Perth and East Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Perth and East Perthshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

Perth and East Perthshire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Major settlementsPerth
1950–1983
Number of membersOne
Replaced byPerth & Kinross and Tayside North[1]
Created fromPerth

Boundaries

The constituency was defined by the House of Commons (Redistribution of Seats) Act 1949 and first used in the 1950 general election. The boundaries were exactly those of the preceding Perth constituency, and it was one of two constituencies covering the county of Perth and the county of Kinross. The other was Kinross and West Perthshire.[2]

The Perth and East Perthshire constituency was defined as covering the burghs of Abernethy, Alyth, Blairgowrie, Coupar Angus, Perth, and Rattray in the county of Perth and the Blairgowrie, and Perth districts of the county.[2]

1950 boundaries were used also for the general elections of 1951, 1955, 1959, 1964, 1966 and 1970.

For the February 1974 general election, the results of the Second Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission were implemented, and there was a minor change to the boundaries of Perth and East Perthshire. It was redefined as covering the burghs of Abernethy, Alyth, Blairgowrie and Rattray (now a single burgh), Coupar Angus, and Perth in the county of Perth, and the Eastern, and Perth districts of the county.[2]

February 1974 boundaries were used also in the general elections of October 1974 and 1979.

In 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973, counties and burghs throughout Scotland had been abolished in favour of regions and districts and islands council areas. The county of Kinross and most of the county of Perth had been merged into the Tayside region. The burghs of Callander, Doune, and Dunblane in the county of Perth, the Perth parish of Muckhart and the Western district of the county (except the electoral division of Ardoch) had been merged into the Central region.

New constituency boundaries, taking account of new local government boundaries, were adopted for the 1983 general election. Constituencies defined to cover the Tayside region included Perth and Kinross.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMember[3]PartyNotes
1950 Sir Alan Gomme-Duncan Unionist previously MP for Perth
1959 Ian MacArthur Unionist
Oct 1974 Douglas Crawford SNP
1979 Bill Walker Conservative
1983 constituency abolished: see Perth and Kinross

Election results

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1950: Perth and East Perthshire[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Alan Gomme-Duncan 24,850 56.1
Labour William Hughes 11,706 26.4
SNP Donald Stewart 4,118 9.3
Liberal John Lamont Wilson 3,623 8.2
Majority 13,144 29.7
Turnout 44,297 81.6
Unionist win (new seat)
General election 1951: Perth and East Perthshire[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Alan Gomme-Duncan 25,798 50.4 -5.7
Labour Neil McBride 11,167 25.7 -0.7
SNP Robert McIntyre 6,479 14.9 +5.6
Majority 14,631 33.7 +4.0
Turnout 43,444
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1955: Perth and East Perthshire[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Alan Gomme-Duncan 22,948 56.7 +6.3
SNP Robert McIntyre 9,227 22.8 +7.9
Labour John B Urquhart 8,313 20.5 -5.2
Majority 13,721 33.9 +0.2
Turnout 40,488
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1959: Perth and East Perthshire[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Ian MacArthur 24,217 58.2 +1.5
SNP Robert McIntyre 9,637 23.1 +0.3
Labour Thomas W Moore 7,781 18.7 -1.8
Majority 14,580 35.1 +1.2
Turnout 41,635 75.6
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: Perth and East Perthshire[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Ian MacArthur 23,912 57.9 -0.3
Labour Frederick L Forrester 10,184 24.7 +6.0
SNP Robert McIntyre 7,186 17.4 -5.7
Majority 13,728 33.2 -1.8
Turnout 41,282 75.6 0.0
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1966: Perth and East Perthshire[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian MacArthur 22,129 56.5 -1.4
Labour James Jennings 10,911 27.9 +3.2
SNP Malcolm B Shaw 6,128 15.6 -1.8
Majority 11,218 28.6 -4.6
Turnout 39,168 72.3 -3.3
Conservative hold Swing -2.3

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: Perth and East Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian MacArthur 21,860 52.1 -4.4
Labour Valerie A. Friel 9,972 23.8 -4.1
SNP Duncan C. Murray 7,112 17.0 +1.4
Liberal Richard Livsey 3,011 7.2 New
Majority 11,888 28.3 -0.3
Turnout 41,955 73.5 +1.2
Conservative hold Swing -0.2
General election February 1974: Perth and East Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Ian MacArthur 21,167 47.3 −4.8
SNP Douglas Crawford 12,192 27.2 +3.4
Labour Valerie A. Friel 6,784 15.2 −8.6
Liberal K. Smith 4,644 10.4 +3.2
Majority 8,975 20.1 -8.2
Turnout 44,787 78.3 +4.8
Conservative hold Swing
General election October 1974: Perth and East Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Douglas Crawford 17,337 40.8 +13.6
Conservative Ian MacArthur 16,544 38.9 −8.4
Labour J. White 5,805 13.7 −1.5
Liberal R. Duncan 2,851 6.7 −3.7
Majority 793 1.9 N/A
Turnout 42,537 73.8 -4.5
SNP gain from Conservative Swing +11.0
General election 1979: Perth and East Perthshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative William Connoll Walker 20,153 42.0 +3.1
SNP Douglas Crawford 17,050 35.5 −5.3
Labour W.F. McKenzie 6,432 13.4 −0.3
Liberal B. Goudie 4,410 9.2 +2.5
Majority 3,103 6.5 N/A
Turnout 48,045 77.3 +3.5
Conservative gain from SNP Swing +4.2

Notes and references
  1. "'Perth and East Perthshire', Feb 1974 - May 1983". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  2. Boundaries of Parliamentary Constituencies 1885-1972 (ISBN 0-900178-09-4), F. W. S. Craig 1972
  3. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "P" (part 1)
  4. British parliamentary election results, 1950-1973 by FWS Craig
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