Argyll and Bute
2010 Results:
Conservative: 10861 (24.03%)
Labour: 10274 (22.73%)
Liberal Democrat: 14292 (31.61%)
SNP: 8563 (18.94%)
Green: 789 (1.75%)
Independent: 272 (0.6%)
Others: 156 (0.35%)
Majority: 3431 (7.58%)
2005 Results:
Liberal Democrat: 15786 (36.5%)
Conservative: 10150 (23.5%)
Labour: 9696 (22.4%)
SNP: 6716 (15.5%)
Other: 881 (2%)
Majority: 5636 (13%)
Boundary changes prior to 2005 election.
2001 Result
Conservative: 6436 (20.8%)
Labour: 7592 (24.5%)
Liberal Democrat: 9245 (29.9%)
SNP: 6433 (20.8%)
Other: 1251 (4%)
Majority: 1653 (5.3%)
1997 Result
Conservative: 6774 (19%)
Labour: 5596 (15.7%)
Liberal Democrat: 14359 (40.2%)
SNP: 8278 (23.2%)
Referendum: 713 (2%)
Majority: 6081 (17%)
No Boundary Changes:
Profile: A Scottish seat covering a huge swathe of sparsely populated countryside. The seat covers the whole of the Argyll & Bute council area including many Scottish islands such as Mull, Bute, Jura, Tiree, Islay and the religious community on the isle of Iona, the burial place of the early Kings of Scotland. Other industries include tourism, forestry and fishing and, more recently, energy production through the expansion of wind farms. The seat also includes Faslane, the base of the UK`s Trident nuclear armed submarine fleet. The constituency is mainly rural. The two largest towns are the ferry port of Oban and Helensburgh, a commuter town for Glasgow.
In 2001 the seat was a rare example of a true 4-way marginal, with the fourth placed SNP within 10% of the Liberal Democrat winner.
Current MP: Alan Reid(Liberal Democrat) born 1954. Educated at Ayr Academy and the University of Strathclyde. Single. A former computer project manager and councilor in Renfrewshire for 8 years. He contested Paisley and Renfreshire South in 1992 and Dunbartonshire West in 1997 before being first elected in 2001. He served as a DTI spokesman from 2005-6 and is presently Lib Dem spokesman on Northern Ireland. He back Sir Menzies Campbell in the 2006 leadership election (more information at They work for you)
Gary Mulvaney (Conservative) Chartered accountant, working for a motor trader. Argyll and Bute councillor.
David Graham (Labour)Alan Reid(Liberal Democrat) born 1954. Educated at Ayr Academy and the University of Strathclyde. Single. A former computer project manager and councilor in Renfrewshire for 8 years. He contested Paisley and Renfreshire South in 1992 and Dunbartonshire West in 1997 before being first elected in 2001. He served as a DTI spokesman from 2005-6 and is presently Lib Dem spokesman on Northern Ireland. He back Sir Menzies Campbell in the 2006 leadership election (more information at They work for you)
Mike MacKenzie (SNP) born Oban.Elaine Morrison (Green)John Black (Scottish Jacobite Party)George Doyle (Independent)2001 Census Demographics
Total 2001 Population: 91306
Male: 49.2%
Female: 50.8%
Under 18: 22.2%
Over 60: 24.6%
Born outside UK: 3.5%
White: 99.2%
Asian: 0.2%
Mixed: 0.3%
Other: 0.2%
Christian: 69.7%
Graduates 16-74: 22.5%
No Qualifications 16-74: 30.1%
Owner-Occupied: 64.6%
Social Housing: 21.3% (Council: 15.7%, Housing Ass.: 5.6%)
Privately Rented: 10.4%
Homes without central heating and/or private bathroom: 9.5%
R.E. Shaun Bennett
As someone who lives in the Moray seat and has dane all their life, I can say with 100% certainty that Labour will NEVER, I repeat NEVER gain in Moray. They peaked here (Moray) at the 2001 election. Anyone who lives in Moray will agree that Labour are a non-entity there and that it is a straight fight between the SNP and the Tories. If anyone is going to gain Moray in the future from the shackles of the SNP (no offence SNPrs) it will be us.
The only real support for Labour in Moray is a small pocket in the town on Elgin, the rest of the seat is Tory/SNP country.
Labour are never going to have any REAL presence in rural Scotland, north of the River Tay, nor is Dumfries and Galloway real prospect of a long term hold in the future in my opinion, come to that.
All I can say to you Shaun Bennett is to get real and stop living in a fantasy land. You have your heartlands in central Scotland and we have ours in rural Scotland
*Sorry, I meant to say we will re-gain our heatlands in rural Scotland. Hopefully.
Both Shaun and RothesThatcherite are deluded IMO (though I’m sure I’m pretty deluded myself at times!).
Moray will NEVER go Labour barring some drastic demographic change to the area or a change to Labour’s set of policies. However, while the tories have been historically strong across the Borders, Argyll and the Northeast of Scotland, there are few signs of a genuine tory revival in either the Borders (barring Mundell) or Argyll, and just the sniff of a recovery in the northeast. Get real if you think that voters will somehow revert to the tories in large numbers across rural Scotland – the Scottish tories are in complete dissaray, having minimum influence with the UK party leadership along with having views completely out of tow with the majority of Scots. And even if you do breakthrough again in your former heartlands, the Highlands, the largest rural area ‘north of the river Tay’, is about as likely to vote tory as a seat in the central belt. Labour could still win in Inverness, the Tories could still win Moray, but I don’t think either of these results is likely to occur anytime soon.