the Lochaber committee area and one ward (Beauly and Strathglass) out of the 23 wards of the Inverness area committee.
Ward boundaries were redrawn again in 2007, and the management areas were abolished in favour of three new corporate management areas. The new areas consist of groups of the new wards, and boundaries are similar to those of the Westminster constituencies, as created in 2005. Two areas, the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross area and the Ross, Skye and Lochaber area, have the names of Westminster constituencies. The name of the third area, the Inverness, Nairn, and Badenoch and Strathspey area, is very similar to that of the third constituency.
| Election | Member [2] | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Charles Kennedy | Liberal Democrat | |
| General Election 2010: Ross, Skye and Lochaber[3] | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrat | Charles Kennedy | 18,335 | 52.6 | -6.1 | |
| Labour | John McKendrick | 5,265 | 15.1 | +0.2 | |
| SNP | Alasdair Stephen[4] | 5,263 | 15.1 | +5.5 | |
| Conservative | Donald Cameron | 4,260 | 12.2 | +2.2 | |
| Scottish Green | Eleanor Scott | 777 | 2.2 | -1.1 | |
| UKIP | Philip Anderson | 659 | 1.9 | +0.4 | |
| Independent | Ronnie Campbell | 279 | 0.8 | +0.8 | |
| Majority | 13,070 | 37.5 | |||
| Turnout | 34,838 | 67.2 | +2.6 | ||
| Liberal Democrat hold | Swing | -3.1% | |||
| General Election 2005: Ross, Skye and Lochaber | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
| Liberal Democrat | Charles Kennedy | 19,100 | 58.7 | +14.4 | |
| Labour | Christine Conniff | 4,851 | 14.9 | -8.1 | |
| Conservative | John Hodgson | 3,275 | 10.1 | -0.2 | |
| SNP | Mhairi Will | 3,119 | 9.6 | -8.0 | |
| Scottish Green | David Jardine | 1,097 | 3.4 | ||
| UKIP | Philip Anderson | 500 | 1.5 | +0.6 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Anne Macleod | 412 | 1.3 | -0.7 | |
| Independent | Morris Grant | 184 | 0.6 | ||
| Majority | 14,249 | 43.8 | |||
| Turnout | 32,538 | 64.4 | +2.1 | ||
| Liberal Democrat hold | Swing | +11.2 | |||
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