Orkney Islands (constituency)
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Orkney Islands is a county constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering the council area of Orkney. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Under the additional-member electoral system used for elections to the Scottish Parliament, 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.[3]
| Orkney Islands | |
|---|---|
| County constituency for the Scottish Parliament | |
| |
 Orkney Islands shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region, and the region shown within Scotland | |
| Electoral region | Highlands and Islands |
| Population | 22,020 (2024)[1] |
| Electorate | 17,841 (2026)[2] |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1999 |
| Party | Liberal Democrats |
| MSP | Liam McArthur |
| Council area | Orkney Islands |
Orkney Islands has been held by the Liberal Democrats at all elections since the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, with the current MSP being Liam McArthur, who won the seat at the 2007 Scottish Parliament election. The former Deputy First Minister Jim Wallace represented the constituency from 1999 to 2007.
Electoral region
Orkney Islands is part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region; the other seven constituencies are: Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn, Moray, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Shetland Islands 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 Orkney Islands constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, for the 1999 Scottish Parliament election, to cover the Orkney Islands council area.[4] The constituency is protected in law due to its geographical separation from other parts of Scotland, and therefore its boundaries are not subject to review.[5]
For elections to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, Orkney is covered by the Orkney and Shetland constituency, which also covers Shetland.[6]
It contains all six of the Orkney Council wards: East Mainland, South Ronaldsay and Burray; Kirkwall East; Kirkwall West and Orphir; North Isles; Stromness and South Isles; West Mainland.
Member of the Scottish Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Jim Wallace | Liberal Democrat | |
| 2007 | Liam McArthur | ||
Election results
2020s
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Liam McArthur[a] | 7,221 | 70.2 |  7.8 |
4,037 | 39.4 | 8.2 | |
| SNP | Robert Leslie | 1,661 | 16.2 |  12.9 |
1,755 | 17.1 | 12.1 | |
| Green | 1,329 | 13.0 | 3.5 | |||||
| Reform | John Coupland | 844 | 8.2 | New | 1,250 | 12.2 | 11.9 | |
| Conservative | Jamie Halcro Johnston[b] | 358 | 3.5 | 2.5 |
958 | 9.4 | 9.6 | |
| Labour | Mike MacLeod | 199 | 1.9 | 0.6 |
463 | 4.5 | 1.8 | |
| Scottish Family | 100 | 1.0 | 0.1 | |||||
| Independent Green Voice | 58 | 0.6 | New | |||||
| ISP | 49 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Independent | Duncan MacPherson | 43 | 0.4 | New | ||||
| AtLS | 41 | 0.4 | New | |||||
| Scottish Christian | 38 | 0.4 | New | |||||
| Scottish Rural Party | 29 | 0.3 | New | |||||
| Scottish Libertarian | 28 | 0.3 |  | |||||
| Workers Party | 23 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Scottish Socialist | 19 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Advance UK | 16 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Independent | Mick Rice | 2 | 0.0 | New | ||||
| Majority | 5,560 | 54.1 | 20.8 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 10,283 | 10,238 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 32 | 36 | ||||||
| Turnout | 10,315 | 57.8 | 7.8 |
10,274 | 57.6 | 7.9 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | |||||||
Notes
| ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Liam McArthur[a] | 7,238 | 62.4 | 4.9 |
3,616 | 31.2 | 2.1 | |
| SNP | Robert Leslie | 3,369 | 29.1 | 4.7 |
3,384 | 29.2 | 5.6 | |
| Conservative | Sam Bown | 699 | 6.0 | 1.9 |
2,202 | 19.0 | 7.7 | |
| Green | 1,104 | 9.5 | 2.9 | |||||
| Labour | Coilla Drake | 290 | 2.5 | 0.4 |
725 | 6.3 | 1.5 | |
| Scottish Family | 127 | 1.1 | New | |||||
| Alba | 98 | 0.8 | New | |||||
| Independent | Andy Wightman[b] | 87 | 0.8 | New | ||||
| All for Unity | 63 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Scottish Libertarian | 32 | 0.3 | New | |||||
| Reform | 31 | 0.3 | New | |||||
| UKIP | 30 | 0.3 | 2.2 | |||||
| Abolish the Scottish Parliament | 28 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Freedom Alliance (UK) | 22 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Restore Scotland | 18 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| TUSC | 15 | 0.1 | New | |||||
| Independent | Hazel Mansfield | 4 | 0.0 | New | ||||
| Majority | 3,869 | 33.3 | 9.7 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 11,596 | 11,586 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 25 | 27 | ||||||
| Turnout | 11,621 | 65.6 | 3.4 |
11,613 | 65.5 | 3.4 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | 4.9 |
||||||
Notes
| ||||||||
2010s
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Liam McArthur[a] | 7,096 | 67.4 | 31.7 |
3,515 | 33.4 | 8.0 | |
| SNP | Donna Heddle | 2,562 | 24.3 | 0.8 |
2,491 | 23.6 | 12.2 | |
| Independent | James Stockan | 1,775 | 16.8 | New | ||||
| Conservative | Jamie Halcro Johnston | 435 | 4.1 | 4.3 |
1,193 | 11.3 | 0.5 | |
| Green | 696 | 6.6 | 0.4 | |||||
| Labour | Gerard McGarvey | 304 | 2.9 | 2.7 |
506 | 4.8 | 4.2 | |
| UKIP | 255 | 2.4 | 1.5 | |||||
| Independent | Paul Dawson | 137 | 1.3 | New | ||||
| Scottish Christian | 49 | 0.5 | 1.0 | |||||
| Solidarity | 30 | 0.3 | 0.1 | |||||
| RISE | 27 | 0.3 | New | |||||
| Majority | 4,534 | 43.1 | 32.6 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 10,534 | 10,537 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 28 | 19 | ||||||
| Turnout | 10,562 | 62.1 | 12.2 |
10,556 | 62.1 | 12.3 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | 16.3 |
||||||
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Liam McArthur[a] | 2,912 | 35.7 | 11.8 |
2,062 | 25.4 | ||
| Independent | James Stockan | 2,052 | 25.2 | New | ||||
| SNP | Donna Heddle | 2,044 | 25.1 | 6.2 |
2,906 | 35.8 | ||
| Conservative | Jamie Halcro Johnston | 686 | 8.4 | 10.5 |
875 | 10.8 | ||
| Labour | William Sharkey | 458 | 5.6 | 7.5 |
730 | 9.0 | ||
| Green | 501 | 6.2 | ||||||
| UKIP | 316 | 3.9 | ||||||
| All-Scotland Pensioners Party | 128 | 1.6 | ||||||
| Scottish Christian | 123 | 1.5 | ||||||
| BNP | 63 | 0.8 | ||||||
| Socialist Labour | 59 | 0.7 | ||||||
| Scottish Socialist | 30 | 0.4 | ||||||
| Solidarity | 18 | 0.2 | ||||||
| Others | 316 | 3.9 | ||||||
| Majority | 860 | 10.5 | 17.9 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 8,152 | 8,127 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 29 | 51 | ||||||
| Turnout | 8,181 | 49.9 | 3.5 |
8,178 | 49.8 | |||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | 9.0 |
||||||
2000s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Liam McArthur | 4,113 | 47.5 | +1.8 | |
| SNP | John Mowat | 1,637 | 18.9 | +5.7 | |
| Conservative | Helen Gardiner | 1,632 | 18.9 | −4.9 | |
| Labour | Iain MacDonald | 1,134 | 13.1 | +7.2 | |
| Independent | Barrie Johnson | 137 | 1.6 | New | |
| Majority | 2,476 | 28.6 | +6.7 | ||
| Turnout | 8,653 | 53.4 | +1.7 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | +3.4 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Jim Wallace | 3,659 | 45.7 | −21.7 | |
| Conservative | Christopher Zawadski | 1,904 | 23.8 | +8.2 | |
| SNP | John Mowat | 1,056 | 13.2 | +2.9 | |
| Scottish Socialist | John Aberdein | 914 | 11.42 | New | |
| Labour | Richard Meade | 471 | 5.9 | −0.9 | |
| Majority | 1,755 | 21.9 | −29.9 | ||
| Turnout | 8,004 | 51.7 | −5.3 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | -15.0 | |||
1990s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Jim Wallace | 6,010 | 67.4 | ||
| Conservative | Christopher Zawadski | 1,391 | 15.6 | ||
| SNP | John Mowat | 917 | 10.3 | ||
| Labour | Angus Macleod | 600 | 6.7 | ||
| Majority | 4,619 | 51.8 | |||
| Turnout | 8,918 | 57.0 | |||
| Liberal Democrats win (new seat) | |||||