Shetland Islands (Scottish Parliament constituency)
Constituency of the Scottish Parliament
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Shetland Islands is a county constituency of the Scottish Parliament covering the council area of Shetland. 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.[2]
| Shetland Islands | |
|---|---|
| County constituency for the Scottish Parliament | |
| |
 Shetland Islands shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region, and the region shown within Scotland | |
| Electoral region | Highlands and Islands |
| Population | 23,190 (2024)[1] |
| Electorate | 17,965 (2022)[2] |
| Current constituency | |
| Created | 1999 |
| Party | Liberal Democrat |
| MSP | Beatrice Wishart |
| Local council | Shetland Islands |
The Shetland Islands constituency has been held by the Liberal Democrats at all elections since the formation of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, with the current MSP being Beatrice Wishart, who won the seat at a 2019 by-election held following the resignation of former party leader Tavish Scott.
Electoral region
The Shetland Islands constituency forms 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, Orkney 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 Shetland Islands constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, to cover the Shetland Isles council area.[3] 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.[4]
In the House of Commons of the British Parliament, Shetland is covered by the Orkney and Shetland constituency, which also covers Orkney.[5]
It contains all seven of the Shetland Council wards: North Isles; Shetland North; Shetland West; Shetland Central; Shetland South; Lerwick North; Lerwick South.
Member of the Scottish Parliament
The seat was represented by Tavish Scott, former Scottish Liberal Democrats leader, from the 1999 election until he stood down in June 2019.[6] The subsequent by-election was won by Beatrice Wishart, who held the seat for the Liberal Democrats.[7]
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Tavish Scott | Liberal Democrats | |
| 2019 by-election | Beatrice Wishart | ||
Election results
2020s
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| SNP | Hannah Goodlad | |||||||
| Labour | John Erskine | |||||||
| Liberal Democrats | Emma MacDonald | |||||||
| Reform | Vic Currie | |||||||
| Green | Alex Armitage | |||||||
| Conservative | Douglas Barnett | |||||||
| Sovereignty / Alliance to Liberate Scotland | Brian Nugent[a] | |||||||
| Independent | Peter Tait | |||||||
| Advance UK | ||||||||
| AtLS | ||||||||
| ISP | ||||||||
| Independent Green Voice | ||||||||
| Scottish Christian | ||||||||
| Scottish Family | ||||||||
| Scottish Libertarian | ||||||||
| Scottish Rural Party | ||||||||
| Scottish Socialist | ||||||||
| Sovereignty | ||||||||
| Workers Party | ||||||||
| Independent | Duncan MacPherson | |||||||
| Independent | Mick Rice | |||||||
| Majority | ||||||||
| Valid votes | ||||||||
| Invalid votes | ||||||||
| Turnout | ||||||||
Notes
| ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Beatrice Wishart[b] | 5,803 | 48.6 |  18.8 |
3,157 | 26.5 | 9.1 | |
| SNP | Tom Wills | 4,997 | 41.9 |  18.8 |
4,108 | 34.5 | 7.9 | |
| Conservative | Nick Tulloch | 503 | 4.2 | 0.5 |
1,865 | 15.7 | 4.8 | |
| Green | 1,154 | 9.7 | 3.0 | |||||
| Labour | Martin Kerr | 424 | 3.6 | 2.3 |
1,003 | 8.4 | 0.7 | |
| Independent | Peter Tait | 116 | 1.0 | New | ||||
| Alba | 104 | 0.9 | New | |||||
| Scottish Family | 93 | 0.8 | New | |||||
| Independent | Andy Wightman[c] | 70 | 0.6 | New | ||||
| All for Unity | 60 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Reform | 57 | 0.5 | New | |||||
| Restore Scotland | Brian Nugent | 90 | 0.8 | New | 53 | 0.4 | New | |
| Abolish the Scottish Parliament | 49 | 0.4 | New | |||||
| Scottish Libertarian | 48 | 0.4 | New | |||||
| UKIP | 38 | 0.3 | 2.4 | |||||
| TUSC | 25 | 0.2 | New | |||||
| Freedom Alliance (UK) | 13 | 0.1 | New | |||||
| Independent | Hazel Mansfield | 9 | 0.1 | New | ||||
| Majority | 806 | 6.7 | 37.6 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 11,933 | 11,906 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 35 | 30 | ||||||
| Turnout | 11,968 | 66.0 | 3.7 |
11,936 | 65.8 | 3.5 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | 18.8 |
||||||
Notes
| ||||||||
2010s
| 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 | New | |
| Conservative | Brydon Goodlad | 425 | 3.6 | 0.1 | |
| Green | Debra Nicolson | 189 | 1.6 | New | |
| Labour | Johan Adamson | 152 | 1.3 | 4.6 | |
| Independent | Michael Stout | 134 | 1.1 | New | |
| Independent | Ian Scott | 66 | 0.6 | New | |
| UKIP | Stuart Martin | 60 | 0.5 | New | |
| Independent | Peter Tait | 31 | 0.3 | New | |
| Majority | 1,837 | 15.6 | 28.7 | ||
| Total valid votes | 11,824 | ||||
| Rejected ballots | 11 | ||||
| Turnout | 11,835 | 66.5 | 4.2 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | 14.4 |
|||
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Tavish Scott[a] | 7,440 | 67.4 | 19.9 |
3,937 | 35.7 | 3.8 | |
| SNP | Danus Skene | 2,545 | 23.1 | 11.0 |
2,932 | 26.6 | 2.2 | |
| Labour | Robina Barton | 651 | 5.9 | 0.7 |
1,003 | 9.1 | 1.4 | |
| Conservative | Cameron Smith | 405 | 3.7 | 0.2 |
1,197 | 10.8 | 4.5 | |
| Green | 736 | 6.7 | 0.8 | |||||
| Independent | James Stockan | 701 | 6.3 | New | ||||
| UKIP | 301 | 2.7 | 1.2 | |||||
| Scottish Christian | 116 | 1.1 | 1.0 | |||||
| RISE | 85 | 0.8 | New | |||||
| Solidarity | 33 | 0.3 | 0.1 | |||||
| Majority | 4,895 | 44.3 | 27.1 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 11,041 | 11,041 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 46 | 46 | ||||||
| Turnout | 11,087 | 62.3 | 8.5 |
11,087 | 62.3 | 8.5 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | 15.5 |
||||||
| Party | Candidate | Constituency | Regional | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | ±% | Votes | % | ±% | |||
| Liberal Democrats | Tavish Scott[a] | 4,462 | 47.5 | 19.2 |
2,975 | 31.9 | ||
| Independent | Billy Fox | 2,845 | 30.3 | New | ||||
| SNP | Jean Urquhart | 1,134 | 12.1 | 4.5 |
2,688 | 28.8 | ||
| Labour | Jamie Kerr | 620 | 6.6 | 0.2 |
974 | 10.4 | ||
| Conservative | Sandy Cross | 330 | 3.5 | 6.4 |
595 | 6.4 | ||
| Green | 699 | 7.5 | ||||||
| UKIP | 362 | 3.9 | ||||||
| Liberal | 319 | 3.4 | ||||||
| Scottish Christian | 196 | 2.1 | ||||||
| All Scotland Pensioners Party | 170 | 1.8 | ||||||
| Ban Bankers Bonuses | 153 | 1.6 | ||||||
| BNP | 66 | 0.7 | ||||||
| Socialist Labour | 65 | 0.7 | ||||||
| Scottish Socialist | 57 | 0.6 | ||||||
| Solidarity | 15 | 0.2 | ||||||
| Majority | 1,617 | 17.2 | 32.9 |
|||||
| Valid votes | 9,391 | 9,334 | ||||||
| Invalid votes | 37 | 83 | ||||||
| Turnout | 9,428 | 53.9 | 3.4 |
9,417 | 53.9 | |||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | 7.4 |
||||||
2000s
| 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 | +5.5 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | +12.1 | |||
| 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 | New | |
| Majority | 2,260 | 26.1 | −6.0 | ||
| Turnout | 8,645 | 51.8 | −6.5 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | -7.0 | |||
1990s
| 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) | |||||