Caithness,_Sutherland_and_Easter_Ross_(UK_Parliament_constituency)
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross (UK Parliament constituency)
Parliamentary constituency in the United Kingdom, 1997 onwards
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster). It is the most northerly constituency on the British mainland. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.
| Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross | |
|---|---|
| County constituency for the House of Commons | |
Boundary of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross in Scotland | |
| County | Highland |
| Major settlements | Thurso, Wick, Alness, Tain |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1997 Redrawn 2005 |
| Member of Parliament | Jamie Stone (Liberal Democrats) |
| Created from | Caithness & Sutherland and Ross, Cromarty & Skye |
Since the 2017 general election, the constituency has been represented by Jamie Stone of the Liberal Democrats.[1]
1997–2005: Caithness District, Sutherland District, and the Ross and Cromarty District electoral divisions of Easter Ross, Invergordon, and Tain.
2005–present: The Highland Council wards of Alness and Ardross, Brora, Caithness Central, Caithness North East, Caithness North West, Caithness South East, Dornoch Firth, Ferindonald, Golspie and Rogart, Invergordon, Pulteneytown, Rosskeen and Saltburn, Seaboard, Sutherland Central, Sutherland North West, Tain East, Tain West, Thurso Central, Thurso East, Thurso West, Tongue and Farr, Wick, and Wick West.
The constituency was created in 1997 by merging Caithness and Sutherland with an area from Ross, Cromarty and Skye which was abolished.
In 2005 the Westminster constituency was enlarged slightly, to include a small area from Ross, Skye and Inverness West. The rest of the latter was divided between two new constituencies, Ross, Skye and Lochaber and Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey.
It is also the second-largest UK constituency by area, behind Ross, Skye and Lochaber.
Local government area
Since it was created in 1997 the constituency has been one of three covering the Highland council area. Since 2005 the other two have been Ross, Skye and Lochaber and Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey. From 1997 to 2005 the other constituencies of the council area were Ross, Skye and Inverness West and Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber. Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross is the most northerly of the constituencies, and it now has the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency on its southern boundary.
As enlarged in 2005, the Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency covered 23 out of the 80 wards of the council area: all ten wards of the Caithness area committee, all six wards of the Sutherland area committee and seven (Alness and Ardross, Invergordon, Ferindonald, Rosskeen and Saltburn, Seaboard, Tain East and Tain West) out of the 18 wards of the Ross and Cromarty 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 defined 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.
Scottish Parliament
In 1999 a Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) constituency was created with the name and boundaries of the Westminster constituency.
At Holyrood the area of the Westminster constituency is represented by an even larger constituency, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross.
| Election | Member[2] | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Robert Maclennan | Liberal Democrats | |
| 2001 | John Thurso | Liberal Democrats | |
| 2015 | Paul Monaghan | SNP | |
| 2017 | Jamie Stone | Liberal Democrats | |
Elections in the 2020s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Lucy Beattie[3] | ||||
| Reform UK | Sandra Skinner[4] | ||||
| Liberal Democrats | Jamie Stone[5] | ||||
| Scottish Green | Anne Thomas[6] | ||||
Elections in the 2010s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Jamie Stone | 11,705 | 37.2 | +1.4 | |
| SNP | Karl Rosie | 11,501 | 36.6 | +7.4 | |
| Conservative | Andrew Sinclair | 5,176 | 16.5 | −6.1 | |
| Labour | Cheryl McDonald | 1,936 | 6.2 | −6.2 | |
| Brexit Party | Sandra Skinner | 1,139 | 3.6 | New | |
| Majority | 204 | 0.6 | −6.0 | ||
| Turnout | 31,457 | 67.0 | +1.1 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | −3.0 | |||
This was the smallest Liberal Democrat majority at the 2019 general election.[9]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Jamie Stone | 11,061 | 35.8 | +0.7 | |
| SNP | Paul Monaghan | 9,017 | 29.2 | –17.1 | |
| Conservative | Struan Mackie | 6,990 | 22.6 | +15.8 | |
| Labour | Olivia Bell | 3,833 | 12.4 | +3.4 | |
| Majority | 2,044 | 6.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 30,901 | 65.9 | –6.0 | ||
| Liberal Democrats gain from SNP | Swing | +8.9 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Paul Monaghan | 15,831 | 46.3 | +27.1 | |
| Liberal Democrats | John Thurso | 11,987 | 35.1 | −6.3 | |
| Labour | John Erskine | 3,061 | 9.0 | −15.6 | |
| Conservative | Alastair Graham | 2,326 | 6.8 | −6.2 | |
| UKIP | Annie Murray | 981 | 2.9 | New | |
| Majority | 3,844 | 11.2 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 34,186 | 71.9 | +11.0 | ||
| SNP gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | +16.7 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | John Thurso | 11,907 | 41.4 | −9.1 | |
| Labour | John Mackay | 7,081 | 24.6 | +3.7 | |
| SNP | Jean Urquhart | 5,516 | 19.2 | +5.9 | |
| Conservative | Alastair Graham | 3,744 | 13.0 | +2.8 | |
| Independent | Gordon Campbell | 520 | 1.8 | −1.3 | |
| Majority | 4,826 | 16.8 | −13.8 | ||
| Turnout | 28,768 | 60.9 | +1.8 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | −6.4 | |||
Elections in the 2000s
Fourth Periodic Review boundaries
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | John Thurso | 13,957 | 50.5 | +11.9 | |
| Labour | Alan Jamieson | 5,789 | 20.9 | −3.4 | |
| SNP | Karen Shirron | 3,686 | 13.3 | −7.0 | |
| Conservative | Angus Ross | 2,835 | 10.2 | −3.3 | |
| Independent | Gordon Campbell | 848 | 3.1 | +2.3 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Luke Ivory | 548 | 2.0 | −0.2 | |
| Majority | 8,168 | 29.6 | +18.5 | ||
| Turnout | 27,663 | 59.1 | −2.0 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | +7.6 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | John Thurso | 9,041 | 36.4 | +0.8 | |
| Labour | Michael Meighan | 6,297 | 25.3 | −2.5 | |
| SNP | John MacAdam | 5,273 | 21.2 | −1.8 | |
| Conservative | Robert Rowantree | 3,513 | 14.1 | +3.3 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Karn Mabon | 544 | 2.2 | New | |
| Independent | Gordon Campbell | 199 | 0.8 | New | |
| Majority | 2,744 | 11.1 | +3.3 | ||
| Turnout | 24,867 | 60.2 | −10.0 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | +1.6 | |||
Elections in the 1990s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Robert Maclennan | 10,381 | 35.6 | -8.8 | |
| Labour | James Hendry | 8,122 | 27.8 | +12.2 | |
| SNP | Euan Harper | 6,710 | 23.0 | +4.6 | |
| Conservative | Tom Miers | 3,148 | 10.8 | -10.8 | |
| Referendum | Carolyn Ryder | 369 | 1.3 | New | |
| Scottish Green | John Martin | 230 | 0.8 | New | |
| UKIP | Martin Carr | 212 | 0.7 | New | |
| Majority | 2,259 | 7.8 | |||
| Turnout | 29,172 | 70.2 | |||
| Liberal Democrats win (new seat) | |||||
- "Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 23 December 2019.
- "Lucy Beattie selected by SNP to fight for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross seat at next Westminster election". The Northern Times. Retrieved 23 April 2024.
- "Candidates confirmed for UK Parliamentary general election 2019". The Highland Council. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- "Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- "Commons Briefing Paper 8749. General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). London: House of Commons Library. 28 January 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 18 November 2021. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
- Butlin, Heather (24 July 2017). "UK Parliamentary General Election". The Highland Council.
- "Commons Briefing Paper 7979. General Election 2017: results and analysis" (PDF) (Second ed.). House of Commons Library. 29 January 2019 [7 April 2018]. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 November 2019.
- MacNeill, Alison. "Caithness Sutherland and Easter Ross constituency - UK Parliamentary General Election result". www.highland.gov.uk.
- "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.