Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles (UK Parliament constituency)

Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1955 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles
Former county constituency
for the House of Commons
1955–1983
Number of membersOne
Replaced byRoxburgh & Berwickshire
Tweeddale, Ettrick & Lauderdale
Created fromRoxburgh & Selkirk
Midlothian & Peebles

Boundaries

The constituency was first defined by the First Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission, and first used in the 1955 general election, to cover the counties of Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles.

The counties of Roxburgh and Selkirk were previously covered by the Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency, and the county of Peebles was previously covered by the Midlothian and Peebles constituency.

The boundaries of the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency were unaltered when the results of the Second Periodical Review were implemented for the February 1974 general election.

In 1975, Scottish counties were abolished under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

The Third Periodical Review took account of new local government boundaries, and results were implemented for the 1983 general election. The Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency was abolished. The Roxburgh and Berwickshire constituency, related to the Roxburgh and Berwickshire districts of the Borders region, and the Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale constituency, related to the Tweeddale and Ettrick and Lauderdale districts of the same region, were created. The Tweedale district had been created with the boundaries of the former county of Peebles.

Members of Parliament
ElectionMemberPartyNotes
1955 Charles Donaldson Unionist Previously MP for Roxburgh and Selkirk from 1951; died December 1964
1965 David Steel Liberal Leader of the Liberal Party 1976-1988; subsequently MP for Tweeddale, Ettrick and Lauderdale from 1983
1983 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections in the 1950s
General election 1955: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles [1][2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Charles Donaldson 21,925 47.69
Liberal Stanley E. Graham 14,755 32.09
Labour Lawrence A. Morrison 9,296 20.22
Majority 7,170 15.60
Turnout 45,976 80.79
Unionist win (new seat)
General election 1959: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles [1][2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Charles Donaldson 22,275 50.20
Liberal John MacCormick 12,762 28.76
Labour Tam Dalyell 9,336 21.04
Majority 9,513 21.44
Turnout 44,373 80.01
Unionist hold Swing

Elections in the 1960s
General election 1964: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles [1][2][3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Charles Donaldson 18,924 42.81
Liberal David Steel 17,185 38.87
Labour Ronald Murray 7,007 15.85
SNP Anthony J. C. Kerr 1,093 2.47
Majority 1,739 3.94
Turnout 44,209 82.24
Unionist hold Swing
1965 Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal David Steel 21,549 49.2 +10.4
Conservative Sir Robert Lindley McEwen, 3rd Baronet 16,942 38.6 -4.2
Labour Ronald Murray 4,936 11.2 -4.6
Independent Nationalist Anthony J. C. Kerr 411 0.9 -1.6
Majority 4,607 10.6 N/A
Turnout 43,838 81.5 -0.7
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +7.3
General election 1966: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles [1][2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal David Steel 20,607 45.66
Conservative Ian McIntyre 18,396 40.76
Labour Colin Lindsay 6,131 13.58
Majority 2,211 4.90
Turnout 45,134 84.80
Liberal hold Swing

Elections in the 1970s
General election 1970: Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles [1][2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal David Steel 19,524 42.26
Conservative Russell Fairgrieve 18,974 41.07
Labour Lionel Griffiths 4,454 9.64
SNP Hamish Hastie 3,147 6.81 New
Anti-Abortion William R. Cassell 103 0.22 New
Majority 550 1.19
Turnout 46,202 80.70
Liberal hold Swing
General election February 1974: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal David Steel 25,707 52.0 +9.7
Conservative J. Stuart Thom 16,690 33.8 -7.3
SNP David Purves 3,953 8.0 +1.2
Labour David Allan Graham 3,089 6.2 -3.4
Majority 9,017 18.2 +17.0
Turnout 49,439 86.0 +5.3
Liberal hold Swing
General election October 1974: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal David Steel 20,006 43.6 -8.4
Conservative Christine M. Anderson 12,573 27.4 -6.4
SNP Angus Edmonds 9,178 20.0 +12.0
Labour David Allan Graham 4,076 8.9 +2.7
Majority 7,433 16.2 -2.0
Turnout 45,833 79.3 -6.7
Liberal hold Swing
General election 1979: Roxburgh, Selkirk & Peebles
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal David Steel 25,993 53.1 +9.5
Conservative Gerry Malone 15,303 31.3 +3.9
Labour David Albert Heald 4,150 8.5 -0.4
SNP Angus Stewart 3,502 7.2 -12.8
Majority 10,690 21.8 +5.6
Turnout 48,948 82.0 +2.7
Liberal hold Swing +6.7

References
  1. British Parliamentary Election Results 1950-1973, F. W. S. Craig.
  2. The Times House of Commons, 1950-70.

See also
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