Inverness (UK Parliament constituency)

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Inverness County constituency
Created:	1918
Abolished:	1983
Type:	House of Commons
Members:	one

Inverness was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

There was also a a county constituency called Inverness-shire, 1708 to 1918, and a burgh constituency called Inverness Burghs, 1708 to 1918.

Contents 1 Boundaries 2 Members of Parliament 3 Election results 4 See also 5 Notes and references

[edit] Boundaries

The earlier Inverness-shire constituency covered, nominally, the county of Inverness minus the burgh of Inverness, which was a part of the Inverness Burghs constituency. By 1918, however, county boundaries were out of alignment with constituency boundaries.

In 1918, the Representation of the People Act 1918 created new constituency boundaries, taking account of new local government boundaries, and the new constituency boundaries were first used in the 1918 general election.

The new Inverness constituency included the burgh of Inverness and was one of three constituencies covering the county or Inverness and the county of Ross and Cromarty. The other two were the Ross and Cromarty constituency and the Western Isles constituency.^[1]

The Inverness constituency covered the county of Inverness minus Outer Hebridean areas (the districts of Harris, North Uist and South Uist), which were covered by the Western Isles constituency.

The same boundaries were used in the general elections of 1922, 1923, 1924, 1929, 1931, 1935, 1945, 1950, 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966, 1970, February 1974, October 1974 and 1979.

In 1975, counties and burghs were abolished as local government areas, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, and from 1975 until 1983, the Inverness constituency was entirely within the Highland local government region.

For the 1983 general election, new boundaries defined three new constituencies to cover the region: Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber, Ross, Cromarty and Skye and Caithness and Sutherland. Each of the new constituencies covered a number of the districts of the region. The Caithness and Sutherland constituency carried forward the name of an older constituency.

[edit] Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party	Notes
	1918	Thomas Brash Morison	Coalition Liberal	Previously MP for Inverness-shire
	1922 by-election	Sir Murdoch Macdonald	Coalition Liberal
	1922		National Liberal
	1922		Liberal
	1931		National Liberal
	1950	Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton	Unionist
	1954 by-election	Neil McLean	Unionist
	1964	Russell Johnston	Liberal	Subsequently MP for Inverness, Nairn and Lochaber
1983		constituency abolished

[edit] Election results

UK General Election, 1979: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Russell Johnston	15,716	33.74	+1.35
	Conservative	R Hunter-Gordon	11,559	24.82	+2.81
	Scottish National Party	D Barr	9,603	20.62	−8.97
	Labour	B D H Wilson	9,586	20.58	+4.96
	Fine Gael	U Bell	112	0.24	−0.14
Majority			4,157	8.93	+6.13
Turnout			46,576	74.44	−3.98
	Liberal hold		Swing

UK General Election, October 1974: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Russell Johnston	13,128	32.39	−6.33
	Scottish National Party	D Barr	11,994	29.59	+12.96
	Conservative	R E Henderson	8,922	22.01	−4.74
	Labour	J W L Cumming	6,332	15.62	−2.28
	Fine Gael	U Bell	155	0.38	N/A
Majority			1,134	2.80	−9.16
Turnout			40,531	70.46	−5.64
	Liberal hold		Swing

UK General Election, February 1974: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Russell Johnston	16,903	38.72	+0.37
	Conservative	R E Henderson	11,680	26.75	−4.79
	Labour	D J Cameron	7,816	17.90	−5.13
	Scottish National Party	R M Gibson	7,258	16.63	+9.54
Majority			5,223	11.96	+5.15
Turnout			43,657	76.10	+3.82
	Liberal hold		Swing

UK General Election, 1970: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Russell Johnston	15,052	38.35	−1.10
	Conservative	D A Wathen	12,378	31.54	−1.33
	Labour	D Macauley	9,038	23.03	−4.64
	Scottish National Party	A C Cameron	2,781	7.09	N/A
Majority			2,674	6.81	+0.23
Turnout			39,248	72.28	+0.17
	Liberal hold		Swing

UK General Election, 1966: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Russell Johnston	14,356	39.45	−0.38
	Conservative	D A Wathen	11,961	32.87	−0.99
	Labour	A C McLean	10,069	27.67	+1.36
Majority			2,395	6.58	+0.60
Turnout			36,386	72.11	+0.73
	Liberal hold		Swing

UK General Election, 1964: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Russell Johnston	14,235	39.83	+6.96
	Unionist	Neil McLean	12,099	33.86	−10.50
	Labour	A C McLean	9,402	26.31	+3.54
Majority			2,136	5.98	−5.51
Turnout			35,736	71.38	−0.18
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing

UK General Election, 1959: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neil McLean	15,728	44.36	+2.91
	Liberal	J M Bannerman	11,653	32.87	−5.79
	Labour	J F Coulter	8,073	22.77	+2.87
Majority			4,075	11.49	+8.70
Turnout			35,454	71.56	+4.07
	Unionist hold		Swing	+5.75

UK General Election, 1955: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Neil McLean	14,352	41.45	−23.09
	Liberal	J M Bannerman	13,386	38.66	N/A
	Labour	D Thompson	6,891	19.90	−15.56
Majority			966	2.79	−26.29
Turnout			34,629	67.49	−1.81
	Unionist hold		Swing	−9.11

UK General Election, 1951: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton	22,497	64.54	+19.07
	Labour	T A Macnair	12,361	35.46	+3.64
Majority			10,136	29.08	+15.43
Turnout			34,858	69.30	+0.78
	Unionist hold		Swing	+21.37

UK General Election, 1950: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton	16,056	45.47	N/A
	Labour	D N Thompson	11,236	31.82	−2.73
	Liberal	J M Bannerman	8,023	22.72	+0.53
Majority			4,820	13.65	+4.94
Turnout			35,315	68.52	+9.12
	Unionist gain from National Liberal		Swing

UK General Election, 1945: Inverness
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Murdoch Macdonald	12,090	43.26
	Labour	N G Maclean	9,655	34.55
	Liberal	J M McCormick	6,200	22.19
Majority			2,435	8.71
Turnout			27,945	59.40
	National Liberal hold		Swing

[edit] See also

v • d • e 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

[edit] Notes and references

1. ^ Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972

• Craig, F. W. S. [1969] (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, 3rd edition, Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X. 
• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page