Na h-Eileanan an Iar (UK Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Na h-Eileanan an Iar (Scottish Parliament constituency).

Coordinates: 57°40′16″N 6°57′11″W / 57.671°N 6.953°W / 57.671; -6.953

Na h-Eileanan an Iar
County constituency for the House of Commons
Boundary of Na h-Eileanan an Iar in Scotland.
Subdivisions of Scotland	Na h-Eileanan Siar
Current constituency
Created	1918
Member of parliament	Angus MacNeil (SNP)
Created from	Ross & Cromarty Inverness-shire
Overlaps
European Parliament constituency	Scotland

Na h-Eileanan an Iar (/nə ˈhɪlənən ənˈjɪər/; Scottish Gaelic pronunciation: [nəˈhelanən əˈɲiəɾ]; formerly Western Isles) is a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, created in 1918. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

History

The constituency was formed by merging areas which were formerly within the Ross and Cromarty constituency and the Inverness-shire constituency.

Na h-Eileanan an Iar is the Scottish Gaelic for the Western Isles, which was the constituency's name prior to the 2005 general election. An identical constituency, with the same name is used by the Scottish Parliament.

Boundaries

The constituency area is that of the Outer Hebrides, known also as Na h-Eileanan Siar, and the constituency has the smallest electorate in the United Kingdom, one-fifth of the size of the largest, the Isle of Wight, with the latter also being an island constituency. However, the Isle of Wight is a substantially smaller parliamentary constituency in geographical terms. It has been suggested that Na h-Eileanan an Iar could be combined with the Orkney and Shetland constituency: the resulting combined electorate would still be well below the average constituency quota. Meanwhile the Scottish Boundary commission in 1980 originally proposed that the seat should be extended to include the Skye and Lochalsh areas, however this was overturned at a public enquiry. Generally, overriding considerations of sheer geographical size, a disparate population and of convenience for the MPs concerned as well as tradition and identity have tended to override the arguments about numerical imbalance. Furthermore, a change in the Boundary Commission's rules in 2000 added rule 3a which forbids Orkney or Shetland being combined with another council area. In 2011, the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 was introduced, which protected both Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland from being added to any other constituency.^[1]

Local government areas

When created, the area of the constituency was divided between two local government areas; the counties of Ross and Cromarty and Inverness-shire. The division line was the Lewis-Harris boundary, with Lewis in Ross and Cromarty and Harris in Inverness-shire.

In 1975 the constituency area became also an island council area, known as the Western Isles council area. That same area became one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland in 1996. The council area is known also as Na h-Eileanan Siar.

Politics

The seat has been a two-way marginal between the Labour Party and the Scottish National Party for many years. In recent years, however, it has become increasingly safe for the Scottish National Party. Despite that, during the Scottish independence referendum, 2014 the constituency voted against independence by a margin of 53.42% (10,544) to 46.58% (9,195) in favour on a turnout of 86.2%^[2]

Members of Parliament

	Member^[3]^[4]	Party
1918	Donald Murray	Liberal
1922	Sir William Dingwall Mitchell Cotts	National Liberal
1923	Alexander Mackenzie Livingstone	Liberal
1929	Thomas Ramsay	Liberal
1931	Thomas Ramsay	National Liberal
1935	Malcolm Macmillan	Labour
1970	Donald Stewart	SNP
1987	Calum MacDonald	Labour
2005	Angus MacNeil	SNP

Election results

Elections of the 2010s

General Election 2015: Na h-Eileanan an Iar ^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus MacNeil	8,662	54.3	+8.6
	Labour	Alasdair Morrison	4,560	28.6	-4.3
	Conservative	Mark Brown	1,215	7.6	+3.2
	Scottish Christian	John Cormack	1,045	6.6	n/a
	Liberal Democrat	Ruaraidh Ferguson	456	2.9	-4.6
Majority			4,102	25.7	+12.9
Turnout			15,938	73.2	+7.1
	SNP hold		Swing	+6.5

General Election 2010: Na h-Eileanan an Iar^[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus MacNeil	6,723	45.7	+0.8
	Labour	Donald John MacSween	4,838	32.9	-1.6
	Independent	Murdo Murray	1,412	9.6	N/A
	Liberal Democrat	Jean Davis	1,097	7.5	-0.5
	Conservative	Sheena Louise Norquay	647	4.4	+0.0
Majority			1,885	12.8
Turnout			14,717	66.1	+0.7
	SNP hold		Swing	+1.2

Elections of the 2000s

General Election 2005: Na h-Eileanan an Iar
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Angus MacNeil	6,213	44.9	+8.0
	Labour	Calum MacDonald	4,772	34.5	−10.5
	Liberal Democrat	Jean Davis	1,096	7.9	+1.4
	Christian Vote	George Hargreaves	1,048	7.6	N/A
	Conservative	Andy Maciver	610	4.4	−5.1
	Scottish Socialist	Joanne Telfer	97	0.7	−1.5
Majority			1,441	10.4
Turnout			13,836	64.1	+4.0
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing	+9.3

General Election 2001: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Calum MacDonald	5,924	45.0	−10.6
	SNP	Alasdair Nicholson	4,850	36.9	+3.5
	Conservative	Douglas Taylor	1,250	9.5	+2.8
	Liberal Democrat	John Horne	849	6.5	+3.4
	Scottish Socialist	Joanne Telfer	286	2.2	N/A
Majority			1,074	8.1
Turnout			13,159	60.6	−9.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1990s

General Election 1997: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Calum MacDonald	8,955	55.6
	SNP	Anne Lorne Gillies	5,379	33.4
	Conservative	Jamie McGrigor	1,071	6.6
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Mitchison	495	3.1
	Referendum	Ralph Lionel	206	1.3	N/A
Majority			3,576	22.2
Turnout			16,106	70.1
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1992: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Calum MacDonald	7,664	47.8
	SNP	Ms. Frances M. MacFarlane	5,961	37.2
	Conservative	Robert J. Heany	1,362	8.5
	Liberal Democrat	Neil Mitchison	552	3.4
	Independent	Andrew R.Price	491	3.1	N/A
Majority			1,703	10.6
Turnout			16,030	70.4
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1980s

General Election 1987: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Calum Alasdair MacDonald	7,041	42.7
	SNP	Ian Smith	4,701	28.5
	Social Democratic	Kenneth Angus MacIver	3,419	20.7
	Conservative	Murdo Morrison	1,336	8.1
Majority			2,340	14.2
Turnout				70.2
	Labour gain from SNP		Swing

General Election 1983: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Donald Stewart	8,272	54.5
	Labour	Brian Wilson	4,560	30.1
	Conservative	Murdo Morrison	1,460	9.6
	Liberal	Neil M. MacLeod	876	5.8
Majority			3,712	24.5
Turnout				66.5
	SNP hold		Swing

Elections of the 1970s

General Election 1979: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Donald Stewart	7,941	52.5
	Labour	Alexander Matheson^[7]	4,878	32.3
	Conservative	Murdo Morrison^[8]	1,600	10.6
	Liberal	Neil Munro MacLeod^[9]	700	4.6
Majority			3,063	20.3
Turnout				67.5
	SNP hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Western Isles^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Donald Stewart	8,758	61.45
	Labour	Mary Doig	3,526	24.74
	Conservative	Norman K. Wilson^[11]	1,180	8.28
	Liberal	Neil Macmillan ^[12]	789	5.54
Majority			5,232	36.71
Turnout				63.41
	SNP hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Western Isles^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Donald Stewart	10,079	67.05
	Labour	Andrew W. Wilson^[14]	2,879	19.15
	Conservative	John Jackson Mackay	1,042	6.93
	United Labour Party	M.K. Macmillan	1,031	6.86
Majority			7,200	47.90
Turnout				66.27
	SNP hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Western Isles^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	Donald Stewart	6,568	43.12
	Labour	M.K. Macmillan	5,842	38.35
	Conservative	Roderick Murray MacLeod^[16]	2,812	18.53
Majority			726	4.77
Turnout			23,533	64.73
	SNP gain from Labour		Swing

Elections of the 1960s

General Election 1966: Western Isles^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Malcolm Kenneth Macmillan	8,565	61.03
	Conservative	Charles Alexander Cameron	2,832	20.18
	Liberal	John Francis Matheson Macleod	2,638	18.80
Majority			5,733	40.85
Turnout				61.49
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1964: Western Isles^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Malcolm Kenneth Macmillan	8,740	55.14
	Liberal	Donald B. Macleod	4,894	30.88
	Unionist	Charles Alexander Cameron	2,217	13.99
Majority			3,846	24.26
Turnout				66.88
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1950s

General Election 1959: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Malcolm Kenneth Macmillan	8,663	53.61
	Liberal National	Donald B. Macleod	7,496	46.39
Majority			1,167	7.22
Turnout				64.18
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Malcolm Kenneth Macmillan	8,487	48.77
	Liberal National	John C Frame	6,315	42.66
Majority			2,172	14.67
Turnout				59.55
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1951: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Malcolm Kenneth Macmillan	8,039	48.77
	Unionist	J Mitchell	6,709	40.70
	Liberal	David Murray	916	5.56
	SNP	Calum Maclean	820	4.97
Majority			1,330	8.07
Turnout				60.55
	Labour hold		Swing

General Election 1950: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Malcolm Kenneth Macmillan	8,387	53.21
	Liberal	Huntley McDonald Sinclair	6,950	44.09
	Scottish Home Rule	David Murray	425	2.70
Majority			1,437	9.12
Turnout				55.7
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1940s

General Election 1945: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Malcolm Kenneth Macmillan	5,914	45.7	+4.7
	Liberal	Huntly McDonald Sinclair	4,277	33.0
	Unionist	Iain Norman Macleod	2,756	21.3
Majority			1,637	12.7	+2.6
Turnout			12,947	53.3	+6.5
	Labour hold		Swing

Elections of the 1930s

General Election 1935: Western Isles^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Malcolm Kenneth Macmillan	5,421	41.0
	Liberal National	Thomas Bridgehill Wilson Ramsay	4,076	30.9	-23.9
	SNP	Alexander MacEwan	3,704	28.1
Majority			1,345	10.1
Turnout			12,947	46.8	+8.0
	Labour gain from Liberal National		Swing

General Election 1931: Western Isles^[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal National	Thomas Bridgehill Wilson Ramsay	5,793	54.8	+10.7
	Unionist	Iain MacAlisdair Moffatt-Pender	4,785	45.2	+21.8
Majority			1,008	9.6	-2.0
Turnout			10,578	36.8	-3.7
	Liberal National hold		Swing

Elections of the 1920s

General Election 1929: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Thomas Bridgehill Wilson Ramsay	4,877	44.1	-10.1
	Labour	John M MacDiarmid	3,589	32.5	+15.3
	Unionist	Iain MacAlisdair Moffatt-Pender	2,593	23.4	-5.2
Majority			1,288	21.6	-14.0
Turnout			11,059	40.5	+1.4
	Liberal hold		Swing	-12.7

General Election 1924: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alexander Mackenzie Livingstone	4,579	54.2	14.6
	Unionist	William Shepherd Morrison	2,318	28.6	-8.3
	Labour	A. G. Burns	1,454	17.2
Majority			2,161	25.6	+22.9
Turnout			8,451	39.1	-1.0
	Liberal hold		Swing	11.5

General Election 1923: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Alexander Mackenzie Livingstone	3,391	39.6	-6.3
	Unionist	William Shepherd Morrison	3,158	36.9	n/a
	Independent Labour	Hugh McCowan	2,011	23.5	n/a
Majority			233	2.7	-5.5
Turnout			6,549	40.1	-14.0
	Liberal gain from National Liberal		Swing	n/a

General Election 1922: Western Isles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Sir William Dingwall Mitchell Cotts	6,177	54.1	+11.6
	Liberal	Donald Murray	5,238	45.9	-1.4
Majority			939	8.2	+3.4
Turnout			11,415	54.1	+10.5
	National Liberal gain from Liberal		Swing	6.5

Elections of the 1910s

General Election 1918: Western Isles^[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Dr Donald Murray	3,765	47.3
	Coalition Liberal	William Dingwall Mitchell Cotts	3,375	42.5
	Highland Land League	Hugh MacGowan	809	10.2
Majority			390	4.8
Turnout			7,949	43.6

References

↑ The Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011 Section 11
↑ http://www.bbc.com/news/events/scotland-decides/results
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "W" (part 2)
↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "N" (part 1)
↑ election result http://www.cne-siar.gov.uk/electionoffice/ukelection2015/results.asp 23Jun15
↑ "Election 2010: Na H-Eileanan An Iar (Western Isles)", BBC News
↑ Stornoway Gazette
↑ Stornoway Gazette
↑ Stornoway Gazette
↑ Kimber's UK General Election results 1974 (Oct)
↑ Stornoway Gazette
↑ Stornoway Gazette
↑ Kimber's UK General Election results 1974 (Feb)
↑ Stornoway Gazette
↑ Kimber's UK General Election results 1970
↑ Stornoway Gazette
↑ Kimber's UK General Election results 1966
↑ Kimber's UK General Election results 1964
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1939
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1934
↑ Whitaker's Almanack, 1920

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

« 1918–1950 « Scottish Westminster constituencies 1950–1955 *» 1955–1974* »**

Burgh constituencies	Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Coatbridge and Airdrie Dundee East Dundee West Dunfermline Burghs Edinburgh Central Edinburgh East Edinburgh Leith Edinburgh North Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh West Glasgow Bridgeton Glasgow Camlachie Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Central Glasgow Gorbals Glasgow Govan Glasgow Hillhead Glasgow Kelvingrove Glasgow Maryhill Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Scotstoun Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Springburn Glasgow Tradeston Glasgow Woodside Greenock Kirkcaldy Burghs Paisley Stirling and Falkirk Burghs

County constituencies	Argyll Ayr Banffshire Berwick and East Lothian Bothwell Bute and Northern Ayrshire Caithness and Sutherland Central Ayrshire CC Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire Dumfriesshire East Aberdeenshire East Dunbartonshire East Fife East Renfrewshire Galloway Hamilton Inverness Kilmarnock Kinross and Western Perthshire Lanark Midlothian and Peebles Moray and Nairn Motherwell North Angus and Mearns North Lanarkshire Orkney and Zetland Perth and East Perthshire Ross and Cromarty Roxburgh and Selkirk Rutherglen South Angus South Ayrshire West Aberdeenshire West Dunbartonshire West Fife West Lothian West Renfrewshire West Stirlingshire Western Isles

Lists	1708–1832 1832–1868 1868–1885 1885–1918 1918–1950 1950–1955 1955–1974 1974–1983 1983–1997 1997–2005 2005–

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