Ross, Skye and Inverness West (UK Parliament constituency)

Ross, Skye and Inverness West
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland Highland
1997–2005
Number of members One
Replaced by Ross, Skye & Lochaber
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey
Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross
Created from Ross, Cromarty & Skye
Inverness, Nairn & Lochaber

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 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 in 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.

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.

Member of Parliament

Charles 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.

Elections of the 2000s

General Election 2001: Ross, Skye and Inverness West[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy 18,832 54.1 +15.4
Labour Donald Finlayson Crichton 5,880 16.9 −11.8
SNP Jean Urquhart 4,901 14.1 −5.5
Conservative Angus Wallace Laing 3,096 8.9 −2.0
Scottish Green Eleanor Scott 699 2.0 +1.2
Scottish Socialist Stuart Leslie Topp 683 2.0 N/A
UKIP Philip Andrew Anderson 456 1.3 N/A
Countryside Party James Crawford 265 0.8 N/A
Majority 12,952 37.2
Turnout 34,812 61.6 −10.2
Liberal Democrat hold Swing

Elections of the 1990s

General Election 1997: Ross, Skye and Inverness West[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrat Charles Kennedy 15,472 38.7 N/A
Labour Donnie Munro 11,453 28.7 N/A
SNP Margaret Paterson 7,821 19.6 N/A
Conservative Mary MacLeod 4,368 10.9 N/A
Referendum Les Durance 535 1.3 N/A
Scottish Green Alan Hopkins 306 0.8 N/A
Majority 4,019 10.1 N/A
Turnout 39,955 71.6 N/A
Liberal Democrat win (new seat)

References

  1. 1 2 "Ross Skye & Inverness West". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 3 July 2010.
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