Roxburgh and Berwickshire (UK Parliament constituency)

Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Former County constituency
for the House of Commons
19832005
Number of members One
Replaced by Berwickshire, Roxburgh & Selkirk
Created from Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles and Berwick and East Lothian

Roxburgh and Berwickshire was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom (Westminster) from 1983 to 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post voting system.

Boundaries

1983-1997: Roxburgh District, and Berwickshire District.

1997-2005: Roxburgh District, Berwickshire District, and the Ettrick and Lauderdale District electoral division of Scott's View.

The constituency was defined by the Third Periodical Review of the Boundary Commission for Scotland, and first used in the 1983 general election. The name of the constituency relates it to the Roxburgh and Berwickshire districts of the Borders region, which were created in 1975, under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973.

By the time of the Third Periodical Review, Scottish counties and burghs had been abolished by the same legislation which created regions and districts, and earlier constituencies had been defined by the Second Periodical Review, with reference to county and burgh boundaries, results being implemented for the February 1974 general election. The county of Roxburgh was covered by the Roxburgh, Selkirk and Peebles constituency, and the county of Berwick was covered by the Berwick and East Lothian constituency.

In 1996, under the Local Government etc (Scotland) Act 1994, regions and districts were abolished and the Scottish Borders council area was created with the boundaries of the former Borders region.

The results of the Fourth Periodical Review were implemented for the 1997 general election.

When the constituency was abolished, as a result of the Fifth Periodical Review, Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk was created, and first used in the 2005 general election, as one of six constituencies covering the Dumfries and Galloway, Scottish Borders, and South Lanarkshire council areas.

Member of Parliament

ElectionMember[1] Party
1983 Sir Archy Kirkwood Liberal
1988 Liberal Democrat
2005 constituency abolished

Election results

Elections of the 1980s

General Election 1983: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Archy Kirkwood 15,920 50.3 N/A
Conservative Iain Sproat 12,524 39.6 N/A
Labour David Alfred Briggs 2,326 7.4 N/A
SNP Robert Shirley 852 2.7 N/A
Majority 3,396 10.7 N/A
Turnout 31,622 75.8 N/A
Liberal win (new seat)
General Election 1987: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Archy Kirkwood 16,388 49.2 −1.1
Conservative Dr Liam Fox 12,380 37.2 −2.4
Labour Tim Luckhurst 2,944 8.8 +1.4
SNP Marshall Neil Douglas 1,586 4.8 +2.1
Majority 4,008 12.0
Turnout 33,298 77.2 +1.4
Liberal hold Swing

Elections of the 1990s

General Election 1992: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrat Archy Kirkwood 15,852 46.9 −2.3
Conservative Mrs. Shirley Finlay-Maxwell 11,595 34.3 −2.9
SNP Marshall Neil Douglas 3,437 10.2 +5.4
Labour Stephen Lambert 2,909 8.6 −0.2
Majority 4,257 12.6
Turnout 33,793 77.6
Liberal Democrat hold Swing
General Election 1997: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrat Archy Kirkwood 16,243 46.5 +0.0
Conservative Douglas Younger 8,337 23.9 −10.3
Labour Helen Eadie 5,226 15.0 +6.2
SNP Malcolm Balfour 3,959 11.3 +0.7
Referendum John Curtis 922 2.6 N/A
UKIP Peter Neilson 202 0.6 N/A
Natural Law David Lucas 42 0.1 N/A
Majority 7,906 22.6
Turnout 34,931 73.9
Liberal Democrat hold Swing

Elections of the 2000s

General Election 2001: Roxburgh and Berwickshire
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Liberal Democrat Archy Kirkwood 14,044 48.8 +2.3
Conservative George Turnbull 6,533 22.7 −1.2
Labour Catherine Maxwell Stuart 4,498 15.6 +0.7
SNP Roderick Campbell 2,806 9.7 −1.6
Scottish Socialist Amanda Millar 463 1.6 N/A
UKIP Peter Neilson 453 1.6 +1.0
Majority 7,511 26.1
Turnout 28,797 60.6 −13.3
Liberal Democrat hold Swing

References

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