Argyll and Bute (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Argyll and Bute 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 also one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Not to be confused with Argyll and Bute (UK Parliament constituency).

Argyll and Bute
county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Argyll and Bute shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	Mike Russell
Council area	Argyll and Bute

Electoral region

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

The Argyll and Bute constituency is part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region; the other seven constituencies are Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn, Moray, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney, Shetland 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 Argyll and Bute constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of an existing Westminster constituency. In 2005, however, the Westminster (House of Commons) constituency was enlarged slightly.[1]

The Holyrood constituency covers most of the Argyll and Bute council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Dumbarton constituency, which is in the West Scotland electoral region. The Argyll and Bute Westminster constituency has covered the whole of the council area since 2005.

From the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, boundary changes altered the existing Argyll and Bute constituency. All but three electoral wards of the Argyll and Bute council area were used in the creation of the new seat, namely:

• South Kintyre, Kintyre and the Islands, Mid Argyll, Oban South and the Isles, Oban North and Lorn, Cowal, Dunoon, Isle of Bute

Member of the Scottish Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1999	George Lyon	Liberal Democrats
	2007	Jim Mather	Scottish National Party
	2011	Michael Russell

Election results

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Michael Russell	13,561	46.0	-4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Alan Reid	7,583	25.7	+13.5
	Conservative	Donald Cameron	5,840	19.8	+1.5
	Labour	Mick Rice	2,492	8.5	-6.8
Majority			5,978	20.3	-12.0
Turnout			29,476	60.4	+6.7
	SNP hold		Swing

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Michael Russell	13,390	50.6	+16.1
	Conservative	Jamie McGrigor	4,847	18.3	-1.0
	Labour	Mick Rice	4,041	15.3	+0.9
	Liberal Democrats	Alison Hay	3,220	12.2	-22.3
	Independent	George Doyle	542	2.0	N/A
	Liberal	George White	436	1.6	N/A
Majority			8,543	32.3
Turnout			26,476	53.7
	SNP win (new boundaries)

2007 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	SNP	Jim Mather	9,944	34.5	+14.9
	Liberal Democrats	George Lyon	9,129	31.7	-3.4
	Conservative	Jamie McGrigor	5,571	19.4	-0.7
	Labour	Mary Galbraith	4,148	14.4	-3.9
Majority			815	2.8	N/A
Turnout			28,792	58.9	+1.1
	SNP gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	+9.2

2003 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal Democrats	George Lyon	9,817	35.1	+0.2
	Conservative	Dave Petrie	5,621	20.1	+3.6
	SNP	Jim Mather	5,485	19.6	−8.9
	Labour	Hugh Raven	5,107	18.3	−1.8
	Scottish Socialist	Des Divers	1,667	5.9	N/A
	Scottish Peoples Alliance	David Walker	251	0.9	N/A
Majority			4,196	15.0	+8.6
Turnout			27,948	57.8	−7.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

1999 Scottish Parliament election: Argyll and Bute

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal Democrats	George Lyon	11,226	34.9
	SNP	Duncan Hamilton	9,169	28.5
	Labour	Hugh Raven	6,470	20.1
	Conservative	David Petrie	5,312	16.5
Majority			2,057	6.4
Turnout			32,177	64.8
	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