Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions 1999 to 2011

Scotland
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Scotland
Government First Minister Nicola Sturgeon Deputy First Minister John Swinney Cabinet 8th government Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service Civil Service Directorates Public bodies Executive agencies Local government
Parliament Presiding Officer Ken Macintosh Acts Statutory Instruments Shadow Cabinets Members (MSPs) 1999 2003 2007 2011 2016 Elections 1999 2003 2007 2011 2016 Next Constituencies and electoral regions Legislative Consent Motion
Law Supreme Court (UK) Supreme Courts Sheriff Courts Land Courts Justice of the Peace Courts Lord Lyon Court
Scotland in the UK Her Majesty's Government Scotland Office Sec. of State: D. Mundell Under-Sec.: A. Dunlop UK Parliament Grand Committee Select Committee Reserved matters Elections Constituencies Current Westminster MPs
Scotland in the EU European Parliament elections Constituency
Administrative divisions Local government Convention of Scottish Local Authorities
Other countries Atlas

The Scottish Parliament (Holyrood) has 73 constituencies, each electing one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) system of election, and eight additional members regions, each electing seven additional MSPs.

Each region is a group of constituencies, and the D'Hondt method of allocating additional member seats from party lists is used to produce a form of proportional representation for each region

The total number of parliamentary seats is 129. For links to lists of MSPs, see Member of the Scottish Parliament.

The constituencies and regions were first used in 1999, for the first election of the Scottish Parliament, and were used also for the 2003 and 2007 elections.

The First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries^[1][2] by the Boundary Commission for Scotland was started in 2007, and the Commission reported to the Secretary of State for Scotland on 26 May 2010. The Commission's recommendations were implemented ahead of the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, to form the Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions from 2011.

Boundaries

The Scottish Parliament constituencies from 1999 were created with the boundaries of the constituencies of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) as they were in 1999, apart from Orkney and Shetland, which are separate constituencies, unlike the single Orkney and Shetland Westminster constituency.

Under the Scotland Act 1998, changes to Westminster boundaries were also to be changes to Holyrood boundaries. This link between the two sets of constituencies was broken, however, by the Scottish Parliament (Constituencies) Act 2004, before the results of the fifth periodical review of Westminster constituencies were implemented for the 2005 United Kingdom general election. The fifth Westminster review reduced the number of Westminster constituencies and, therefore, the number of Scottish Members of Parliament, from 72 to 59.

The boundaries of Westminster constituencies, as they existed until 2005, had not been subject to review since the removal of local government regions and districts. Many Holyrood constituencies, retaining those boundaries as they do, now straddle boundaries between the current council areas created in 1996. Newer Westminster constituencies also straddle council area boundaries but, in Westminster representation, there is a clear sense of council areas being grouped into larger areas: the East Ayrshire council area and South Ayrshire council area, for example, are treated as a single area.

Various council areas are divided between two Holyrood electoral regions. One council area, the South Lanarkshire council area, was divided between three different electoral regions.

The Arbuthnott Commission, in its final report, January 2006, recommended that council area boundaries and Holyrood and Westminster constituency boundaries should all be reviewed together. This recommendation has not been implemented.

Constituencies (first past the post seats)

Additional member regions

Region	Constituencies	map
Central Scotland	Airdrie and Shotts Coatbridge and Chryston Cumbernauld and Kilsyth East Kilbride Falkirk East Falkirk West Hamilton North and Bellshill Hamilton South Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley Motherwell and Wishaw
Glasgow	Glasgow Anniesland Glasgow Baillieston Glasgow Cathcart Glasgow Govan Glasgow Kelvin Glasgow Maryhill Glasgow Pollok Glasgow Rutherglen Glasgow Shettleston Glasgow Springburn
Highlands and Islands	Argyll and Bute Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber Moray Orkney Ross, Skye and Inverness West Shetland Western Isles
Lothians	Edinburgh Central Edinburgh East and Musselburgh Edinburgh North and Leith Edinburgh Pentlands Edinburgh South Edinburgh West Linlithgow Livingston Midlothian
Mid Scotland and Fife	Central Fife Dunfermline East Dunfermline West Kirkcaldy North East Fife North Tayside Ochil Perth Stirling
North East Scotland	Aberdeen Central Aberdeen North Aberdeen South Angus Banff and Buchan Dundee East Dundee West Gordon West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine
South of Scotland	Ayr Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley Clydesdale Cunninghame South Dumfries East Lothian Galloway and Upper Nithsdale Roxburgh and Berwickshire Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale
West of Scotland	Clydebank and Milngavie Cunninghame North Dumbarton Eastwood Greenock and Inverclyde Paisley North Paisley South Strathkelvin and Bearsden West Renfrewshire

References

External links

• Boundary Commission for Scotland Information Paper - Scottish Parliament constituencies and regions: 1999-2011