Shetland (Scottish Parliament constituency)

Shetland
county constituency for the Scottish Parliament
150px
Shetland shown within the Highlands and Islands electoral region and the region shown within Scotland
Current constituency
Created	1999
Party	Liberal Democrat
MSP	Tavish Scott
Council area	Shetland Islands

Shetland is a constituency of the Scottish Parliament (Holyrood). It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the Highlands and Islands electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to eight constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

Electoral region

See also: Highlands and Islands (Scottish Parliament electoral region)

Shetland is part of the Highlands and Islands electoral region; the other seven constituencies of are Argyll and Bute, Caithness, Sutherland and Ross, Inverness and Nairn, Moray, Na h-Eileanan an Iar, Orkney and Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch.

The region covers most of Argyll and Bute council area, all of the Highland council area, most of the Moray council area, all of the Orkney Islands council area, all of the Shetland Islands council area and all of Na h-Eileanan Siar.

Constituency boundaries and council area

The Shetland constituency was created at the same time as the Scottish Parliament, in 1999, to cover the Shetland Isles council area. In the House of Commons of the British Parliament at (Westminster), the council area is covered by the Orkney and Shetland constituency, which also covers the Orkney Islands council area.

Member of the Scottish Parliament

It has been represented by Tavish Scott, former Scottish Liberal Democrat leader, since the 1999 election.

Election		Member	Party
	1999	Tavish Scott	Liberal Democrat
	2003
	2007
	2011

Election results

Scottish Parliament election, 2011: Shetland

Scottish Parliament election, 2016: Shetland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tavish Scott
	SNP	Danus Skene
	Conservative	Cameron Smith
	Labour
Majority
Turnout
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tavish Scott	4,462	47.5	-19.2
	Independent	Billy Fox	2,845	30.3	N/A
	SNP	Jean Urquhart	1,134	12.1	-4.5
	Labour	Jamie Kerr	620	6.6	-0.2
	Conservative	Sandy Cross	330	3.5	-6.4
Majority			1,617	17.2
Turnout			9,391	53.4	-404
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament election, 2007: Shetland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tavish Scott	6,531	66.7	+20.7
	SNP	Val Simpson	1,622	16.6	-3.4
	Conservative	Mark Jones	972	9.9	-4.9
	Labour	Scott Burnett	670	6.8	-3.9
Majority			4,409	50.1
Turnout			9,795	57.3	+5.4
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament Election 2003: Shetland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tavish Scott	3,989	46.14	- 8.33
	SNP	Willie Ross	1,729	20.00	+ 5.67
	Conservative	John Firth	1,281	14.82	+ 6.08
	Labour	Peter Hamilton	880	10.18	- 12.28
	Scottish Socialist	Peter Andrews	766	8.86	N/A
Majority			2,260	26.14	- 5.87
Turnout			8,645,	51.84	- 6.93
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Scottish Parliament Election 1999: Shetland

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Tavish Scott	5,455	54.47	N/A
	Labour	Jonathan Wills	2,241	22.46	N/A
	SNP	Willie Ross	1,430	14.33	N/A
	Conservative	Gary Robinson	872	8.74	N/A
Majority			3,214	32.01
Turnout			9,998	58.3
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)