Roxburgh and Berwickshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Former County constituency for the House of Commons
1983–2005
Number of members	One
Replaced by	Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk
Created from	Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles and Berwick and East Lothian

Roxburgh and Berwickshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1983 to 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

Boundaries

The constituency was defined by the Third Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, and first used in the 1983 general election. The name of the constituency relates it to the Roxburgh and Berwickshire districts of the Borders region, which were created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

By the time of the Third Periodical Review, Scottish counties and burghs had been abolished by the same legislation which created regions and districts, and earlier constituencies had been defined by the Second Periodical Review, with reference to county and burgh boundaries, results being implemented for the February 1974 general election. The county of Roxburgh was covered by the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency, and the county of Berwick was covered by the Berwick and East Lothian constituency.

In 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, regions and districts were abolished and the Scottish Borders council area was created with the boundaries of the former Borders region.

The results of the Fourth Periodical Review were implemented for the 1997 general election.

When the constituency was abolished, as a result of the Fifth Periodical Review, Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk was created, and first used in the 2005 general election, as one of six constituencies covering the Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, and South Lanarkshire council areas.

Member of Parliament

Election		Member[1]	Party
	1983	Sir Archy Kirkwood	Liberal
	1988		Liberal Democrat
	2005	constituency abolished

Elections of the 1980s

General Election 1983: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Archy Kirkwood	15,920	50.3	N/A
	Conservative	Iain Sproat	12,524	39.6	N/A
	Labour	David Alfred Briggs	2,326	7.4	N/A
	SNP	Robert Shirley	852	2.7	N/A
Majority			3,396	10.7	N/A
Turnout			31,622	75.8	N/A
	Liberal win (new seat)

General Election 1987: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Archy Kirkwood	16,388	49.2	−1.1
	Conservative	Dr Liam Fox	12,380	37.2	−2.4
	Labour	Tim Luckhurst	2,944	8.8	+1.4
	SNP	Marshall Neil Douglas	1,586	4.8	+2.1
Majority			4,008	12.0
Turnout			33,298	77.2	+1.4
	Liberal hold		Swing

Elections of the 1990s

General Election 1992: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Archy Kirkwood	15,852	46.9	−2.3
	Conservative	Mrs. Shirley Finlay-Maxwell	11,595	34.3	−2.9
	SNP	Marshall Neil Douglas	3,437	10.2	+5.4
	Labour	Stephen Lambert	2,909	8.6	−0.2
Majority			4,257	12.6
Turnout			33,793	77.6
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

General Election 1997: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Archy Kirkwood	16,243	46.5	+0.0
	Conservative	Douglas Younger	8,337	23.9	−10.3
	Labour	Helen Eadie	5,226	15.0	+6.2
	SNP	Malcolm Balfour	3,959	11.3	+0.7
	Referendum	John Curtis	922	2.6	N/A
	UKIP	Peter Neilson	202	0.6	N/A
	Natural Law	David Lucas	42	0.1	N/A
Majority			7,906	22.6
Turnout			34,931	73.9
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

Elections of the 2000s

General Election 2001: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Archy Kirkwood	14,044	48.8	+2.3
	Conservative	George Turnbull	6,533	22.7	−1.2
	Labour	Catherine Maxwell Stuart	4,498	15.6	+0.7
	SNP	Roderick Campbell	2,806	9.7	−1.6
	Scottish Socialist	Amanda Millar	463	1.6	N/A
	UKIP	Peter Neilson	453	1.6	+1.0
Majority			7,511	26.1
Turnout			28,797	60.6	−13.3
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "G" (part 2)

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