Scottish Westminster constituencies 2005 to 2024 explained

As a result of the Fifth Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, Scotland was covered by 59 constituencies of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament: 19 burgh constituencies and 40 county constituencies. These constituencies were used from the 2005 to the 2019 general elections, and were replaced by new constituencies at the 2024 election.

Constituencies and council areas

The Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland related the boundaries of new constituencies to those of Scottish local government council areas and to local government wards. Apart from a few minor adjustments, the council area boundaries dated from 1996 and the ward boundaries dated from 1999. Some council areas were grouped to form larger areas and, within these larger areas, some constituencies straddle council area boundaries.

The same council area and ward boundaries were in use when the new constituencies were first used in 2005, but ward boundaries have changed since then. New wards were introduced for the 2007 Scottish local government elections.

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

MPs

Name	Electorate^[1]	Majority^[2]	Member of Parliament		Nearest opposition
Aberdeen North BC	62,489	12,670		Kirsty Blackman		Ryan Houghton
Aberdeen South BC	65,719	3,990				Douglas Lumsden
Airdrie and Shotts CC	64,011	1,757		Anum Qaisar		Kenneth Stevenson
Angus CC	63,952	3,795		Dave Doogan		Kirstene Hair
Argyll and Bute CC	66,525	4,110		Brendan O'Hara		Gary Mulvaney
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock CC	71,970	2,329		Allan Dorans		Martin Dowey
Banff and Buchan CC	66,655	4,118		David Duguid		Paul Robertson
Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk CC	74,518	5,148		John Lamont		Calum Kerr
Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross CC	46,930	204		Jamie Stone		Karl Rosie
Central Ayrshire CC	69,742	5,304		Philippa Whitford
Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill BC	72,943	5,624		Steven Bonnar		Hugh Gaffney
Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East CC	66,079	12,976		Stuart McDonald		James McPhilemy
Dumfries and Galloway CC	74,580	1,805		Alister Jack		Richard Arkless
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale CC	68,330	3,781		David Mundell		Amanda Burgauer
Dundee East BC	66,210	13,375		Stewart Hosie		Phillip Scott
Dundee West BC	64,431	12,259		Chris Law		Jim Malone
Dunfermline and West Fife CC	76,652	10,669		Douglas Chapman		Cara Hilton
East Dunbartonshire CC	66,075	149		Amy Callaghan		Jo Swinson
East Kilbride, Strathaven and Lesmahagow CC	81,224	13,322		Lisa Cameron		Monique McAdams
East Lothian CC	81,600	3,886		Kenny MacAskill		Martin Whitfield
East Renfrewshire CC	72,232	5,425		Kirsten Oswald		Paul Masterton
Edinburgh East BC	69,424	10,417		Tommy Sheppard
Edinburgh North and Leith BC	81,336	12,808		Deidre Brock		Gordon Munro
Edinburgh South BC	66,188	11,095		Ian Murray		Catriona McDonald
Edinburgh South West BC	73,501	11,982		Joanna Cherry		Callum Laidlaw
Edinburgh West BC	72,507	3,769		Christine Jardine		Sarah Masson
Falkirk CC	84,472	14,948		John McNally		Lynn Munro
Glasgow Central BC	69,230	6,474		Alison Thewliss		Faten Hameed
Glasgow East BC	67,381	5,556		David Linden		Kate Watson
Glasgow North BC	57,130	5,601		Patrick Grady		Pam Duncan-Glancy
Glasgow North East BC	61,075	2,458		Anne McLaughlin		Paul Sweeney
Glasgow North West BC	63,402	8,359		Carol Monaghan		Patricia Ferguson
Glasgow South BC	70,891	9,005		Stewart McDonald
Glasgow South West BC	64,575	4,900		Chris Stephens		Matt Kerr
Glenrothes CC	65,762	11,757		Peter Grant		Pat Egan
Gordon CC	79,629	819		Richard Thomson		Colin Clark
Inverclyde CC	60,622	7,512		Ronnie Cowan		Martin McCluskey
Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey CC	78,059	10,440		Drew Hendry		Fiona Fawcett
Kilmarnock and Loudoun CC	74,517	12,659		Alan Brown		Caroline Hollins
Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath CC	72,853	1,243		Neale Hanvey		Lesley Laird
Lanark and Hamilton East CC	77,659	5,187		Angela Crawley		Shona Haslam
Linlithgow and East Falkirk CC	87,044	11,266		Martyn Day		Charles Kennedy
Livingston CC	82,285	13,435		Hannah Bardell		Damian Timson
Midlothian CC	70,544	5,705		Owen Thompson		Danielle Rowley
Moray CC	71,035	413		Douglas Ross		Laura Mitchell
Motherwell and Wishaw BC	68,856	6,268		Marion Fellows		Angela Feeney
Na h-Eileanan an Iar CC	21,106	2,538		Angus MacNeil		Alison McCorquodale
North Ayrshire and Arran	73,534	8,521		Patricia Gibson		David Rocks
North East Fife CC	60,905	1,316		Wendy Chamberlain
Ochil and South Perthshire CC	78,776	4,498		John Nicolson		Luke Graham
Orkney and Shetland CC	34,211	2,507		Alistair Carmichael		Robert Leslie
Paisley and Renfrewshire North CC	72,007	11,902		Gavin Newlands		Alison Taylor
Paisley and Renfrewshire South CC	64,385	10,679		Mhairi Black		Moira Ramage
Perth and North Perthshire CC	72,600	7,550		Pete Wishart		Angus Forbes
Ross, Skye and Lochaber CC	54,230	9,443		Ian Blackford		Craig Harrow
Rutherglen and Hamilton West BC	80,918			Michael Shanks		Katy Loudon
Stirling CC	68,473	9,254		Alyn Smith		Stephen Kerr
West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine CC	72,640	843		Andrew Bowie		Fergus Mutch
West Dunbartonshire CC	66,517	9,553		Martin Docherty-Hughes		Jean-Anne Mitchell

The aggregate votes of all Scottish constituencies for the 2019 general election are as follows:

Party	Votes	%	Change from 2017	Seats	Change from 2017
Scottish National Party	1,242,380	45.0%	8.1%	48	13
Conservative	692,939	25.1%	3.5%	6	7
Labour	511,838	18.6%	8.5%	1	6
Liberal Democrats	263,417	9.5%	2.7%	4	0
Greens	28,122	1.0%	0.8%	0	0
Brexit	13,243	0.5%	new	0	0
Others	7,122	0.3%	0.4%	0	0
Total	2,759,061	100.0		59

Boundary changes

See 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies for further details.

Background

The Boundary Commission for Scotland submitted their final proposals in respect of the Sixth Periodic Review of Westminster Constituencies (the 2018 review) in September 2018. Although the proposals were immediately laid before Parliament they were not brought forward by the Government for approval. Accordingly, they did not come into effect for the 2019 election which took place on 12 December 2019, and which was contested using the constituency boundaries in place since 2010.

Under the terms of the Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Act 2011, the Sixth Review was based on reducing the total number of MPs from 650 to 600 and a strict electoral parity requirement that the electorate of all constituencies should be within a range of 5% either side of the electoral quota.

On 24 March 2020, the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office, Chloe Smith, issued a written statement to Parliament setting out the Government's thinking with regard to parliamentary boundaries. Subsequently, the Parliamentary Constituencies Act 2020 ("the Act") was passed into law on 14 December 2020. This formally removed the duty to implement the 2018 review and set out the framework for future boundary reviews. The Act provided that the number of constituencies should remain at the current level of 650, rather than being reduced to 600, while retaining the requirement that the electorate should be no more than +/- 5% from the electoral quota.

Process

The Act specified that the next review had to be completed no later than 1 July 2023 and the Boundary Commission formally launched the 2023 Review on 5 January 2021. In accordance with the provisions of the Act, the number of constituencies allocated to Scotland decreased by 2, from 59 to 57. This includes the protected constituencies of Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland.

As part of public consultations for the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, the Boundary Commission for Scotland released its initial proposals on 14 October 2021.^[3] Following two periods of public consultation, revised proposals were published on 8 November 2022. Final recommendations were laid before Parliament on 28 June 2023 after they were published and then submitted a day earlier.^{[4] [5]}

Recommended seats

Under the final recommendations the following constituencies for Scotland would come into effect at the 2024 general election:^{[4] [6]}

Council areas	Constituencies	Electorate
	Orkney and Shetland CC (continuing)	34,824
Na h-Eileanan an Iar	Na h-Eileanan an Iar CC (continuing)	21,177
	Aberdeen North BC (continuing)	76,895
	Aberdeen South BC (continuing)	76,560
	Aberdeenshire North and Moray East CC	71,485
	Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber CC	71,707
	Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross CC (continuing)	75,173
	Gordon and Buchan CC	70,238
	Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire CC	76,903
	Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey CC	76,237
	West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine CC (continuing)	73,634
	Alloa and Grangemouth CC	72,265
	Angus and Perthshire Glens CC	77,006
	Arbroath and Broughty Ferry CC	76,810
	Bathgate and Linlithgow CC	71,650
	Cowdenbeath and Kirkcaldy CC	70,329
	Dundee Central BC	75,298
	Dunfermline and Dollar CC	70,725
	Falkirk CC (continuing)	75,067
	Glenrothes and Mid Fife CC	69,734
	Livingston CC (continuing)	75,454
	North East Fife CC (continuing)	70,452
	Perth and Kinross-shire CC	76,323
	Stirling and Strathallan CC	77,008
	Edinburgh East and Musselburgh BC (restored; previously existed 1997–2005)	75,705
	Edinburgh North and Leith BC (continuing)	76,770
	Edinburgh South BC (continuing)	70,980
	Edinburgh South West BC (continuing)	73,315
	Edinburgh West BC (continuing)	76,723
	Lothian East CC	71,287
	Midlothian CC (continuing)	71,210
	Airdrie and Shotts CC (continuing)	70,420
	Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk CC (continuing)	74,687
	Coatbridge and Bellshill BC	72,507
	Cumbernauld and Kirkintilloch CC	70,579
	Dumfries and Galloway CC (continuing)	76,863
	Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale CC (continuing)	70,738
	East Kilbride and Strathaven CC	75,161
	Hamilton and Clyde Valley CC	74,577
	Mid Dunbartonshire CC	75,099
	Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke CC	72,318
	Rutherglen BC (restored; previously existed 1918-1983; Glasgow Rutherglen 1983-2005)	71,612
	West Dunbartonshire CC (continuing)	70,286
	Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock CC (continuing)	72,057
	Central Ayrshire CC (continuing)	69,779
	Kilmarnock and Loudoun CC (continuing)	74,801
	North Ayrshire and Arran CC (continuing)	73,588
	East Renfrewshire (continuing)	72,959
	Glasgow East BC (continuing)	69,748
	Glasgow North BC (continuing)	73,210
	Glasgow North East BC (continuing)	75,236
	Glasgow South BC (continuing)	71,344
	Glasgow South West BC (continuing)	70,431
	Glasgow West BC	72,499
	Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West CC	70,418
	Paisley and Renfrewshire North BC (continuing)	69,941
	Paisley and Renfrewshire South CC (continuing)	69,813

See also

• List of Great Britain and UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland from 1707 for graphical representation by party
• Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions for seats in the Scottish Parliament
• Scottish Westminster constituencies 1918 to 1950

Notes and References

1. Web site: Baker. Carl. Uberoi. Elise. Cracknell. Richard. 28 January 2020. General Election 2019: full results and analysis. en-GB.
2. Web site: Constituencies A-Z - Election 2019. BBC News. en-GB. 25 April 2020.
3. Boundary Commission for Scotland consults on new boundaries for UK Parliament constituencies in Scotland . 14 October 2021 . Boundary Commission for Scotland . 14 November 2021.
4. Web site: 2023 Review of UK Parliament Constituencies Boundary Commission for Scotland Final Recommendations laid before Parliament . 28 June 2023.
5. News: 28 June 2023 - 2023 Review Report laid before Parliament . Boundary Commission for Scotland . 30 June 2023.
6. Web site: BCS 2023 Review – Final Recommendations . Boundary Commission for Scotland.