Banff and Buchan (UK Parliament constituency)

For the Scottish Parliament constituency, see Banff and Buchan (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Coordinates: 57°28′19″N 2°27′04″W / 57.472°N 2.451°W / 57.472; -2.451

Banff and Buchan
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Banff and Buchan in Scotland.
Current constituency
Created	1983
Member of parliament	Eilidh Whiteford (SNP)
Created from	Aberdeenshire East and Banffshire^[1]
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Scotland

Banff and Buchan is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the north-east of Scotland within the Aberdeenshire council area. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.

The seat has been held by the Scottish National Party since 1987, with former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond representing the seat until 2010. In 2010, Eilidh Whiteford succeeded Salmond as the constituency's MP; however, the SNP vote share fell below 50% for the first time since 1992, due to a strong challenge by the Conservative Party.

In the 2015 election the SNP achieved its best ever result in the constituency, with Whiteford winning over 60% of the vote and increasing her majority to 31.5%.

A mostly rural constituency, it takes in the towns of Fraserburgh, Peterhead and Turriff, and the main industries are fishing and tourism.^[2]

Boundaries

1983-1997: Banff and Buchan District (the electoral divisions of Banff and Portsoy, Deveron, Fraserburgh North, Fraserburgh South, Lower Deveron and Upper Ythan, Mid Buchan, Peterhead North, Peterhead South, and Ugie, Cruden and Boddam).

1997-2005: The Banff and Buchan District electoral divisions of Banff and Portsoy, Deveron, Fraserburgh North, Fraserburgh South, Mid Buchan, Peterhead North, Peterhead South, and Ugie, Cruden and Boddam.

2005-present: The Aberdeenshire Council wards of Durn, Banff West and Boyndie, Banff, Aberchirder, Macduff, Gamrie King Edward, Buchan North, Fraserburgh West, Fraserburgh North, Fraserburgh East, Fraserburgh South, Buchan North East, South Buchan, Central Buchan, Lonmay and St Fergus, Mintlaw Old Deer, Mintlaw Longside, Boddam Inverugie, Blackhouse, Buchanhaven, Peterhead Central Roanheads, Clerkhill, Dales Towerhill, Cruden, Turriff West, Turriff East, Upper Ythan, and Fyvie Methlick.

As created in 1983, the constituency replaced part of East Aberdeenshire and part of Banffshire.

New boundaries were used for the 2005 general election, as recommended by the Fifth Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland,^[3] and the constituency is now one of five covering the Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City council areas. The Banff and Buchan constituency is entirely within the Aberdeenshire area, covering a northern portion of it. To the south, Gordon includes part of the Aberdeenshire area and part of the Aberdeen City area. Further south, West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine is entirlely within the Aberdeenshire area and Aberdeen North and Aberdeen South are entirely within the Aberdeen City area.

The Banff and Buchan constituency continues to include the port towns of Peterhead and Fraserburgh. It also now includes Turriff, which was formerly within the Gordon constituency.

Members of Parliament

	Member	Party
1983	Albert McQuarrie	Conservative
1987	Alex Salmond	SNP
2010	Eilidh Whiteford	SNP

Alex Salmond was the MP for Banff and Buchan from 1987 to 2010. He also represented the coterminous Scottish Parliament constituency between 1999 and 2001. He was later re-elected to Holyrood for the neighbouring seat of Gordon, and then for the re-drawn Aberdeenshire East seat, which he still represents. Salmond stood down at the 2010 general election so that he could focus on his jobs as an MSP and First Minister of Scotland, and was succeeded by Eilidh Whiteford.

Election results

Elections in the 2010s

General Election 2015: Banff and Buchan^[4]^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Eilidh Whiteford	27,487	60.2	+18.9
	Conservative	Alex Johnstone	13,148	28.8	−2.0
	Labour	Sumon Hoque¹	2,647	5.8	−8.2
	Liberal Democrat	David Evans	2,347	5.1	−6.2
Majority			14,339	31.4	+18.9
Turnout			45,629	66.5	+6.7
	SNP hold		Swing	+10.5

¹: After nominations were closed, Hoque was suspended from the Labour Party when he was charged with multiple driving offences.^[6]

General Election 2010: Banff and Buchan^[7]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Eilidh Whiteford	15,868	41.3	−9.9
	Conservative	Jimmy Buchan	11,841	30.8	+11.4
	Labour	Glen David Reynolds	5,382	14.0	+2.0
	Liberal Democrat	Galen Milne	4,365	11.3	−2.0
	BNP	Richard Payne	1,010	2.6	N/A
Majority			4,027	12.5
Turnout			38,466	59.8	+3.2
	SNP hold		Swing	−10.6

The swing of 10.6% to the Conservatives in Banff and Buchan was the largest swing in Scotland at the 2010 General Election.

Elections in the 2000s

General Election 2005: Banff and Buchan^[8]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	19,044	51.2	−3.1
	Conservative	Sandy Wallace	7,207	19.4	−0.8
	Liberal Democrat	Eleanor Anderson	4,952	13.3	+4.3
	Labour	Rami Okasha	4,476	12.0	−2.1
	Christian Vote	Victor James Ross	683	1.8	N/A
	UKIP	Kathleen Ritchie Kemp	442	1.2	+0.2
	Scottish Socialist	Steve Will	412	1.1	−0.3
Majority			11,837	31.8	−2.3
Turnout			37,216	56.6	+2.2
	SNP hold		Swing	−1.1

General Election 2001: Banff and Buchan^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	16,710	54.2	−1.5
	Conservative	Sandy Wallace	6,207	20.1	−3.7
	Labour	Ted Murray Harris	4,363	14.2	+2.3
	Liberal Democrat	Douglas Herbison	2,769	9.0	+3.0
	Scottish Socialist	Alice Janette Gilbertson Rowan	447	1.5	N/A
	UKIP	Eric Davidson	310	1.0	N/A
Majority			10,503	34.1	+2.1
Turnout			30,806	54.4	−14.3
	SNP hold		Swing	+1.1

Elections in the 1990s

General Election 1997: Banff and Buchan^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	22,409	55.8	+8.2
	Conservative	William Frain-Bell	9,564	23.8	−14.8
	Labour	Megan Harris	4,747	11.8	+3.6
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Derek Fletcher	2,398	6.0	+0.4
	Referendum	Alan Simpson Buchan	1,060	2.6	N/A
Majority			12,845	32.0	+23.1
Turnout			40,178	68.7	−2.5
	SNP hold		Swing	+11.5

General Election 1992: Banff and Buchan^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	21,954	47.5	+3.3
	Conservative	Sandy Philip Manson	17,846	38.6	−0.1
	Labour	Brian Robert Balcombe	3,803	8.2	+0.8
	Liberal Democrat	Rhona Cormack Kemp	2,588	5.6	−4.0
Majority			4,108	8.9	+3.3
Turnout			46,191	71.2	+0.4
	SNP hold		Swing	+1.7

Elections in the 1980s

General Election 1987: Banff and Buchan^[12]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Alex Salmond	19,462	44.3	+6.8
	Conservative	Albert McQuarrie	17,021	38.7	−1.0
	Social Democratic	George Milne Burness	4,211	9.6	−5.5
	Labour	James McFarlane Livie	3,281	7.5	−0.3
Majority			2,441	5.6
Turnout			43,975	70.8	+3.8
	SNP gain from Conservative		Swing	+3.9

General Election 1983: Banff and Buchan^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Albert McQuarrie	16,072	39.7	N/A
	SNP	Douglas Henderson	15,135	37.4	N/A
	Social Democratic	Edward Allport Needham	6,084	15.0	N/A
	Labour	Ian Fergus Ross Lloyd	3,150	7.8	N/A
Majority			937	2.3	N/A
Turnout			40,441	67.0	N/A
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)

↑ "'Banff and Buchan', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 10 March 2016.
↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/vote2001/results_constituencies/constituencies/024.stm
↑ Boundary Commission for Scotland website
↑ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
↑ http://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/elections/DeclarationofResult-BanffandBuchan.pdf 7Jul15
↑ http://news.stv.tv/north/318353-labour-candidate-sumon-hoque-appears-at-aberdeen-sheriff-court/
↑ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. 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.
↑ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
↑ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.

Constituencies in Scotland by Holding Party (59)

Scottish National Party (54)	Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie and Shotts Angus Argyll and Bute Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock Banff and Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East Dumfries and Galloway Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline and West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh South West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey Kilmarnock and Loudoun Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath Lanark and Hamilton East Linlithgow and East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell and Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire and Arran North East Fife Ochil and South Perthshire Paisley and Renfrewshire North Paisley and Renfrewshire South Perth and North Perthshire Ross, Skye and Lochaber Rutherglen and Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine West Dunbartonshire

Labour (1)	Edinburgh South

Conservative (1)	Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale

Liberal Democrat (1)	Orkney and Shetland

Independent (2)	Edinburgh West Glasgow East

Scotland European constituency: Scottish National Party (2) Labour (2) Conservative (1) UKIP (1)

Westminster constituencies of Scotland

1708 to 1832 1832 to 1868 1868 to 1885 1885 to 1918 1918 to 1950 1950 to 1955 1955 to 1974 1974 to 1983 1983 to 1997 1997 to 2005

Current constituencies (2005 to present)

Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Airdrie & Shotts Angus Argyll & Bute Ayr, Carrick & Cumnock Banff & Buchan Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross Central Ayrshire Coatbridge, Chryston & Bellshill Cumbernauld, Kilsyth & Kirkintilloch East Dumfries & Galloway Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale & Tweeddale Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline & West Fife East Dunbartonshire East Kilbride, Strathaven & Lesmahagow East Lothian East Renfrewshire Edinburgh East Edinburgh North & Leith Edinburgh South Edinburgh South West Edinburgh West Falkirk Glasgow Central Glasgow East Glasgow North Glasgow North East Glasgow North West Glasgow South Glasgow South West Glenrothes Gordon Inverclyde Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch & Strathspey Kilmarnock & Loudoun Kirkcaldy & Cowdenbeath Lanark & Hamilton East Linlithgow & East Falkirk Livingston Midlothian Moray Motherwell & Wishaw Na h-Eileanan an Iar North Ayrshire & Arran North East Fife Ochil & South Perthshire Orkney & Shetland Paisley & Renfrewshire North Paisley & Renfrewshire South Perth & North Perthshire Ross, Skye & Lochaber Rutherglen & Hamilton West Stirling West Aberdeenshire & Kincardine West Dunbartonshire

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