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Ross, Skye and Lochaber (UK Parliament constituency)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Ross, Skye and Lochaber County constituency |
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| Ross, Skye and Lochaber shown within Scotland | |
| Created: | 2005 |
| MP: | Charles Kennedy |
| Party: | Liberal Democrats |
| Type: | House of Commons |
| Council areas: | Highland |
| EP 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 miles, by area it is the largest UK Parliament constituency.
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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.
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| Highland council area Shown as one of the council areas of Scotland |
When the Ross, Skye and Lochaber constituency was created, in 2005, the Highland Council had eight management areas, Badenoch and Strathspey, Caithness, Inverness, Lochaber, Nairn, Ross and Cromarty, Skye and Lochalsh and Sutherland, and each was represented by an area committee. The management area and area committee structure dated from 1996, when the council itself had been creaated. The management areas had the boundaries of the districts of the Highland region, as abolished in 1996. In 1999 however, ward boundaries were redrawn but management areas were unaltered, and therefore area committees ceased to represent exactly the areas for which they were named and for which they took decisions.
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, this year, 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 consituencies, 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.
The most recent general election of the Highland Council was this year, 2007, and its current political commposition is as follows:
- 35 independent councillors
- 21 Liberal Democrat councillors
- 17 Scottish National Party councillors
- 7 Labour Party councillors
The current convener of the council is an independent councillor and the current vice-convener is a Scottish National Party councillor.[1]
- Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrat (2005–present) Previously MP for Ross, Skye and Inverness West and Ross, Cromarty and Skye
- Note: The constituency was new in 2005 and +/- percentages are notional.
| General Election 2005: Ross, Skye and Lochaber | |||||
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| 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 | |
| Scottish National Party | Mhairi Will | 3,119 | 9.6 | -8.0 | |
| Scottish Green | David Jardine | 1,097 | 3.4 | ||
| UK Independence | 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 | |||