Berwickshire, Roxburgh And Selkirk
The constituency name comes from the three counties it covers; Berwickshire, Roxburghshire and Selkirkshire.
A mostly rural constituency, it includes the towns of Coldstream, Duns, Eyemouth, Galashiels, Hawick, Jedburgh, Kelso, Melrose and Selkirk.
Boundaries
As created by the Fifth Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland. The Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency covers part of the Scottish Borders council area. The rest of the council area is covered by the Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale constituency, which also covers part of the Dumfries and Galloway council area and part of the South Lanarkshire council area.
The Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency is predominantly rural, and incorporates the electoral wards of:
- In full: Hawick and Hermitage, Selkirkshire, Hawick and Denholm, Jedburgh and District, Kelso and District, Mid Berwickshire, East Berwickshire, Leaderdale and Melrose, Galashiels and District
- In part: Tweeddale East
2023 boundary review
In 2023 new constituency boundaries for the 2024 general election were proposed by 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies. The constituency remained unchanged.
Location of the constituency after boundaries review
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History
Michael Moore held the seat from its creation in 2005, and was MP for the predecessor seat of Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale from 1997 to 2005. The seat and its predecessor seats (Roxburgh and Berwickshire and Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale) had a strong Liberal Party presence since the 1960s, with former Liberal leader David Steel having represented the seat from 1965 to 1997. Historically, the Conservative Party has been the main challenger to the seat, and they currently hold the equivalent Holyrood seat. At the 2015 general election, Moore and the Liberal Democrats were pushed into third place in the constituency, and the seat was narrowly won by Calum Kerr of the Scottish National Party over the Conservative candidate, John Lamont, by 328 votes.
At the 2017 snap election, Lamont (who contested the seat for the fourth consecutive election) won the seat from Calum Kerr of the SNP by 11,060 votes - polling more votes than any other candidate in Scotland, and making it the safest Conservative seat in Scotland.
Two years later, at the 2019 general election, held in the wake of parliamentary deadlock and Brexit negotiations, the Conservatives called another election and achieved their best national result since 1987, winning a comfortable majority of 80 seats at the election, with Lamont being re-elected as MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk. He held the seat with a reduced majority of 5,148 votes, due to a swing towards the SNP and Liberal Democrats.
Members of Parliament
| Election | Member | Party | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Michael Moore | Liberal Democrat | |
| 2015 | Calum Kerr | SNP | |
| 2017 | John Lamont | Conservative | |
Elections
Elections in the 2020s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | John Lamont | 18,872 | 40.5 | −7.9 | |
| SNP | David Wilson | 12,273 | 26.4 | −12.4 | |
| Labour | Caitlin Stott | 6,311 | 13.6 | +8.9 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Ray Georgeson | 3,686 | 7.9 | −0.2 | |
| Reform UK | Carolyn Grant | 3,340 | 7.2 | N/A | |
| Scottish Green | Neil MacKinnon | 1,526 | 3.3 | N/A | |
| Independent | Ellie Merton | 329 | 0.7 | N/A | |
| Scottish Family | Hamish Goldie-Scot | 221 | 0.5 | N/A | |
| Majority | 6,599 | 14.1 | +4.5 | ||
| Turnout | 46,696 | 61.1 | −10.3 | ||
| Registered electors | 76,438 | ||||
| Conservative hold | Swing | +2.3 | |||
Elections in the 2010s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | John Lamont | 25,747 | 48.4 | −5.5 | |
| SNP | Calum Kerr | 20,599 | 38.8 | +6.0 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Jenny Marr | 4,287 | 8.1 | +3.4 | |
| Labour | Ian Davidson | 2,513 | 4.7 | −3.9 | |
| Majority | 5,148 | 9.6 | −11.5 | ||
| Turnout | 53,146 | 71.3 | −0.2 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | -5.7 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | John Lamont | 28,213 | 53.9 | +17.9 | |
| SNP | Calum Kerr | 17,153 | 32.8 | −3.8 | |
| Labour Co-op | Ian Davidson | 4,519 | 8.6 | +3.7 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Caroline Burgess | 2,482 | 4.7 | −14.0 | |
| Majority | 11,060 | 21.1 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 52,367 | 71.5 | −2.7 | ||
| Conservative gain from SNP | Swing | +10.8 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SNP | Calum Kerr | 20,145 | 36.6 | +27.4 | |
| Conservative | John Lamont | 19,817 | 36.0 | +2.2 | |
| Liberal Democrats | Michael Moore | 10,294 | 18.7 | −26.7 | |
| Labour | Kenryck Jones | 2,700 | 4.9 | −5.3 | |
| UKIP | Peter Neilson | 1,316 | 2.4 | +1.2 | |
| Scottish Green | Pauline Stewart | 631 | 1.1 | New | |
| Independent | Jesse Rae | 135 | 0.2 | New | |
| Majority | 328 | 0.6 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 55,038 | 74.2 | +7.8 | ||
| SNP gain from Liberal Democrats | Swing | +27.1 | |||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Michael Moore | 22,230 | 45.4 | +3.6 | |
| Conservative | John Lamont | 16,555 | 33.8 | +5.0 | |
| Labour | Ian Miller | 5,003 | 10.2 | −5.7 | |
| SNP | Paul Wheelhouse | 4,497 | 9.2 | +0.6 | |
| UKIP | Sherry Fowler | 595 | 1.2 | −0.1 | |
| Scottish Jacobite | Chris Black | 134 | 0.3 | New | |
| Majority | 5,675 | 11.6 | −1.4 | ||
| Turnout | 49,014 | 66.4 | +3.1 | ||
| Liberal Democrats hold | Swing | −0.7 | |||
Elections in the 2000s
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal Democrats | Michael Moore | 18,993 | 41.8 | −5.0 | |
| Conservative | John Lamont | 13,092 | 28.8 | +6.8 | |
| Labour | Sam Held | 7,206 | 15.9 | −1.0 | |
| SNP | Aileen Orr | 3,885 | 8.6 | −2.8 | |
| Liberal | John Hein | 916 | 2.0 | +1.6 | |
| Scottish Socialist | Graeme McIver | 695 | 1.5 | ±0.0 | |
| UKIP | Peter Neilson | 601 | 1.3 | +0.3 | |
| Majority | 5,901 | 13.0 | −11.8 | ||
| Turnout | 45,388 | 63.3 | |||
| Liberal Democrats win (new seat) | |||||
References
- ^ Hislop, Kevin. "UK Parliamentary elections results". www.scotborders.gov.uk.
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
- ^ "UK General Election Results". Scottish Borders Council. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ "Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk results". BBC News. Retrieved 17 July 2024.
- ^ "Candidates announced for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk County Constituency". Scottish Borders Council. Retrieved 14 November 2019.
- ^ "Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk parliamentary constituency - Election 2019". Retrieved 13 December 2019.
- ^ "Tory MSP to quit Holyrood to stand for Westminster". BBC News. 25 April 2017.
- ^ Mackay, Colin (24 April 2017). "Former Pollock MP Ian Davidson going for Berwickshire Roxburgh & Selkirk". Twitter.
- ^ "General Election: SNP reselects 54 MPs". www.scotsman.com.
- ^ "John Lamont to stand in June's general election". Border Telegraph. 24 April 2017.
- ^ "Election Data 2015". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 17 October 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "UK Parliamentary General Election 2015 results - Elections - Scottish Borders Council". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2015. 9Aug15
- ^ Calum Kerr Archived 2015-04-28 at the Wayback Machine, Biography on SNP website, retrieved March 2015
- ^ "UK ELECTION RESULTS". electionresults.blogspot.co.uk.
- ^ "Candidates for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk in the 2015 UK General Election". yournextmp.com. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015.
- ^ "SCOTTISH GREENS CONFIRM BIGGEST SLATE OF WESTMINSTER CANDIDATES". scottishgreens.org.uk.
- ^ "Election Data 2010". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 26 July 2013. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
- ^ "BBC News - Election 2010 - Constituency - Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk". bbc.co.uk.
- ^ "Election Data 2005". Electoral Calculus. Archived from the original on 15 October 2011. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
External links
- Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk UK Parliament constituency (boundaries April 2005 – May 2024) at MapIt UK
- Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk UK Parliament constituency (boundaries from June 2024) at MapIt UK
