Perth and North Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Coordinates: 56°23′42″N 3°26′06″W / 56.395°N 3.435°W / 56.395; -3.435

Perth and North Perthshire is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Boundaries

Council areas grouped by the Fifth Periodical Review[1]

Clackmannanshire and Perth and Kinross

As a result of the Fifth Periodical Review^[1] of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, the constituency was created to cover a northern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area, and first used in the 2005 general election. Ochil and South Perthshire was created, at the same time, to cover the rest of the Perth and Kinross council area and the Clackmannanshire council area.

Prior to the 2005 election, the council areas had been covered by the Angus, Ochil, Perth and North Tayside constituencies. The Perth constituency was entirely within the Perth and Kinross council area, the North Tayside constituency covered a northern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area and a northern portion of the Angus council area, the Angus constituency covered a small southeastern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area, a southern portion of the Angus council area, and northern portions of the Dundee City council area, and the Ochil constituency covered another southeastern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area, the whole of the Clackmannanshire council area and a southeastern portion of the Stirling council area.

Perth and North Perthshire replaced part of the North Tayside constituency and part of the Perth constituency.

Constituency profile

The Perth and North Perthshire constituency stretches across the north of the Perth and Kinross local council area in Scotland. It is an affluent, predominantly rural seat with successful livestock and fruit-growing industries. Tourism also forms a significant part of the local economy. Towards the south of the constituency, around the River Tay, lies the city of Perth and its adjacent villages. Perth includes a mix of affluent middle-class suburbs to the south-west and more deprived areas around the north of the city.

Perth and North Perthshire is a historic battleground constituency between the Conservatives and the Scottish National Party. From the establishment of the Perth and East Perthshire constituency in 1950, the area traditionally returned MP's belonging to the Unionist Party (and subsequently MP's from the Conservative and Unionist Party after the two parties amalgamated in 1965).

The seat was one of eleven constituencies in Scotland to elect an SNP MP to Parliament at the 1974 October general election. With a rearrangement of UK Parliament constituencies in 1979, the constituency's successor seat of North Tayside went on to return Conservative candidate Bill Walker to Parliament until he was defeated by John Swinney of the SNP at the 1997 UK general election - from that point onwards the seat has returned MP's belonging to the SNP. The Conservatives narrowly missed out on gaining the Perth and North Perthshire constituency at the 2005 UK general election, with Conservative candidate Douglas Taylor coming behind Pete Wishart of the SNP by 1,521 votes. In subsequent elections Pete Wishart increased his majority substantially, taking the constituency with 9,641 votes ahead of the Conservatives in 2015. The Conservatives missed out on gaining the seat by just 21 votes at the 2017 general election, the third closest result in the United Kingdom after North East Fife and Kensington.^[2]

Members of Parliament

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

Perth and North Perthshire was the third most marginal result in the United Kingdom and second most marginal result in Scotland at the 2017 general election, with incumbent SNP MP Pete Wishart seeing his majority cut from 9,641 votes (17.8%) to just 21 votes (0.0%) ahead of the Conservatives.^[2]

Elections in the 2000s

Notes and references