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
Created	1999
Party	Liberal Democrat
MSP	Beatrice Wishart
Local council	Shetland 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]

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Tavish Scott	Liberal Democrat
	2019 by-election	Beatrice Wishart	Liberal Democrat

Election results

2010s

Tavish Scott

2019 Shetland by-election[4]

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[5]

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. "Radio Shetland hosts by-election hustings". BBC News. Retrieved 15 October 2019.
5. "Elections - Shetland Islands Council". www.shetland.gov.uk.