North Tayside (Scottish Parliament constituency)

North Tayside was a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elected one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality (first past the post) method of election. Also, however, it was one of nine constituencies in the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

North Tayside
Former county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
North Tayside shown within the Mid Scotland and Fife electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Former constituency
Created	1999
Abolished	2011
Council area	Angus (part) Perth and Kinross (part)
Replaced by	Angus North & Mearns, Angus South, Perthshire North

Electoral region

The other eight constituencies of the mid Scotland and Fife Region are Dunfermline East, Dunfermline West, Fife Central, Fife North East, Kirkcaldy, Ochil, Perth 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, all of the Stirling council area and parts of the Angus council area.

Constituency boundaries and council areas

The constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of a pre-existing Westminster (House of Commons) constituency. In 2005, however, Scottish Westminster constituencies were generally replaced with new larger constituencies.[1] For representation at Westminster, the area of the Holyrood constituency is now divided between the Perth and North Perthshire Westminster constituency and the Angus Westminster constituency.

The Holyrood constituency of North Tayside covers a northern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area and a northern portion of the Angus council area.

The rest of the Perth and Kinross council area is covered by the Mid Scotland and Fife constituencies of Perth and Ochil and the North East Scotland constituency of Angus.

The rest of the Angus council area is covered by the Angus constituency.

The Perth constituency is entirely within the Perth and Kinross council area, south of the Tayside North constituency.

The Ochil constituency covers a south-eastern portion of the Perth and Kinross council area, the Clackmannanshire council area, and a south-eastern portion of the Stirling council area.

The Angus constituency covers a small eastern portion of the Perth and Kinross council, a southern portion of the Angus council area, and north-western and north-eastern portions of the City of Dundee council area.

Characteristics of the constituency

The constituency was a relatively prosperous, largely rural, Lowland seat, on the fringe of the Highlands, with successful livestock farming, fruit-growing and tourism interests, a combination of small towns and rich agricultural land, with relatively low unemployment. It included the towns of Pitlochry, Forfar and Blairgowrie. The south-western area, near the town of Perth, is the most populous.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

John Swinney had represented the constituency for the SNP since the first Scottish election in 1999. He was the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, and was SNP leader from 2000 to 2004.

Election		Member	Party
	1999	John Swinney	Scottish National Party
	2011	constituency abolished: replaced by Angus North & Mearns, Angus South, and Perthshire North

Election results

2007 Scottish Parliament election: North Tayside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	John Swinney	18,281	51.6	+6.8
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser	10,697	30.2	-1.2
	Labour	Michael Marra	3,243	9.2	-1.4
	Liberal Democrats	James Taylor	3,175	9.0	-0.6
Majority			7,584	21.4	+7.9
Turnout			35.395	57.1	+3.9
	SNP hold		Swing	+4.0

2003 Scottish Parliament election: North Tayside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	John Swinney	14,969	44.9	+0.8
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser	10,466	31.4	-1.7
	Labour	Gordon MacRae	3,527	10.6	-4.5
	Liberal Democrats	Bob Forrest	3,206	9.6	+1.9
	Scottish Socialist	Rosie Adams	941	2.8	+2.8
	Scottish Peoples Alliance	George Ashe	234	0.7	+0.7
Majority			4,503	13.5	+0.8
Turnout			33,343	53.2
	SNP hold		Swing	+0.8

1999 Scottish Parliament election: North Tayside

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	SNP	John Swinney	16,786	44.11	N/A
	Conservative	Murdo Fraser	12,594	33.09	N/A
	Labour	Marion Dingwall	5,727	15.05	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Peter Regent	2,948	7.75	N/A
Majority			4,192	11.02	N/A
Turnout			38,055
	SNP win (new seat)

Footnotes

1. See The 5th Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission for Scotland Archived 21 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine