Caithness and Sutherland (UK Parliament constituency)

Caithness and Sutherland
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
Subdivisions of Scotland	Highland
1918 (1918)–1997 (1997)
Replaced by	Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross
Created from	Caithness, Sutherland and Wick Burghs

Caithness and Sutherland was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 to 1997. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.

The constituency was created by merging together the constituencies of Caithness and Sutherland and the Dornoch and Wick components of the Wick Burghs constituency.

In 1997 the constituency was superseded by the creation of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross, which merged together Caithness and Sutherland and the Easter Ross area of Ross, Cromarty and Skye.

Caithness and Sutherland was geographically the largest constituency in the United Kingdom.

1918 constituency reform

The creation of Caithness and Sutherland as a single constituency was a part of a package of boundary reform also affecting many other parts of the United Kingdom. The reform was the first since the Redistribution of Seats Act of 1885, and its main aim was to make constituencies more equal in terms of the sizes of their electorates.

Local government areas

1918 to 1975

When created the constituency covered the county of Caithness and the county of Sutherland, including the burghs of Dornoch, Thurso and Wick.

1975 to 1983

In 1975 counties and burghs were abolished and the constituency became an area within the Highland region. The region included two new local government districts, called Caithness and Sutherland. The Caithness district was entirely within the constituency. The Sutherland district had a small area, the Kincardine electoral division, within the Ross and Cromarty constituency.

1983 to 1996

Constituency boundaries were redrawn in 1983, and the Caithness and Sutherland constituency was enlarged to cover the whole of the Sutherland district.

1996 to 1997

In 1996 the districts were abolished and the Highland region became a unitary council area. Throughout the remainder of the life of the constituency the Highland Council had area committees representing the areas of the former districts.

Members of Parliament

Election		Member	Party
	1918	Sir Leicester Harmsworth, Bt	Coalition Liberal
	1922	Sir Archibald Sinclair, Bt	National Liberal
	1922		Liberal
	1945	Eric Leslie Gandar Dower	Conservative
	1950	Sir David Robertson	Conservative
	1959		Independent Conservative
	1964	George Y Mackie	Liberal
	1966	Robert Maclennan	Labour
	1981		SDP
	1983		SDP-Liberal Alliance
	1988		Liberal Democrats

At the time of the 1918 general election Sir Robert Harmsworth had been, immediately before the election, MP for the constituency of Caithness.

In the general election of 1997 Robert Maclennan was elected MP for the then new constituency of Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.

Election results

Election in the 1990s

General Election 9 April 1992: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrat	Robert Adam Ross Maclennan	10,032	45.1%	-8.6
	Conservative	George Bruce	4,667	20.9%	+4.2
	SNP	Kerr MacGregor	4,049	18.2%	+8.2
	Labour	Michael Coyne	3,483	15.6%	+0.7
Majority			5,365
Turnout
	Liberal Democrat hold		Swing	-6.4

Election in the 1980s

General Election 11 June 1987: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	Robert Adam Ross Maclennan	12,338	53.7%	+1.7
	Conservative	R Hamilton	3,844	16.7%	-5.9
	Labour	A Byron	3,437	14.9	+0.7
	SNP	Ker MacGregor	2,317	10%	-1
	Independent Liberal	W A Mowat	686	2.9%	N/A
	Green	B Planterose	333	1.4%	N/A
Majority			8,494
Turnout
	SDP–Liberal Alliance hold		Swing	+3.8

General Election 9 June 1983: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SDP–Liberal Alliance	Robert Adam Ross Maclennan	12,119	52%	N/A
	Conservative	Alistair Scouller	5,276	22.6%	-7.9
	Labour	Danny Carrigan	3,325	14.2%	-27.2
	SNP	Jim Ingram	2,568	11%	-16.9
Majority			6,843
Turnout
	SDP–Liberal Alliance gain from Labour		Swing

Elections in the 1970s

General Election 3 May 1979: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Adam Ross Maclennan	9,613	41.4%	+7.5
	Conservative	Richard H Wardrop	7,074	30.5%	+11.3
	SNP	Robin Shaw	6,487	27.9%	+3.6
Majority			2,539
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing	-1.9

General Election 10 October 1974: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Adam Ross Maclennan	7,491	33.9%	-2.2
	SNP	Eric Alexander Sutherland	5,381	24.3%	+8.2
	Liberal	Michael R Burnett	4,949	22.4%	-3.8
	Conservative	Albert McQuarrie	4,240	19.2%	-2.3
Majority			2,110
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing	-5.2

General Election 28 February 1974: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Adam Ross Maclennan	8,574	36.1%	-0.6
	Liberal	Michael R Burnett	6,222	26.2%	+0.8
	Conservative	G Susan Bell	5,104	21.5	-0.8
	SNP	Eric Alexander Sutherland	3,814	16.1%	+0.7
Majority			2,352
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing	-0.7

General Election 18 June 1970: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Adam Ross Maclennan	8,768	36.7%	-2.4
	Liberal	George Y Mackie	6,063	25.4%	-13.4
	Conservative	John M Young	5,334	22.3%	+0.4
	SNP	Donald G Barr	3,690	15.4%	N/A
Majority			2,705
Turnout
	Labour hold		Swing	+5.5

Elections in the 1960s

General Election 31 March 1966: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Adam Ross Maclennan	8,308	39.1%	+8.9
	Conservative	Hamish Watt	4,662	21.9%	N/A
	Liberal	George Y Mackie	8,244	38.8%	+2.7
Majority			64
Turnout
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing	+3.1

General Election 15 October 1964: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	George Y Mackie	7,894	36.1%	N/A
	Labour	John B Urquart	6,619	30.2%	-4.4
	Unionist	Patrick Maitland	4,550	20.8%	N/A
	Independent Unionist	John M Young	2,795	12.7%	-52.6
Majority			1,275
Turnout
	Liberal gain from Independent Unionist		Swing

Elections in the 1950s

General Election 8 October 1959: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Unionist	Sir David Robertson	12,163	65.3%	N/A
	Labour	Ronald King Murray	6,438	34.6	+5.6
Majority			5,725
Turnout
	Independent Unionist gain from Unionist		Swing

General Election 26 May 1955: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Sir David Robertson	10,453	56.4%	+7.2
	Labour	Hugh F Sutherland	5,384	29%	-5.1
	Liberal	John S Mowat	2,674	14.4	-2.1%
Majority			5,089
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing	+6.2

General Election 25 October 1951: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	David Robertson	9,814	49.2%	+13.2
	Labour	Richard Murray	6,799	34.1%	+4.8
	Liberal	Peter J M McEwan	3,299	16.5%	-18.1
Majority			3,115
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing	+4.2

General Election 23 February 1950: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	David Robertson	6,969	36%	+2.5
	Liberal	Sir Archibald Sinclair	6,700	34.6	+1.5
	Labour	Alasdair MacArthur	5,676	29.3%	-4
Majority			269
Turnout
	Unionist hold		Swing	+3.3

Election in the 1940s

General Election 5 to 19 July 1945: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Eric Leslie Gandar Dower	5,564	33.5%
	Labour	Robert MacInnes	5,558	33.4%
	Liberal	Sir Archibald Sinclair	5,503	33.1%
Majority			6
Turnout
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing

Election in the 1930s

General Election 14 November 1935: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Archibald Sinclair	12,071
	Liberal National	William Bruce	4,621
Majority			7,650
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 27 October 1931: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Archibald Sinclair
Majority			Unopposed
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

Election in the 1920s

General Election 30 May 1929: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Sir Archibald Sinclair	13,462
	Unionist	J A L Duncan	3,041
	Labour	C G Oman	1,711
Majority			10,421
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 29 October 1924: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Archibald Sinclair
Majority			Unopposed
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 6 December 1923: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Archibald Sinclair
Majority			Unopposed
Turnout
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election 15 November 1922: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National Liberal	Archibald Sinclair	7,715
	Liberal	Sir Robert Leicester Harmsworth
Majority			1,912
Turnout
	National Liberal hold		Swing

Election in the 1910s

General Election 14 December 1918: Caithness and Sutherland
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Coalition Liberal	Robert Leicester Harmsworth	6,749
	Independent	Francis John Robertson	4,036
Majority			2,733
Turnout
	Coalition Liberal win (new seat)

See also

• Former United Kingdom Parliament constituencies