Aberdeenshire West (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Aberdeenshire West
Constituency
High Street, Banchory
Country Scotland
County Aberdeenshire
Area[1]
 • Total 3,497 km2 (1,350 sq mi)
Population [2]
 • Total 77,348
 • Density 22/km2 (57/sq mi)
Aberdeenshire West
county constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Aberdeenshire West shown within the North East Scotland electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created 2011
Party Scottish Conservative Party
MSP Alexander Burnett
Council area Aberdeenshire
Created from Gordon,
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine

Aberdeenshire West is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of ten constituencies in the North East Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to ten constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Electoral region

The other nine constituencies of the North East Scotland region are Aberdeen Central, Aberdeen Donside, Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Aberdeenshire East, Angus North and Mearns, Angus South, Banffshire and Buchan Coast, Dundee City East and Dundee City West.

The region covers all of the Aberdeen City council area, the Aberdeenshire council area, the Angus council area, the Dundee City council area and part of the Moray council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

Aberdeenshire is represented by five constituencies in the Scottish Parliament: Aberdeen South and North Kincardine, Aberdeenshire East, Aberdeenshire West, Angus North and Mearns and Banffshire and Buchan Coast.

The electoral wards used in the creation of Aberdeenshire West are:

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Constituency profile

The Aberdeenshire West constituency is an affluent rural constituency located along the western side of the Aberdeenshire council area. To the south of the constituency is Royal Deeside, located along the Valleys of the River Dee, which includes the affluent towns of Aboyne and Banchory and their surrounding rural areas. Along the western end of Royal Deeside is the Cairngorms National Park, covering Queen Elizabeth II's estate of Balmoral Castle. North-east of Deeside is the town of Westhill, which functions as a suburb to the city of Aberdeen. North of here, along the Valleys of the River Don in the area known as "Gordon", is Huntly, home to the Gordon Highlanders, and the former Royal Burgh of Kintore, which has developed into an Aberdonian suburb, with a near doubling of the town's population throughout the 2000s. The constituency is among the least deprived parts of Scotland, with slight deprivation in the south-west of Huntly, and high rates of affluence elsewhere.[3]

Oil and agriculture form a significant part of the local economy, with tourist interests around Royal Deeside. The constituency also covers the Royal Lochnagar distillery located to the west of Royal Deeside.

Voting patterns

The Aberdeenshire West constituency was formed in 2011 from the former constituencies of Gordon and West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine. From the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999 until 2007 these constituencies were both represented by the Liberal Democrats. In 2007, Gordon was gained by the SNP's Alex Salmond, who served as the First Minister of Scotland from 2007 until 2014.

In the 2012 local council election, the Conservative vote in areas covered by the Aberdeenshire West constituency tended to be strongest around Royal Deeside, covering the villages of Aboyne, Ballater and Banchory, and to a lesser extent around Westhill and its surrounding areas. The rural region of Garioch, situated along the River Don and its tributary streams, tended to be better for the SNP and Liberal Democrats.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

As Gordon:

ElectionMemberParty
1999 Nora Radcliffe Scottish Liberal Democrats
2003
2007 Alex Salmond Scottish National Party
2011 constituency abolished

As West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine:

ElectionMemberParty
1999 Mike Rumbles Scottish Liberal Democrats
2003
2007
2011 constituency abolished

As Aberdeenshire West:

ElectionMemberParty
2011 Dennis Robertson Scottish National Party
2016 Alexander Burnett Scottish Conservative Party

Election results

Scottish Parliament Election 2016: Aberdeenshire West[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Conservative Alexander Burnett 13,400 38.1 +17.1
SNP Dennis Robertson 12,500 35.5 -7.0
Liberal Democrats Mike Rumbles 7,262 20.6 -7.6
Labour Sarah Duncan 2,036 5.8 -2.4
Majority 900 2.6
Turnout 35,198 59.1
Conservative gain from SNP Swing +12.0
Scottish Parliament election, 2011: Aberdeenshire West[5][6]
Notes:

Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party votes % ±%
SNP Dennis Robertson 12,186 42.55 +14.17 13,528 47.19
Liberal Democrats Red XN Mike Rumbles 8,074 28.20 -12.72 4,375 15.26
Conservative Nanette Milne 6,027 21.05 -3.46 5,666 19.76
Labour Jean Morrison 2,349 8.20 +2.38 2,267 7.91
Scottish Green   1,494 5.21
Scottish Senior Citizens   358 1.25
UKIP   324 1.13
Scottish Christian   202 0.71
BNP   151 0.53
Independent - John Cox 70 0.24
National Front   63 0.22
Scottish Socialist   59 0.21
Socialist Labour   53 0.19
Independent - David Henderson 31 0.11
Independent - Andrew McBride 14 0.05
Solidarity   8 0.03
Angus Independents Representatives 6 0.02
Informal votes 113 77
Total Valid votes 28,636 28,669
SNP gain from Liberal Democrats Majority 4,112 14.36
Scottish Parliament election, 2007 Notional Result: Aberdeenshire West
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrats 12,332 40.9
SNP 8,553 28.4
Conservative 7,387 24.5
Labour 1,753 5.8
Others 111 0.4
Majority 3,779 12.5
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
Scottish Parliament election, 2007: West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrats Mike Rumbles 14,314 41.1 -4.9
SNP Dennis Robertson 9,144 26.3 +12.1
Conservative Stewart Whyte 8,604 24.7 -4.2
Labour James Noble 2,761 7.9 -0.7
Majority 5,170 14.8
Turnout 34,823 53.4 +2.8
Liberal Democrats hold Swing

References

  1. ↑ "statistics.gov.scot". statistics.gov.scot.
  2. ↑ "Aberdeenshire West". statistics.gov.scot.
  3. ↑ "SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) 2016".
  4. ↑ "Aberdeenshire West - Scottish Parliament constituency - Election 2016" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  5. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-07-27. Retrieved 2011-05-14.
  6. ↑ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2011-05-14.

See also

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.