Shetland (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Shetland is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. It is one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Shetland
county constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Shetland shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created1999
PartyLiberal Democrat
MSPBeatrice Wishart
Local councilShetland Islands

Electoral region
See also: Highlands and Islands (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

Shetland is part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region; the other seven constituencies of are Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn, Moray, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

The region covers most of Argyll and Bute council area, all of the Highland council area, most of the Moray council area, all of the Orkney Islands council area, all of the Shetland Islands council area and all of Na h-Eileanan Siar.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Shetland constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, to cover the Shetland Isles council area. In the House of Commons of the British Parliament at (Westminster), the council area is covered by the Orkney and Shetland constituency, which also covers the Orkney Islands council area.[1]

Member of the Scottish Parliament

The seat was represented by Tavish Scott, former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, from the 1999 election until he stood down in June 2019.[2] The subsequent by-election was won by Beatrice Wishart, who held the seat for the Liberal Democrats.[3]

ElectionMemberParty
1999 Tavish Scott Liberal Democrat
2019 by-election Beatrice Wishart Liberal Democrat

2020s
2021 Scottish Parliament election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP Tom Wills[4]

2010s
Tavish Scott
2019 Shetland by-election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Beatrice Wishart 5,659 47.9 -19.5
SNP Tom Wills 3,822 32.3 +9.2
Independent Ryan Thomson 1,286 10.9 N/A
Conservative Brydon Goodlad 425 3.6 -0.1
Scottish Green Debra Nicolson 189 1.6 N/A
Labour Johan Adamson 152 1.3 -4.6
Independent Michael Stout 134 1.1 N/A
Independent Ian Scott 66 0.6 N/A
UKIP Stuart Martin 60 0.5 N/A
Independent Peter Tait 31 0.3 N/A
Majority 1,837 15.6 -28.7
Turnout 11,824 66.4 +4.3
Liberal Democrats hold Swing -14.4
2016 Scottish Parliament election: Shetland[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Tavish Scott 7,440 67.4 +19.9
SNP Danus Skene 2,545 23.1 +11.0
Labour Robina Barton 651 5.9 -0.7
Conservative Cameron Smith 405 3.7 -0.2
Majority 4,895 44.3 +27.1
Turnout 11,087 62.1 +8.7
Liberal Democrats hold Swing
2011 Scottish Parliament election: Shetland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Tavish Scott 4,462 47.5 -19.2
Independent Billy Fox 2,845 30.3 N/A
SNP Jean Urquhart 1,134 12.1 -4.5
Labour Jamie Kerr 620 6.6 -0.2
Conservative Sandy Cross 330 3.5 -6.4
Majority 1,617 17.2 -32.9
Turnout 9,391 53.4 -4.0
Liberal Democrats hold Swing -7.4

2000s
2007 Scottish Parliament election: Shetland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Tavish Scott 6,531 66.7 +20.6
SNP Val Simpson 1,622 16.6 -3.4
Conservative Mark Jones 972 9.9 -4.9
Labour Scott Burnett 670 6.8 -3.4
Majority 4,409 50.1 +24.0
Turnout 9,795 57.3 +5.4
Liberal Democrats hold Swing +12.1
Scottish Parliament Election 2003: Shetland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Tavish Scott 3,989 46.1 - 8.4
SNP Willie Ross 1,729 20.0 + 5.7
Conservative John Firth 1,281 14.8 + 6.1
Labour Peter Hamilton 880 10.2 - 12.3
Scottish Socialist Peter Andrews 766 8.9 N/A
Majority 2,260 26.1 - 6.0
Turnout 8,645 51.8 - 6.9
Liberal Democrats hold Swing -7.0

1990s
Scottish Parliament Election 1999: Shetland
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Democrats Tavish Scott 5,455 54.5 N/A
Labour Jonathan Wills 2,241 22.4 N/A
SNP Willie Ross 1,430 14.3 N/A
Conservative Gary Robinson 872 8.7 N/A
Majority 3,214 32.1 N/A
Turnout 9,998 58.3 N/A
Liberal Democrats win (new seat)

Notes
  1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Former Lib Dem leader Tavish Scott to quit Holyrood". BBC News. 26 June 2019. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  3. Brooks, Libby (30 August 2019). "Shetland byelection: Liberal Democrats retain Scottish parliament seat". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  4. https://mobile.twitter.com/tprwills/status/1309527166128922624?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
  5. "Radio Shetland hosts by-election hustings". BBC News. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
  6. "Elections - Shetland Islands Council". www.shetland.gov.uk.
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