Ochil and South Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Ochil and South Perthshire is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.

Ochil and South Perthshire
County constituency
for the House of Commons
Boundary of Ochil and South Perthshire in Scotland
Subdivisions of ScotlandClackmannanshire/Perth and Kinross
Major settlementsAlloa, Auchterarder, Tullibody, Blackford,
Current constituency
Created2005
Member of ParliamentJohn Nicolson (SNP)
Created fromOchil and Perth

The constituency was created for the 2005 general election as a result of the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland.[1] It has been represented since 2019 by John Nicolson of the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Boundaries
Council areas
grouped by the Fifth Review
Clackmannanshire and Perth and Kinross

The Clackmannanshire council area; and the Perth and Kinross council wards of Strathtay, Strathearn, Strathallan, Almond & Earn, and Kinross-shire.[2]

The constituency was created to cover the Clackmannanshire council area and a southern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area. Perth and North Perthshire was created, at the same time, to cover the rest of the Perth and Kinross council area.

Prior to the 2005 election, the council areas had been covered by the Angus, Ochil, Perth and North Tayside constituencies. The Perth constituency was entirely within the Perth and Kinross council area, the North Tayside constituency covered a northern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area and a northern portion of the Angus council area, the Angus constituency covered a small southeastern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area, a southern portion of the Angus council area, and northern portions of the Dundee City council area, and the Ochil constituency covered another southeastern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area, the whole of the Clackmannanshire council area and a southeastern portion of the Stirling council area.

Constituency profile and voting patterns

Constituency profile

The Ochil and South Perthshire constituency covers the rural south of the Perth and Kinross council area south of the River Tay, running down through the Ochil Hills into the more industrial Clackmannanshire council area to the south. It is an affluent constituency. Agriculture and tourism form an important part of the local economy in the north of the constituency in southern Perth and Kinross-shire, housing affluent resort towns such as Auchterarder, Crieff and Kinross. Clackmannanshire is better known for its light industry and breweries dotted along the course of the River Forth and its northern tributary streams.

Voting patterns

The Ochil and South Perthshire constituency was formed from elements of the old Ochil and Perth constituencies. Perth was traditionally a strong area of support for the Conservative Party until the party's wipeout in Scotland at the 1997 general election, from then onwards; the area usually voted SNP. Ochil covered the counties of Kinross-shire and Clackmannanshire, alongside some of the more industrialised parts of Stirlingshire, traditionally a SNP-Labour marginal. When Ochil and South Perthshire was first formed, it was thought of as a SNP-Labour marginal; however, the SNP failed to win the constituency when it was created in 2005, and at the subsequent general election in 2010. Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh gained the seat from Gordon Banks of the Labour Party in a landslide victory across Scotland at the 2015 general election as they won 56 of Scotland's 59 parliamentary seats. At the 2017 general election, Ahmed-Sheikh lost the constituency to Luke Graham of the Conservative Party, and in 2019, Graham lost the seat to John Nicolson, former SNP MP for East Dunbartonshire.

At the 2017 local election all wards in southern Perth and Kinross-shire voted Conservative by a good margin. The result in Clackmannanshire was mixed, with the SNP forming the largest party across the county as a whole but missing out to the Conservatives in Dollar to the north-east of the council area and missing out to Labour in northern Alloa. The Conservatives came first across Ochil and South Perthshire on the whole, with the SNP in second place.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[3] Party
2005 Gordon Banks Labour
2015 Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh Scottish National Party
2017 Luke Graham Conservative
2019 John Nicolson Scottish National Party

Elections

Elections in the 2010s
General election 2019: Ochil and South Perthshire[4][5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP John Nicolson 26,882 46.5 +11.2
Conservative Luke Graham 22,384 38.7 -2.8
Labour Lorna Robertson 4,961 8.6 -11.4
Liberal Democrats Iliyan Stefanov 3,204 5.5 +2.3
UKIP Stuart Martin 382 0.7 New
Majority 4,498 7.8 N/A
Turnout 57,813 73.4 +2.8
SNP gain from Conservative Swing +7.0
General election 2017: Ochil and South Perthshire[6][7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Luke Graham 22,469 41.5 20.8
SNP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh 19,110 35.3 10.7
Labour Joanne Ross 10,847 20.0 8.4
Liberal Democrats Iliyan Stefanov 1,742 3.2 0.6
Majority 3,359 6.2 N/A
Turnout 54,168 70.6 4.2
Conservative gain from SNP Swing 15.8
General election 2015: Ochil and South Perthshire[9][10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Tasmina Ahmed-Sheikh 26,620 46.0 +18.4
Labour Gordon Banks 16,452 28.4 -9.5
Conservative Luke Graham 11,987 20.7 +0.2
Liberal Democrats Iliyan Stefanov 1,481 2.6 -8.8
UKIP Martin Gray 1,331 2.3 +0.9
Majority 10,168 17.6 N/A
Turnout 57,871 74.8 +7.6
SNP gain from Labour Swing +13.9
General election 2010: Ochil and South Perthshire[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Gordon Banks 19,131 37.9 +6.5
SNP Annabelle Ewing 13,944 27.6 -2.3
Conservative Gerald Michaluk 10,342 20.5 -1.0
Liberal Democrats Graeme Littlejohn 5,754 11.4 -1.9
UKIP David Bushby 689 1.4 +0.8
Scottish Green Hilary Charles 609 1.2 -0.9
Majority 5,187 10.3 +8.8
Turnout 50,469 67.2 +1.2
Labour hold Swing +4.4
General election 2005: Ochil and South Perthshire[13][14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Gordon Banks 14,645 31.4 −2.0
SNP Annabelle Ewing 13,957 29.9 −1.7
Conservative Elizabeth Smith 10,021 21.5 −0.6
Liberal Democrats Catherine Whittingham 6,218 13.3 +2.8
Scottish Green George Baxter 978 2.1 N/A
Scottish Socialist Iain Campbell 420 0.9 −0.9
UKIP David Bushby 275 0.6 N/A
Free Scotland Party Maitland Kelly 183 0.4 N/A
Majority 688 1.5
Turnout 46,697 66.0 +3.6
Labour hold Swing −0.2

Notes and references
  1. "Boundary Commission for Scotland website". Archived from the original on 2007-09-21.
  2. "Seat Details". www.electoralcalculus.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2018-06-27. Retrieved 2017-06-24.
  3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "O"
  4. "UK Parliamentary election: Ochil and South Perthshire constituency". Clackmannanshire Council. Clackmannanshire Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
  5. "Ochil & South Perthshire parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 2019-12-15.
  6. "General Election: SNP reselects 54 MPs". www.scotsman.com.
  7. "General Election 2017 Candidates". www.scottishlabour.org.uk. Archived from the original on 2017-05-08. Retrieved 2017-05-03.
  8. "Lee Scott back for Ilford North. Vicky Ford in final Chelmsford three. Tatton finalists named. The latest candidate selections and shortlists. - Conservative Home".
  9. "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  10. Council, Depute Returning Officer, Clackmannanshire. "Westminster Parliament election - 2015-05-07". www.clacks.gov.uk.
  11. "UK Polling Report". ukpollingreport.co.uk.
  12. "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  13. "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  14. "Election 2005; Result: Ochil and South Perthshire". BBC News. British Broadcasting Corporation. 2005-05-06. Retrieved 2008-07-26.
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