Perthshire North (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Not to be confused with Perth and North Perthshire (UK Parliament constituency).

Perthshire North
County constituency for the Scottish Parliament
Perthshire North shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	2011
Party	Scottish National Party
MSP	John Swinney
Council area	Perth and Kinross
Created from	North Tayside, Perth

Perthshire North is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, it is one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

For the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, the old constituency of Perth was abolished and replaced by Perthshire North and Perthshire South and Kinross-shire.

Electoral region

See also: Mid Scotland and Fife (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

The other eight constituencies of the Mid Scotland and Fife region are Clackmannanshire and Dunblane, Cowdenbeath, Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy, Mid Fife and Glenrothes, North East Fife, Perthshire South and Kinross-shire and Stirling.

The region covers all of the Clackmannanshire council area, all of the Fife council area, all of the Perth and Kinross council area and all of the Stirling council area.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of a pre-existing Westminster (House of Commons) constituency. The area has been covered by Westminster constituencies with differing names but similar boundaries since 1918, but in 2005 Scottish Westminster constituencies were mostly replaced with new constituencies. Most of the Perth Westminster constituency was merged into Ochil and South Perthshire. Part, including the town of Perth, was merged into Perth and North Perthshire.

Perth and Kinross is represented in the Scottish Parliament by two constituencies, Perthshire North and Perthshire South and Kinross-shire.

The electoral wards used in Perthshire North are:

• Carse of Gowrie, Strathmore, Blairgowrie and Glens, Highland, Strathtay, Perth City Centre

Member of the Scottish Parliament

As North Tayside

John Swinney has represented the constituency for the SNP since the first Scottish election in 1999. He is the Cabinet secretary for Education after previously being Cabinet secretary for Finance and was SNP leader from 2000 to 2004.

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	1999	John Swinney	Scottish National Party
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	2003
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	2007

As Perthshire North

Election		Member	Party
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	2011	John Swinney	Scottish National Party
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" |	2016

Election results

2010s

2016 Scottish Parliament election: Perthshire North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	John Swinney	16,526	48.6	-12.2
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser	13,190	38.8	+12.5
	Labour	Anna McEwan	2,604	7.7	-1.2
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Barrett	1,750	5.0	+1.0
Majority			3,336	9.8	-24.7
Turnout			34,070
	SNP hold		Swing	-12.4

2011 Scottish Parliament election: Perthshire North

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	John Swinney	18,219	60.8	+10.5
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser	7,866	26.3	-2.5
	Labour	Pete Cheema	2,672	8.9	+0.4
	Liberal Democrats	Victor Clements	1,196	4.0	-7.8
Majority			10,353	34.5	N/A
Turnout			29,958		N/A
	SNP win (new seat)