Perthshire South and Kinross-shire (Scottish Parliament constituency)

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

Perthshire South and Kinross-shire
County constituency
for the Scottish Parliament
Perthshire South and Kinross-shire shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Population78,713 (2019)[1]
Current constituency
Created2011
PartyScottish National Party
MSPJim Fairlie
Council areaPerth and Kinross
Created fromOchil,
Perth

The seat has been held by Jim Fairlie of the Scottish National Party since the 2021 Scottish Parliament election.

Electoral region

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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 North 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

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Map of boundaries from 2011

The Perth and Kinross council area is represented in the Scottish Parliament by two constituencies, Perthshire North and Perthshire South and Kinross-shire, defined by the 2011 first periodical review of Scottish Parliament constituencies. Prior to this, Perth and Kinross was represented by three constituencies in the Scottish Parliament, which were used from the opening of the Parliament in 1999 until the 2011 Scottish Parliament election, these were: North Tayside, Perth and Ochil.

The electoral wards used in Perthshire South and Kinross-shire are:[2]

Constituency profile

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BBC profile:[3]

This is a relatively prosperous, largely rural, lowland constituency on the fringe of the Highlands with successful livestock and fruit-growing sectors reliant on its good soil quality. The beautiful scenery also attracts tourism, and the constituency as a whole enjoys relatively low unemployment. A sizeable amount of the electorate lives in the city of Perth while other towns in the constituency include Auchterarder, Crieff, and Bridge of Earn. Kinross was added to the constituency in the border review of 2011. The Tories held Perth's predecessor seats at Westminster for most of the post-war period. But in the 1995 by-election, the SNP's Roseanna Cunningham won through and retained the seat at the 1997 General Election. She went on to be elected to Holyrood when the Scottish Parliament was formed in 1999, and was returned in 2003, 2007 and again in 2011.

The Perthshire South and Kinross-shire constituency covers the southern half of the Perth and Kinross council area, forming its northern boundaries with the Perthshire North constituency following the River Almond and the River Tay east of Perth. The seat covers a majority of the city of Perth to the north-east, covering the western side of the city from Dunkeld Road and the railway line.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

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Election Member Party
2011 Roseanna Cunningham Scottish National Party
2021 Jim Fairlie

Election results

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Perthshire South & Kinross-shire election results 1999-2021

2020s

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2021 Scottish Parliament election: Perthshire South and Kinross-shire[4][5]
Party Candidate Constituency Regional
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
SNP Jim Fairlie 20,126 45.7  3.3 16,074 36.4  1.3
Conservative Liz Smith[a] 18,178 41.2  2.8 16,317 36.9  1.6
Scottish Green 3,814 8.6  2.3
Labour Janine Rennie 2,943 6.7   2.7 3,575 8.1  1.3
Liberal Democrats Julia Brown 2,823 6.4   1.9 2,694 6.1  0.7
Alba 669 1.5 New
All for Unity 310 0.7 New
Scottish Family 225 0.5 New
Reform UK 142 0.3 New
Abolish the Scottish Parliament 121 0.3 New
Freedom Alliance (UK) 98 0.2 New
Scottish Libertarian 53 0.1  0.1
UKIP 50 0.1  1.7
Independent Martin Keatings 18 0.0 New
Renew 13 0.0 New
Independent Mercy Kamanja 8 0.0 New
Majority 1,948 4.5  0.6
Valid Votes 44,070 44,181
Invalid Votes 147 84
Turnout 44,217 69.8  8.7 44,265 69.9  8.8
SNP hold Swing
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2010s

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2016 Scottish Parliament election: Perthshire South and Kinross-shire[4]
Party Candidate Constituency Regional
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
SNP Roseanna Cunningham[a] 15,315 42.4  9.1 13,668 37.7  10.0
Conservative Liz Smith[b] 13,893 38.4  9.9 13,966 38.5  13.4
Labour Scott Nicholson 3,389 9.4  3.3 3,429 9.4  3.1
Liberal Democrats Willie Robertson 3,008 8.3  1.1 1,949 5.4  0.5
Scottish Green 2,264 6.3  1.5
UKIP 635 1.8  0.7
Independent politician Craig Finlay 544 1.5 New
RISE 123 0.3 New
Solidarity 95 0.3  0.3
Scottish Libertarian 70 0.2 New
Majority 1,422 3.9  19.1
Valid Votes 36,149 36,271
Invalid Votes 112 72
Turnout 36,261 61.1  7.2 36,271 61.1  7.2
SNP hold Swing
Notes
  1. ^ Incumbent member for this constituency
  2. ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency
2011 Scottish Parliament election: Perthshire South and Kinross-shire[6][7][a]
Party Candidate Constituency Region
Votes % ±% Votes % ±%
SNP Roseanna Cunningham[b] 16,073 51.49  14.6 14,957 47.73 N/A
Conservative Liz Smith[c] 8,907 28.53  3.9 7,865 25.10 N/A
Labour Patricia Duncan 3,980 12.75  0.2 3,907 12.47 N/A
Liberal Democrats Willie Robertson 2,256 7.23  9.6 1,527 4.87 N/A
Scottish Green 1,512 4.82 N/A
Scottish Senior Citizens 522 1.67 N/A
UKIP 349 1.11 N/A
BNP 183 0.58 N/A
Scottish Christian 107 0.34 N/A
Socialist Labour 104 0.33 N/A
Scottish Socialist 86 0.27 N/A
CPA 75 0.24 N/A
Independent Andrew Roger 55 0.18 N/A
Solidarity 14 0.04 N/A
Majority 7,166 23.0 N/A
Valid Votes 31,216 31,263
Invalid Votes 90 75
Turnout 31,603 53.9 N/A 31,338 53.9 N/A
SNP win (new seat)
Notes
  1. ^ Percentage change in constituency shown relative to notional result
  2. ^ Incumbent member for the Perth constituency
  3. ^ Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

2000s: Notional Result

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The following is the notional result for the 2007 Scottish Parliament election, as calculated by the BBC.[8]

Scottish Parliament election, 2007 Notional Result: Perthshire South and Kinross-shire
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
SNP N/A 11,431 36.9 N/A
Conservative N/A 10,047 32.4 N/A
Liberal Democrats N/A 5,211 16.8 N/A
Labour N/A 3,906 12.6 N/A
Others N/A 420 1.4 N/A
Majority 1,384 4.5 N/A
SNP hold Swing N/A

Footnotes

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  1. ^ Scottish Parliamentary Constituency (SPC) Population Estimates (2011 Data Zone based), National Records of Scotland; retrieved 6 May 2021 (accompanying summary notes)
  2. ^ "First Periodic Review of Scottish Parliament Boundaries Final Report" (PDF). Boundaries Scotland. May 2010. p. 160. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  3. ^ "Perthshire South and Kinross-shire - Scottish Parliament constituency". BBC News.
  4. ^ a b "Scottish Parliamentary election results". Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  5. ^ "Constituencies A-Z: Perthshire South & Kinross-shire". BBC News. Retrieved 8 May 2021.
  6. ^ "Results and turnout at the 2011 Scottish Parliament election". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 3 June 2021.
  7. ^ "2011 Election analysis (Excel 2.37MB)". Scottish Parliament. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  8. ^ "The New Scottish Parliament Constituencies 2011" (PDF). BBC News online. 8 September 2010. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
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