Stirling (UK Parliament constituency)
56°07′08″N 4°04′55″W / 56.119°N 4.082°W
Stirling | |
---|---|
County constituency for the House of Commons | |
![]() Boundary of Stirling in Scotland | |
Subdivisions of Scotland | Stirling |
Major settlements | Bridge of Allan, Crianlarich, Dunblane, Stirling, Tyndrum |
Current constituency | |
Created | 1983 |
Member of Parliament | Alyn Smith (Scottish National Party) |
Seats | One |
Created from | Stirling, Falkirk & Grangemouth, Stirlingshire West and Kinross & West Perthshire[1] |
Stirling is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election.
Boundaries
1983–1997: The Stirling District electoral divisions of Airthrey, Bannockburn, Castle, Dounebraes, Menteith, Queensland, St Ninians, Strathendrick, Viewforth, and Wallace.
1997–2005: The Stirling District electoral divisions of Bannockburn, Castle, Dounebraes, Menteith, Queensland, St Ninians, Strathendrick, Viewforth, and Wallace.
2005–present: The Stirling council area.
The constituency covers the whole of the Stirling council area. Most of the area is rural, which has tended to vote Conservative, but there are some large towns in the East, most notably Stirling itself, which used to vote Labour, but has now moved towards SNP. A similar constituency, also called Stirling, is used by the Scottish Parliament.
History
The area covered by the modern constituency was first represented in the British House of Commons in consequence of the Act of Union 1707 in 1708. The county town of Stirling was represented as part of Stirling Burghs and the county was represented by Stirlingshire, each returning one member.
In 1918, Stirling Burghs was abolished and Stirling was then represented by the Stirling & Falkirk Burghs and from 1974 Stirling, Falkirk & Grangemouth constituencies. Along with Clackmannanshire the county was meanwhile represented by Clackmannan and Eastern Stirlingshire and Stirling and Clackmannan Western (later Stirlingshire West).
The modern constituency of Stirling was established in 1983. In 2005 the west portion of Ochil was moved into Stirling.
Constituency profile and voting patterns
Constituency profile
The seat is large, in Central Scotland and covers the Stirling council area.
Its population is concentrated around the historic City of Stirling and surrounding areas of Bannockburn, Bridge of Allan and Dunblane on its eastern fringes around the River Forth and its lower tributaries. This area consists of a mixture of Conservative-leaning suburbs to the north and west, such as Bridge of Allan and Dunblane and the Stirling suburbs of Cambusbarron, Kings Park and Torbrex, and somewhat more secessionist and poorer SNP or Labour-voting areas such as Raploch and south-east Stirling, in addition to Bannockburn, and the villages of Cowie, Fallin and Plean south-east of the city.
Boundaries stretch up to the west following the Valleys of the River Forth and Teith, running up into the wooded glens of the Trossachs on the eastern side of the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, such as the more sparsely populated eastern shore of Loch Lomond, and it takes in a variety of fresh water lochs, such as Loch Katrine and Loch Venachar.
A number of small villages dot the corridors of the A84, A85 and A811 roads, including Callander, widely recognised as the gateway to the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, and more widely as the gateway to the Scottish Highlands. The scenic areas mentioned have proven especially rich territory for successful Conservative candidates and campaigns, hosting many retirees and wealthy investors.
Voting patterns
When the Stirling constituency was first created for the 1983 general election combining northern elements of the West Stirlingshire constituency with the town of Stirling from the Stirling, Falkirk and Grangemouth constituency and southern elements of the old Kinross and West Perthshire constituency it was thought of as a fairly safe Conservative seat, with Michael Forsyth winning the seat with a 5,133 vote majority. It became a tight Labour-Conservative marginal in 1987, and again in 1992, being retained by Michael Forsyth with less than 1,000 votes at both elections.
Labour gained Stirling at their 1997 landslide election victory, then held the seat and it's coterminous constituency of Stirling in the Scottish Parliament, usually with a majority of over 10% of the vote, until the SNP's breakthrough ten years later in 2007. The Westminster constituency of Stirling remained under Labour's control in 2010; however, it subsequently fell to Steven Paterson of the Scottish National Party in their landslide victory across Scotland in 2015. More recently, the Conservatives have made gains in the area, coming second in the overlapping constituency of Stirling in the Scottish Parliament, and taking more votes than the SNP at the 2017 Stirling Council election. At the 2017 general election, Stephen Kerr unseated Paterson by a narrow majority of 148 votes, becoming the first elected Conservative MP for Stirling in 25 years.[2] Kerr was subsequently defeated by Alyn Smith in 2019.[3][4]
Stirling voted against Scottish independence in 2014 on an above-average margin of 59.8% "No" 40.2% "Yes". At the United Kingdom European Union membership referendum on 23 June 2016, an above-average margin of 67.7% of the electorate in Stirling voted for the United Kingdom to remain a member of the European Union with 32.3% voting for the United Kingdom to leave the European Union.
Members of Parliament
Election | Member[5] | Party | |
---|---|---|---|
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 1983 | Michael Forsyth | Conservative |
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 1997 | Dame Anne McGuire | Labour |
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" | | 2015 | Steven Paterson | SNP |
style="background-color: Template:Conservative Party (UK)/meta/color" | | 2017 | Stephen Kerr | Conservative |
style="background-color: Template:Scottish National Party/meta/color" | | 2019 | Alyn Smith | SNP |
Elections
Elections of the 2010s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNP | Alyn Smith | 26,895 | 51.1 | ![]() | |
Conservative | Stephen Kerr | 17,641 | 33.5 | ![]() | |
Labour | Mary-Kate Ross | 4,275 | 8.1 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Fayzan Rehman | 2,867 | 5.4 | ![]() | |
Scottish Green | Bryan Quinn | 942 | 1.8 | New | |
Majority | 9,254 | 17.6 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 52,620 | 76.8 | ![]() | ||
SNP gain from Conservative | Swing | ![]() |
This was the largest increase in the SNP's vote share at the 2019 general election.[6]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Stephen Kerr[7] | 18,291 | 37.1 | ![]() | |
SNP | Steven Paterson[8] | 18,143 | 36.8 | ![]() | |
Labour | Chris Kane | 10,902 | 22.1 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Wendy Chamberlain | 1,683 | 3.4 | ![]() | |
Women's Equality | Kirstein Rummery[9] | 337 | 0.7 | New | |
Majority | 148 | 0.3 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 49,356 | 74.3 | ![]() | ||
Conservative gain from SNP | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SNP | Steven Paterson | 23,783 | 45.6 | ![]() | |
Labour | Johanna Boyd | 13,303 | 25.5 | ![]() | |
Conservative | Stephen Kerr | 12,051 | 23.1 | ![]() | |
Scottish Green | Mark Ruskell | 1,606 | 3.1 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Elisabeth Wilson | 1,392 | 2.7 | ![]() | |
Majority | 10,480 | 20.1 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 52,135 | 77.5 | ![]() | ||
SNP gain from Labour | Swing | ![]() |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Anne McGuire | 19,558 | 41.8 | ![]() | |
Conservative | Bob H. Dalrymple | 11,204 | 23.9 | ![]() | |
SNP | Alison J. Lindsay | 8,091 | 17.3 | ![]() | |
Liberal Democrats | Graham Reed | 6,797 | 14.5 | ![]() | |
Scottish Green | Mark Ruskell | 746 | 1.6 | ![]() | |
UKIP | Paul Henke | 395 | 0.8 | ![]() | |
Majority | 8,354 | 17.9 | ![]() | ||
Turnout | 46,791 | 70.8 | ![]() | ||
Labour hold | Swing | ![]() |
Elections of the 2000s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Anne McGuire | 15,729 | 36.0 | −7.0 | |
Conservative | Stephen Kerr | 10,962 | 25.1 | +1.4 | |
Liberal Democrats | Kelvin Holdsworth | 9,052 | 20.7 | +9.2 | |
SNP | Frances McGlinchey | 5,503 | 12.6 | −4.5 | |
Scottish Green | Richard Illingworth | 1,302 | 3.0 | +0.9 | |
Scottish Socialist | Rowland Sheret | 458 | 1.0 | −1.7 | |
Independent | James McDonald | 261 | 0.6 | New | |
Christian Vote | Michael Willis | 215 | 0.5 | New | |
UKIP | Matthew Desmond | 209 | 0.5 | New | |
Majority | 4,767 | 10.9 | −6.5 | ||
Turnout | 43,691 | 67.7 | +2.8 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | −4.2 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Anne McGuire | 15,175 | 42.2 | −5.2 | |
Conservative | Geoff Mawdsley | 8,901 | 24.8 | −7.7 | |
SNP | Fiona Macaulay | 5,877 | 16.4 | +3.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | Clive Freeman | 4,208 | 11.7 | +5.5 | |
Scottish Socialist | Charles Mullen | 1,012 | 2.8 | New | |
Scottish Green | Mark Ruskell | 757 | 2.1 | New | |
Majority | 6,274 | 17.4 | +2.5 | ||
Turnout | 35,930 | 67.7 | −14.1 | ||
Labour hold | Swing | +1.2 |
Elections of the 1990s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Anne McGuire | 20,382 | 47.4 | +8.8 | |
Conservative | Michael Forsyth | 13,971 | 32.5 | −6.7 | |
SNP | Ewan Dow | 5,752 | 13.4 | −1.1 | |
Liberal Democrats | Alistair Tough | 2,675 | 6.2 | +0.5 | |
UKIP | William McMurdo | 154 | 0.4 | New | |
Majority | 6,411 | 14.9 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 42,958 | 81.8 | −0.5 | ||
Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +7.8 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Michael Forsyth | 19,174 | 40.0 | +1.7 | |
Labour | Catherine Phillips | 18,471 | 38.5 | +2.3 | |
SNP | Gerald Fisher | 6,558 | 13.7 | +3.0 | |
Liberal Democrats | William Robertson | 3,337 | 7.0 | −7.8 | |
Scottish Green | William Thompson | 342 | 0.7 | New | |
Monster Raving Loony | Ross Sharp | 68 | 0.1 | New | |
Majority | 703 | 1.5 | −0.6 | ||
Turnout | 47,950 | 82.3 | +2.9 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Elections of the 1980s
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Michael Forsyth | 17,591 | 38.3 | −1.7 | |
Labour | Michael Connarty | 16,643 | 36.2 | +8.3 | |
Liberal | Ian McFarlane | 6,804 | 14.8 | −9.1 | |
SNP | Iain Lawson | 4,897 | 10.7 | +2.5 | |
Majority | 948 | 2.1 | −10.0 | ||
Turnout | 45,935 | 79.4 | +3.7 | ||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Michael Forsyth | 17,039 | 40.0 | +2.8 | |
Labour | Michael Connarty | 11,906 | 27.9 | −7.7 | |
Liberal | Ross Finnie | 10,174 | 23.9 | +12.6 | |
SNP | William Houston | 3,488 | 8.2 | −7.7 | |
Majority | 5,133 | 12.1 | N/A | ||
Turnout | 42,607 | 75.7 | N/A | ||
Conservative win (new seat) |
References
- ^ "'Stirling', June 1983 up to May 1997". ElectionWeb Project. Cognitive Computing Limited. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
- ^ Smith, Iain (2 March 2019). "Stirling election decided by 148 votes". Stirling News.
- ^ a b "UK Parliamentary Election". Stirling Council. Retrieved 16 November 2019.
- ^ a b "Stirling parliamentary constituency". Election 2019. BBC News. 13 December 2019. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 5)
- ^ Elise Uberoi; Carl Baker; Richard Cracknell (19 December 2019). "General Election 2019: results and analysis" (PDF). House of Commons Library. UK Parliament.
- ^ Wallace, Mark (24 April 2017). "Lee Scott back for Ilford North; Vicky Ford in final Chelmsford three". Conservative Home.
- ^ Bews, Lynsey (22 April 2017). "General Election: SNP reselects 54 MPs". The Scotsman. JPI Media.
- ^ Paterson, Kirsteen (4 May 2017). "Women's Equality Party to take on 'two Steves and a Chris' in Stirling". The National.
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Results Election 2015 for the Stirling Constituency". Stirling Council. Archived from the original on 23 April 2016. Retrieved 26 August 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 2001". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1997". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1992". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1987". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
- ^ "Election Data 1983". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.