Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (UK Parliament constituency)

Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1955–1983
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Roxburgh & Berwickshire Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale
Created from	Roxburgh & Selkirk Midlothian & Peebles

Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1955 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

Boundaries

The constituency was first defined by the First Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission, and first used in the 1955 general election, to cover the counties of Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles.

The counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk were previously covered by the Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency, and the county of Peebles was previously covered by the Midlothian and Peebles constituency.

The boundaries of the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency were unaltered when the results of the Second Periodical Review were implemented for the February 1974 general election.

In 1975, Scottish counties were abolished under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

The Third Periodical Review took account of new local government boundaries, and results were implemented for the 1983 general election. The Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency was abolished. The Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency, related to the Roxburgh and Berwickshire districts of the Borders region, and the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale constituency, related to the Tweeddale and Ettrick and Lauderdale districts of the same region, were created. The Tweedale district had been created with the boundaries of the former county of Peebles.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1955	Charles Donaldson	Conservative	died in office December 1964
	1965 by-election	David Steel	Liberal	later Baron Steel of Aikwood
1983		constituency abolished: see Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale & Roxburgh and Berwickshire

Election Results

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 1979: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Steel	25,993	53.1
	Conservative	Gerry Malone	15,303	31.3
	Labour	David Albert Heald	4,150	8.5
	SNP	Angus Stewart	3,502	7.2
Majority			10,690	21.8
Turnout				82.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election October 1974: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Steel	20,006	43.6
	Conservative	C. Anderson	12,573	27.4
	SNP	A. Edmonds	9,178	20.0
	Labour	D.A. Graham	4,076	8.9
Majority			7,433	16.2
Turnout				79.3
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election February 1974: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Steel	25,707	52.0
	Conservative	J.S. Thom	16,690	33.8
	SNP	D. Purves	3,953	8.0
	Labour	D.A. Graham	3,089	6.2
Majority			9,017	18.2
Turnout				86.0
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 1970: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Steel	19,524	42.26
	Conservative	Russell Fairgrieve	18,974	41.07
	Labour	L. Griffiths	4,454	9.64
	SNP	H. Hastie	3,147	6.81
	Anti-Abortion	W.R. Cassell	103	0.22
Majority			550	1.19
Turnout				80.70
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 1966: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David Steel	20,607	45.66
	Conservative	Ian McIntyre	18,396	40.76
	Labour	C. Lindsay	6,131	13.58
Majority			2,211	4.90
Turnout				84.80
	Liberal hold		Swing

Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles By-Election March 1965
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	David M S Steel	21,549	49.2	+ 10.4
	Conservative	Robert L McEwen	16,942	38.6	- 4.2
	Labour	Ronald K Murray	4,936	11.2	- 4.6
	Independent Scottish Nationalist	A J C Kerr	411	0.9	- 1.6
Majority			4,607	10.5
Turnout			43,838	81.5%	- 0.7
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	7.3

General Election 1964: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Donaldson	18,924	42.81
	Liberal	David Steel	17,185	38.87
	Labour	R.K. Murray	7,007	15.85
	SNP	A.J.C. Kerr	1,093	2.47
Majority			1,739	3.93
Turnout				82.24
	Conservative hold		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 1959: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Edward McArthur Donaldson	22,275	50.20
	Liberal	John MacDonald MacCormick	12,762	28.76
	Labour	Thomas Dalyell Loch	9,336	21.04
Majority			9,513	21.44
Turnout				80.01
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1955: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles Electorate : 56,907
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Charles Edward McArthur Donaldson	21,925	47.69
	Liberal	Stanley E. Graham	14,755	32.09
	Labour	Lawrence A. Morrison	9,296	20.22
Majority			7,170	15.60
Turnout				80.79
	Conservative win (new seat)

References

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "R" (part 2)

See also

• Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election, 1965